Reading the Air

 

Anyone who has spent time learning about Japan knows that this country has a group-oriented culture. Group-oriented meaning that the group takes priority above the individual with regard to decision making. Before a decision is made Japanese people are taught from a young age to consider all possibilities of the group first. In fact, one of the Japanese educational system's objectives is to instill this way of thinking upon children. This concept is known as 空気を読む or “Reading the Air”. Without the ability to read the air it would be easy to make a social faux pa and seriously damage their reputation, therefore Japanese people are very careful about how they interact with each other. Smooth communication depends on understanding group norms even when they are not clearly communicated. To understand these norms is to be Japanese. To go against the group could mean loss of connection with friends, family, or co-workers which could have serious long-term consequences. Suddenly communication could be cut off without warning. Suddenly friends, family, or co-workers could stop interacting with you. Therefore, harmony with the group is of the utmost importance.

Because Harmony is valued above truth, objective morality does not seem as important. Rather whatever the group deems as important takes precedence. So, to avoid incurring the wrath of the group from a young age children are taught to comply with the group at all costs at the sacrifice of their individuality. The advantage is an outwardly harmonious as well as highly obedient society whereas the disadvantages are abuses, bullying, depression, escapism, intimidation, suicide, no questioning, etc. This can also be used to not take personal responsibilities for evils because they were “just doing what the group told them”, I.E. “just following orders”. Older group leaders continue the legacy of conformity to group pressure because the same was done to them when they were younger. When the potential evils of the group are realized and cannot be changed hopelessness sets in. This leads to compromising any values to please the group, intentionally becoming shallow, not asking questions, or escapism. Japanese people will either go with the group whether good or evil, try to change or dominate the group, drop out of the group and isolate, intentionally move to another country, or end their own life.

This immense group pressure is at the crux of the Japanese culture. It is the “power of the air”. As Christians, in the Bible we know that we are not to conform to this world, but are to conform to the image of Christ. The one who rules the “air” is the prince of the power of the air. In the Bible Ephesians 2:2 states, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” It is no wonder that a group of unsaved people trying to conform to each other will work against God. It is the way of the flesh which is greatly amplified with many people working together. Is it no wonder why it is so hard to break through this power to reach the hearts of Japanese people? For a Japanese person to even consider God comes at a great risk to them. Great fear exists to go against the power of the air because it is all that they have known. The only way out is for the Japanese people to realize that Jesus Christ is greater than all of their fears, and that He is the source of true freedom that they are seeking.

2024 Year in Review

 

Suddenly the year has come to an end and it is time to think about what has been learned. Ever year brings forth new blessings, challenges, and experiences. This year was no different. Here is the verse of the year:

“The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” – Psalm 145:9 KJV

I remember with excitement as we headed into the new year with meetings with the family who had come out to help us with a church plant as well as a new believer freshly led to the Lord. There were also many hopeful prospects to share the gospel with in our neighborhood as we were settling in. However as we continued on into the year to try to build a core group for a future church, it slowly dissolved back to being just our own family. The process of disciple making is work as well as spiritual battle. To work closely together and find cohesion as a new group was difficult. So, the family that came with us decided to go back with the original church, until further notice. Eventually they quit going to church consistently. Please pray for them. The new believer did not want to take steps to grow in his faith at this time, so I had to step back and pray. Hopefully in the future he will desire to grow in his faith. Sometimes these things can take years. So, we had to start over and re-evaluate our situation. We essentially had to start over from zero once more.

What seemed like a good start, turned out to be a humbling situation. Even more so when I got a kidney stone and had to go to the hospital by ambulance! Good thing that it is God who plants churches and not me!

