A sad statistic

This week the National Police Agency in Japan released some disturbing figures. The suicide rate in Japan has remained at over 30,000 a year for the last twelve years. Last year's total was the fifth highest on record, with a large number occurring around the end of the financial year when people with economic problems can tend to commit suicide. Despite various measures attempted by governments in recent times, nothing so far has helped reduce the number of people taking their own lives. Some are high-profile cases like the former Finance Minister who infamously slurred his speech at a G7 news conference and who was found dead last October. Many are just ordinary people who cannot bear the pain or the shame any longer and simply end their lives. The statistics themselves are sad. But sadder still is that so many thousands end up in the place of such little hope that the only way out is to take their own life. How the message of hope and forgiveness found in the gospel is needed in this land.

Chocolate surprise

One of the important lessons we learned in our early days in Japan was this - it's not wrong, just different. You can apply that to many things we bump up against day by day and it's always a good principle to remember. But one thing that really is different here is chocolate. It's quite incredible just what the chocolate makers in Japan come up with. The humble Kit Kat seems to change its colour and flavour almost every month as more and more bizarre kinds appear - apple vinegar, caramel & salt, wasabi, cucumber to name but a few! It's quite fun to look on the shelves in the supermarket to discover the latest flavour - not that we might want to buy them. Now drinks are following on. Chocolate sparkling soda has hit the market. There is even a beer called Chocolat Brewery Bitter. And at Christmas time a neighbour brought us some chocolate-coated potato crisps. Everyone liked them (except David) but none of us is very keen to try to the chocolate sparkling soda. As the blurb on the box says - 'By breaking down old customs and producing consistently original items, we are pursuing a new level in chocolate enjoyment'. In many ways that sums up modern Japan - how to blend old customs with originality, even at the level of chocolate.

Farewell - again

There is a song in the The Sound of Music with the words 'So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye'. That is a feature of our lives. Last year we said farewell to Scotland for some time. And as our boys come and go to India, we are often welcoming back, going to visit or saying farewell. Yesterday afternoon Daniel set off on his journey back to India, a week earlier than Matthew as he has some important exams this week. Good friends of ours - we first met them with their two daughters in a park just three months after arriving in Japan twelve years ago - came to the airport to join us for lunch and say goodbye to Daniel. He is now in Bangkok waiting to connect to his flight to Bangalore followed by a seven hour taxi ride up to the school. Change and adjustments are not easy. Farewells don't get any easier either. But we have confidence in our God who does not change and whose promises do not change. He is with us. He goes before us. And he never leaves us. In all the changes of life, it's wonderful to be able to trust in such a God.

Small talk

Last year when David took Daniel and Matthew to Italy for a week, the boys would always be embarrassed when Dad would find Japanese tourists and engage in conversation, even at the top of the Duomo in Florence. They have a saying in Japanese which roughly translated says that a frog's child is just like the frog. Well, our oldest frog (Daniel) is now following Daddy frog's lead in chatting away in Japanese to those he meets. Daniel has been going to the local swimming pool while he is home. And he has ended up in conversation with a couple of the regulars. One man asked why Daniel's family were in Japan so Daniel said they were here as missionaries. The man then went on to say how he had attended an English class at a missionary-led church 30 years ago. He wondered where we lived and Daniel said Hiragishi to which the man replied there was no church around here. Daniel then told him we had just started a church in Hiragishi. 'That'll be hard' said the man. Well, maybe, but it was really encouraging to hear that story and to learn how Daniel is able to use the opportunities he is given to share about the Lord's work in Hiragishi. There is always value in small talk. Often these are the very times when seeds can be sown and a door opened to share. We'll be praying the next time he goes to the pool!

An unusual lifestyle

Sometimes we are four in the house; sometimes, as now, we are six. The older two boys come and go to India and their holidays this time coincide with the long winter break for Japanese schools. Calum goes back on the 20th, Alistair on the 21st, Daniel begins his journey back to India from the 24th and Matthew begins his journey on 1st February. Our lifestyle is certainly not normal - but then again, what is normal? Life is quite chaotic in the house just now. Daniel needs to work for his mock GSCE exams which will take place as soon as he gets back - we are thankful for German friends to help him with that language as we are both somewhat rusty. Advanced calculus is more of a challenge! Calum has to complete lots of pages of homework given out over the holidays. Matthew is meant to be working on music theory and clarinet pratice as well as learning the whole script of the Joseph musical which he will take part in at half-term. And even Alistair has a chart to colour in each day for kindergarten. Trying to find time, space and quiet for each one to get their own thing done is a daily logistic feat. But it's fun to have everyone back - and then we will all adjust again to a different lifestyle next month.

First of the year

One of the characters in the Japanese language which you hear quite a lot during the first few days of the year is 初 - pronounced 'hatsu' and meaning in this context 'first', as in the first time you do something in the new year. So our boys today went for 初スキー　- their first skiing of 2010, on a beautiful day and perfect snow in Otaru. Dad went for his first visit to the hot springs, going to his favourite place from Otaru days. A first (and much needed) visit to the gym for the new year is looming for Mum and Dad. Meanwhile many Japanese have been heading to a local shrine over the first few days of the new year to offer prayers for the coming year, perhaps for good health or success at work or in exams. Many millions observe this 'custom' and there is a special word for it which incorporates the character mentioned earlier. Sometimes good-luck charms are bought and tied to trees in the shrine grounds. Japanese people are not unused to 'praying' - indeed the word is used not infrequently even in everyday conversation, but often in a way that is more like making a hopeful wish or for a happy outcome. May this be a year of another first for many in this land as they find their way to the living God where they can truly find hope and blessing.