One year anniversary

Today was a special day in the life of Hiragishi Izumi Church. We celebrated one year of the start of services in our home. It was a happy time with a number of guests and a lively time of fellowship afterwards over a pot luck supper. As we look back, there is much for which we can give thanks. We remembered that first Sunday twelve months ago; we remembered the dedication ceremony we held a month later when so many people came; we thought about Sambi's baptism during our first Christmas service; we thought of the people we have got to know, the relationships that are gradually being built up, the way the existence of the church is slowly becoming known in the community. Certainly there have been many challenges too and these will continue. Starting a church from scratch is no easy task. It is not all about what happens on a Sunday afternoon. Indeed, most of what we do is focused 'out there' - in the community, in the school, meeting people where they are. So it was somehow appropriate on the day that we held our anniversary service that we (along with our new co-workers JP and Nora) could attend a barbecue organised by the local community association at lunchtime - a great chance to meet people and just be part of things in the community. Being 'out there' is so much what church planting is all about.

First big outreach

Two weeks ago we had some guests from Singapore, four ladies and two men from our colleague How Chuang's home church. They had come on what they called a 'vacation with a purpose'. After a holiday in Hokkaido, they came to Hiragishi to help us for a few days. We spent some time prayer walking in the area and delivering leaflets by a well-known Christian author. Since a few weeks before we had been giving out leaflets and invitation cards for a special event to friends and contacts, as well as having aroujnd 4000 distributed via the local newspaper. In many ways this has helped raise the profile of the church in the area and simply make the existence of our church known. As we meet in our house, there is of course no obvious church building. The special event was a Singapore Culture Day when people could hear something of Singapore and its different cultures, enjoy traditional songs and dances, and taste some local delicacies. One of the team shared a short testimony. We had been praying for 50 to come. We didn't actually have 50 guests but on the day, including the Singapore team and church folks, we had exactly 50 there, which turned out to be just right for numbers. Most of those there were people we have got to know, through school, English classes or just folks we have met locally. There were lots of encouragements. For many of those who came it was their first time to a church event. We don't know what seeds have been sown but trust that this has been a significant, if small, step forward in the life of Hiragishi Izumi Church.

Statistics

Japanese love facts and figures. It's amazing the amount of statistical information which is released or available on local government home pages. Just the other day, two sets of statistics were released. One concerned the level of violence and bulliyng at school. Both have become increasing problems in schools here, though much effort has gone into tackling bullying. Last year violent incidents in all schools nationwide increased for the fourth consecutive year reaching a record total of just over 60,000. On a much more tragic note, figures were also given for suicides by school-age children - 165 in total, two of which were linked to bullying. Cases of bullying did decrease quite significantly but it is clear that are still many such problems in school, especially in junior high schools. Another set of statistics released concerned the number of people over 100 in Japan. This is expected to reach a record 44,000 this year. There have been considerable difficulties with these figures as lately a series of scandals have hit Japan as people have been found to have been claiming welfare payments for elderly relatives (some of whom would be over 100) but who have been found to have died many years previously despite still having their names on the local registers. Statistics can be interpreted in different ways and don't necessarily paint the whole picture. However they do confirm two social trends which have been apparent in Japan for many years now - an ageing population and an education system which, for all its merits, is struggling to cope with instances of bullying, leading in some cases even to suicide.

Following the rules

Japan is often a land of paradoxes. It is in many ways very efficient. Things run smoothly; trains run on time: everything is done well and in an orderly fashion. Yet in other ways it can be very inefficient, to our eyes anyway. Recently we have had two cases (in different sports clubs) where we hit up against what might be called the 'following the rules' way of thinking. There are often detailed procedures for even the simplest thing. Yet at times these rules seem to fly in the face of common sense. Or so much time is spent following all the procedures that it seems - to us - a rather inefficient way of getting things done. Sometimes there can be a lack of flexibility (or even freedom) to depart from 'the way something should be done'. One of our recent cases concerned Alistair receiving a badge for moving up one rank in swimming. He passed the test and was given his test sheet and a badge by the coach. Then the sheet and the badge were taken back and the test results whitened out. Why? Because it was apparently necessary to have several weeks of practice before being entitled to receive the badge. But he was already at the required standard and the coach had so graded him and awarded the badge. But the 'rules' said it should not be done. There was no freedom to apply what we might feel would be common sense to the situation. Nor was there any apparent freedom to depart from the 'must-be-adhered-to' procedures. It can be easy to get frustrated with such situations. But it served as a reminder to reflect on what someone said to us in our early days in Japan - it's not wrong, just different. Very true. We live in a different culture with a different way of thinking and there are many times where we just need to go with the flow. Maybe it's just the lawyer in us which likes to argue the case though when it seems patently lacking in common sense!

Neighbourly kindness

Japanese people love to give things to others. In fact, it is often not easy to return the compliment as you might then receive another gift in return for yours. A couple of months ago Lorna started teaching one of our neighbours French. She can speak English too but it is French she is interested in for the moment. So after brushing up her French again, Lorna started the weekly one-to-one class only to discover that this lady is actually quite good already! Anyway, this neighbour has a garden filled with various vegetables and fruits, probably more than enough for her husband and herself. So over past weeks we have been the grateful recipients of freshly-picked cucumbers, green beans, 'eda mame' (soya beans which so far we have only ever bought frozen) and delicious blackberries. Lorna took some muffins to her the other day as a thank you but then just a few days later we received even more blackberries and some special pink-coloured sticky rice which the Japanese make on special occasions. What a blessing it is to have such neighbours.

Football - again

Today was a big football day in Japan. The national team played their first home match since the World Cup, ironically against Paraguay who knocked them out on penalties in South Africa. But revenge was sweet as Japan triumphed this time 1-0. It was amusing to see the match described on television as the first step towards the Brazil World Cup in 2014! But a more important match (for us anyway) took place earlier in the day somewhere on the outskirts of Sapporo. The last big tournament of the season (before everyone has to retreat indoors to play football) was taking place and Calum's team managed to be drawn against one of the toughest teams in Sapporo. A win seemed unlikely. Yet for weeks before extra practices were arranged to give the team as much chance as possible. Today they played really well in a hard contest and having ended 0-0, it went down to penalties. With the score at 3-3, Calum stepped up to take the deciding kick - and in it went! Now, many mothers attend football matches in Japan and it was worth being there just to see their reaction as they shrieked and danced and 'high-fived' - not your normal image of Japanese mothers! At the end the boys lined up as usual in front of the parents, gave their thanks and bowed deeply. Maybe some future national team stars among them - but which country would Calum choose?