We decided to keep meeting as a family each Sunday morning out of our house. We have grown closer as a family together. The children have also grown a lot with their homeschooling and Bible memory. It was shortly thereafter that we met two Japanese families in the neighborhood that were interested in learning English using the Bible, so we started to meet with them gradually. We still meet with them to this day. Around this time I decided to start trying to find students to teach English with using the Bible. Eventually I was able to find five students to teach the Bible using English. Later one eventually left, but the other four remained consistently over the course of the year. Gradually over time they have learned about God, memorized many Bible verses, and heard the gospel. At the time of this writing they continue to study with me. Most Japanese are very skeptical concerning Christianity, so it takes a lot of time for them to open up to spiritual things in this way. It takes a lot of patient work as well as prayer here to see fruit. Ministry is quite a battle here. On a more positive note, a lady that we had led to the Lord the year before has been going to our previous church and growing, so we are thankful to God for that!

During this last year I have spent a lot of time studying Japanese to try to improve my speaking and listening skills. I still have a long way to go, but am continuing to try my best, and Lord willing will be fluent some day. God has showed me that it is not about my ability or plans, but His plans rather that His work is accomplished. We had to be patient during this time until God opened a new door. I was able to get a driver's license for the first time this year, which changed our life greatly. Up until this year we had used bikes, walking, buses, and trains to get around. Having a car was a great life changer. During this time we continued to plant gospel seeds with 56,000 tracts going out around Tokyo with some of those in many different languages. Thank God for different gospel tract distributors that send us gospel tracts to put out each week. We again attended three different annual international festivals to put out gospel tracts (Vietnamese, Laos, and Thai) which is always a blessing. People for many countries are starting to move to Japan, so there are increasing opportunities for the gospel.

Perhaps the most unbelievable thing this year was soul-winning over the internet. After years in Japan of scarce opportunities for soul-winning I started to pray and seek out ways to reach people. Using email, Facebook, Twitter (now x), Chatroulette, OmeTV, and Omegle (no more as of November 23') I decided to take some time every day to actually share the gospel with people all around the world as part of my routine starting in April of 2022. In 2023 alone there was a total of 194 Salvation Confessions, 145 Salvation Affirmations, 81 very close, and over 500 rejections. It was an incredible year for soul winning, which I don't think will be topped since Omegle shut down. There were many many spiritual battles, but overall I was just amazed at how God transformed so many lives. The gospel truly is the power of salvation. I recorded some of the memorable conversations on YouTube here. If you have never shared the gospel before, I want to encourage you to take a look, pray about it, and try it yourself sometime. What do you have to lose?

Another amazing opportunity happened when my long-term missionary friend introduced me to a native pastor in India who was going all over rural villages in his area preaching the gospel almost every day. After a period of healthy skepticism, testing, and prayer I decided to start helping him by giving him learning resources, connecting him with a mentor, and helping him preach once a week over the internet. Our time zones are 3.5 hours apart so it made it possible to help him each week. I pray that many can be reached through this man's ministry in a very difficult area. He and many like him are doing incredible work in hard to reach areas of India.

At the very end of the year after having a slow go for church planting here we started praying about renting an area for use for ministry purposes. We had been finding it difficult to meet with people in the home and thought it would be better to just take the risk and rent out a place to use for teaching Bible and English. So, after much prayer and negotiation we decided to rent a first floor of a small building nearby. We will have to put a lot of work into it to get it operable, but it will be a start to a new direction. We feel peace from God about this and are excited to see what the future holds. We have had some ups and downs but believe that God is good and his tender mercies are over all his works. We are looking forward to 2024.

"Yes, but I'm Japanese."

 

After hearing a powerful gospel presentation, even being moved by God's Spirit in ways never experienced before, most Japanese will respond that they cannot become Christian simply because they are “Japanese.” What does this mean? To the Japanese person they are taught at a very young age that their primary identity is to be “Japanese” above all other things. That Japanese identity consists of elevating the group beliefs above the individual's personal desire or conscience. The personal desires or beliefs of the individual are seen as selfish if they are in opposition to the group norms. The individual has little value compared with the group, so much so that even in the Japanese language “I” or “you” are rarely used. Even if a Japanese person knows that Buddhism and Shintoism are false while Christianity is true, they still will not embrace this truth because their identity is mixed up with the false notion of what it means to be Japanese. They are captive to this domineering mindset. Japanese are taught to forcibly suppress their own desires (and conscience) in order to please the group at any cost. This is the cost of societal cohesion in their understanding. So when the eldest son of a family refuses truth not because he knows that it is true, but because he is expected to do it for the sake of his family and ancestor's dignity, he is seen as valiant by his fellow countrymen. To the Western mind, especially the American, this is a particularly hard concept to grasp or begin to even understand.

As Americans we often take for granted the fact that we can freely choose our beliefs without changing our identities as Americans. However, for most of the world the identity along with beliefs are combined together into one system. This is why when America was founded it was such a radical experiment in so many ways. We can thank the Baptists for this system of understanding that they gleaned from the Bible. Early Baptist Americans understood the necessity for separation of church and state, which allowed the individual to freely choose their beliefs without being compelled by the state as was in the case of Europe. In the European system an infant identified with a church and state combined system was baptized into a certain church thereby establish his loyalty as well as identity for life to that system. Their loyalty was said to be cemented to God and the state where they lived. The concept of freely choosing beliefs derives from the Baptist idea of individual soul liberty, or the ability for each man to choose a belief according to his conscious, which is why the ancient Anabaptist was hated so much for the crime of “re-baptism” or “believer's baptism” as we know it now. To re-baptize was seen as an act of rebellion against the state that you were committed to as an infant through baptism. In most of the world the individual is simply an arm of the state. The state dictated what the individual was to believe whether it be Islam in Saudi Arabia, Catholicism in Italy, or Anglicanism in the U.K. for example; various countries imposed belief systems upon their populace. In Europe loyalty from birth to the state was unquestionably accepted until certain peasants began to read the Bible for themselves in their own language. The rest is history.

So, back to Japan. What is the Bible's response to this mindset? Interestingly, Jesus himself confronted a similar mindset in the scriptures. Matthew 16:21-26 KJV recounts the situation. “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” In this situation Peter is trying to convince Jesus to suppress Himself in order to maintain the status quo. For the sake of maintaining life as usual in the group Peter essentially tries to get Jesus to deny what He knows to be true about Himself. Jesus response is telling. He rebukes Peter, calling him Satan. Jesus says that Peter values the things of men above the things of God. This is essentially the same temptation that Japanese are faced with in responding to the gospel, which is to value the things of men (in their case group norms) above the things of God (truth of Bible). Jesus then takes it a step further and says to his disciples that any who wish to follow Him must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. He is saying to them to deny their own comforts in this present world, to embrace the truth with all of the sufferings it will bring, and follow after Him. To follow Christ is to go against the norms of the world system no matter what country is represented. He continues by asking what profit is there from gaining the world at the cost of the soul. Anyone who rejects the truth of Christ may gain comfort or riches in this world, but will ultimately lose His own soul eternally. So, for the Japanese person the cost to be with the ancestors is great, but are they completely aware of the eternal implications? The epic struggle of truth versus harmony lives on in the Japanese soul whenever the gospel is presented.

The Family Unit: East and West

 

What makes a family a family? Recently this question has been causing conflict in Western society as societal norms have increasingly been challenged in the ongoing culture war. The Anglo-Saxon world view in specific constituting the “Anglo-sphere” has at its core foundation the typical Protestant Biblical world view of a family that comes directly from Genesis 2:24 as follows:

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they both shall be one flesh.”

From this solitary verse we can gather the necessity of monogamy, independence, and distinct male headship over the nuclear family. From this worldview we tend to have an individual un-egalitarian nuclear family structure in each household. People tended to move away from their family to start a new family. A new family supported themselves economically by not sharing housing with parents or siblings. Though the father is considered the head of the house, he was not generally authoritarian when it came to the decisions of his adult children. There was no tier system of hierarchy where the oldest son dominated the rest of the family in decisions and inheritance once the father passed on. From this mindset came the great expansive spirit to settle new lands, bold risk-taking, bold creativity, innovation, and adaptation to challenges on a great scale. In “Protestant” Christianity this led to great freedom of choice within interpretation of the Bible through different denominations for better or for worse. In the West in general this also led to freedom of choices with multiple religions and opposing ideas as opposed to one core identity that could not be questioned.

All of these characteristics are what we traditionally in the “Anglo-sphere” understand and accept. Even outside of this within the Western world (Latin America, Catholic Europe, Protestant Europe, Slavic Countries, etc.) there are many similarities and core traits that allow us to understand each other easily. For this reason in the West we also have the tenancy to be able to accept the gospel in a much easier way. However, there were also weaknesses with one being that many became so individualistic as to ignore the group completely by embracing a form of rebellion against the system. (Think counter-culture 1960s era thinking.) No system is without its weakness. Even today in more urban areas people in general in the West are moving away from the traditional nuclear family understanding.

However, what if your core idea of a family is not bound by these Western ideas? What if your idea of family comes from Confucianism rather than the Bible? Take this quote for instance:

“There are three degrees of filial piety. The highest is being a credit to our parents, the second is not disgracing them; the lowest is being able simply to support them.” - Confucius

In Japan, the ancient tradition of filial-piety still strongly influences society. At the head of the family is the father who traditionally makes all of the important decisions including who their children marry and what they will do for work. The eldest son is to inherit this role as family retainer and must take it seriously without personal choice once his father passes away. The father is in turn subservient to the larger group community in his area or greater family if he moves to an urban area. These families were registered with the local Buddhist temple for legitimacy. For the Japanese for hundreds of years group loyalty guaranteed survival on an island with limited resources and the inward thinking mindset that it developed. In this filial-piety system, the young were to serve their parents, often living together in the same house, which became particularly hard for a new daughter-in-law coming into a new group having to obey her mother-in-law in a servant-like capacity. Rather than leave and cleave, children were to stay and obey. Marriage was based upon continuing the family unit (clan), not necessarily choice or love. Arranged marriages were the norm for hundreds of years. Only after World War Two were the introduction of the nuclear family and Western ideas of marriage popularized leading to a weakening of the traditional filial piety system. To this day many Japanese are confused as to what system they should embrace. From these few examples we can see some radical differences in the understanding of the family unit.

Why does all of this matter? In more ways than one when a Japanese person is introduced to the truth of the gospel they have to consider what impact it will have upon their filial-piety oriented family structure, which is especially powerful in rural areas. They are taught to consider the will of the group before the will of the self. If they go home and tell their father that they are now Christian they often times are disowned believing that they bring great shame to their family as well as the community for going against the ancient traditional belief system as well as parents wishes. Shame and loss of group connections is the ultimate source of pain and rejection in this system. Japanese people are taught from a young child that pleasing the group wishes is the ultimate measure of happiness. To go against this system is to cease to be Japanese. It is also a reason why Japanese Christians tend to be secretive, not evangelistic, and often times turn inward when it comes to their churches. Japanese churches tend to become a filial-piety oriented buddy system based upon culture rather than biblical example since they often times are overwhelmingly influenced by their world. If they do live by the biblical model they are often shamed by society at large as well as actively shamed from other church members who still retain the deeply rooted filial-piety system mindset. This mindset hinders the spread of the gospel as well as the planting of new churches, which may be one of the reasons why the growth of the gospel is slow here. If Westerners are hesitant to allow their kids to spread the gospel elsewhere, how do you think those living under the filial-piety system will feel about their children spreading the gospel? Becoming ministers? Often times in general Japanese know that the gospel is true, however they are just afraid to accept it because of the dire consequences that they perceive it will bring them. To many they would rather lose their own soul and gain the only world that they have ever known and were taught to embrace as the key to happiness. However, for those who wish to reject the world and obey God there is always great reward. Often times dedicated Japanese Christian families are some of the most spiritual, sacrificial, and dedicated people out there due to their up-bringing. Their respect as well as obedience to God is great. We in the West could learn from these type of Christians. Pray for Japan and Japanese Christians to fight the power of the world's influence in their lives.

The Impact of Limited Space in Tokyo

 

If you have ever looked up the statistics on the world's largest cities, then you would understand that Tokyo is the largest as well as most populated city in the world by far with close to 38 million people. In land area comparison, Tokyo is about the size of Puerto Rico or the U.S. state of Connecticut. With this huge population comes the issue of finding property for the purpose of meeting with groups of people. Often times housing for living purposes or business purposes though expensive can be used for meeting places. Naturally, the further one moves away from the city the cheaper properties become. Sometimes it is possible to find cheap places to rent or even abandoned places to buy, however these properties have their issues as well. With cheap places comes a lack of space, far distance from public transportation for access, and lack of parking for vehicles. Often times to even have one parking spot is very fortunate. With abandoned places comes extensive regulations for remodeling, various taxes, as well as further regulations for what the property can be used for. All of these various issues become such a nightmare that often times abandoned properties are left alone indefinitely. However, with God's help these obstacles can be overcome.

When it comes to church many times people will meet in their homes, away from the city, or buy an expensive property and building to meet in if allowed by regulations. The Japanese church that we were working with paid one million US dollars to buy a parking lot area (for a patch of dirt about 30 small car spaces), and another million to build a building. Often times Japanese will not allow for foreigners to own property let alone use it for a church, which is where some challenges come in. In Tokyo most community center areas have a lot of space, but will not allow for any religious use for any reason (unless for culturally specific Japanese religious type practices). Because Japan has many cults, they are very skeptical when it comes to anything that they consider an outside religion. In Japanese thinking there is no difference between a cult or a religion that is not “native” to Japan. Even though Christianity has been in Japan over 200 years (some evidences show that it even arrived before Buddhism) it is still considered foreign. Often times, only through established relations with people can trust be gained to rent a property. Many times in Tokyo start-up ministries will come and go taking a high risk approach of renting an expensive building and trying to fill it up with people only to have to abandon the project when people do not come or will become successful enough to continue. In a country with close to 1.2% “Christian” (including all that are considered Christian by broad defintion) population the risk is high since it takes a lot of time for Japanese to consider God. However it is not impossible. With such a low percentage of Christians most of the ministry work here consists of planting and watering spiritual seeds. A lot of “harvest” occurs with Japanese after many years of ministry or with foreigners who are not part of the native culture.

These are some of the perspectives that we have gained from living here for years, and is one of the reasons why we have opted to take the approach of building a core group of believers first before acquiring or renting a property strictly for church use. It may or may not work out as Japan has traditionally been a hardened nation to the gospel. However, God is good and is always working even when we cannot see it. Fortunately, we live in an area where we can meet people in person in public places or over the internet to establish relations with. Please pray for this nation as many like-minded missionaries attempt to reach the people here!

2023 Year in Review

 

Well, it is that time again to reflect upon the last year to see what has happened. It is good to reflect upon the past year to remember our strengths and weaknesses, what we have learned, and what experiences we have had so that we may learn going forward.

Verse for the Year – “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” - Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV

2022 was an intense year for many as the infamous Covid pandemic was wrapping up. At the beginning of the year we returned to Georgia (USA) only to immediately catch Covid for the first time. Our whole family became sick and quickly recovered with the exception of myself who had a strong sickness for a week and a slow recovery for about a month after with gradual lung healing. It was certainly memorable and we were blessed to have the Omicron variant which was said to be weaker than others. We finished up our time in America and returned to Japan in early March. At that time Japan was very strict about entry and it took us 4 hours to get through all of the entry requirements. Fortunately we ordered a van to pick us up and take us to our apartment ahead of time as no public transportation was allowed due to Covid restrictions. Quickly in the next month we moved to secure a new rental home, moving to another city in West Tokyo about 30 minutes away for the purpose of starting a new ministry. During this time we were able to lead one Japanese woman to the Lord of whom we had prior connections with, who is still attending church to this day in our previous city.

After much prayer the previous term we decided upon this new location and moved to settle there to begin a new term and ministry knowing that Japanese people take a long time to form connections. Though my Japanese is still at an intermediate level we believed it was time to get started making connections gradually while still learning. To this day I still study daily and am in the process of gradually increasing my Japanese skills. This will mark year 7 of studying Japanese from 0 and is a good reminder that Asian languages take a lot of hard work to learn! Moving to a new area has taken some time to adjust as well as meet new people. We prayed and are continuing to pray to meet people that we can connect with to lead to the Lord and help grow. We are doing a church plant from 0. We are grateful that one Japanese family has decided to move out and be a part of the new work. It has been a slow start, however we have seen one new man get saved and are working on helping him to grow in his new faith.

Ministry in Japan is very slow, so during this time I started to invest an hour a day doing online ministries including Japanese Twitter targeting suicidal people and world-wide soul-winning live online which has led to 111 new salvation confessions, 87 affirmations of salvation, and 54 people who were very close to salvation. It has been amazing to see God work on so many souls across the globe including Atheists, Muslims, Hindus, a Wiccan, and New Age people. It has been very eye-opening. Also eye-opening was driving in Japan for the first time, which was a huge change from before. During our first term we walked, biked, bused, and used the train to get from place to place. It has also been good to get back on track with putting out gospel tracts around Tokyo. For this year we were able to get 31,540 Japanese gospel tracts out to various houses and apartment complexes. Not to mention various tracts in other languages as well. We pray that many seeds would be planted, watered, and harvested. This year was also one in which I started to teach English again to some Japanese students using the Bible. We pray that they would be open to the gospel as they learn.

Japan has slowly transitioned out of Covid regulations into a less restricted society. However, to this day people wear masks everywhere and buildings require masks to enter, so it has been slow coming. There have been new Covid outbreaks impacting most of the population as well, so the Japanese have been cautious. This has certainly impacted our ability to evangelize since many are afraid of foreigners for this reason. We pray that Japanese people would open up more so that we can share the gospel with them. Thank you for your prayers this last year!

The Japanese Danchi System

 

A key component to the Japanese city, the Danchi system, exists a network of government housing complexes built to keep up with the demands of a once-growing urban population. After World War Two during Japan's rebuilding process a shift took place to move away from the traditional small multi-generational home living setup to a large apartment complex living situation focused around the “nuclear family” household. These new housing units became the envy of the nation when they debuted since they came complete with a television, refrigerator, and washing machine! With a greatly reduced government subsidized rent these apartment complexes became very popular in the 1950s through 1970s. Even today many new Danchis are built across Japan's major cities.

However, the Danchi system also has an unfortunate dark side to it as demonstrated in-detail by this New York Times article. Since the 1990s Japan has been experiencing an economic decline which has in turn developed into a population decline with a disproportionately high percentage of elderly. Before this system was in place many Japanese people lived in multi-generational houses where they took care of their aging parents. After the Danchi system went into place, the shift to the nuclear family encouraged Japanese people to live apart from their parents. Living in separate places, many of these now elderly people are left isolated, alone in these Danchi apartments. Each summer and winter many die alone and are not discovered until much later making a lot of Danchis a potentially dreary place to live. On a more positive note in recent times many of the low-paid Japanese together with immigrant families have been moving into the Danchi system housing across Japan.

Why talk about the Danchi system? If you visit any major Japanese city you will immediately notice many Danchis in the horizon. They are truly a key component of the Japanese city. Since returning to Japan I have decided to focus on getting gospel literature into these Danchis for a few good reasons. First, they are large and easy to mass-distribute literature to without harassment. Second, they have many retired people who often have a lot of free time to consider things as opposed to the generally hyper-active time-strapped culture at large. Third, many of the poorest of Japanese people live in the Danchis, which means they are more likely to consider the gospel than others in a proud tier-based society. Please pray for salvation for the many different peoples living in Japan's Danchi System!

Evangelism after Abe's Assassination

 

Recently, many became aware of a tragic event that took place in Japan as former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, while performing a speech, was assassinated by a man with a home made gun. The event was akin to a “JFK” moment in traumatic scale for Japan as Abe was one of the longest serving as well as cherished (and hated) leaders in Japan's recent history. What was the motive behind the killing? The assassin's mother apparently was placed into dire economic straights after going into debt for being compelled to donate a vast some of money to the Korean Unification Church, known as 'Moonies'. How is Abe connected? He as well as his political party, the Liberal Democratic Party, have been on the receiving end of large donations from this famous Korean cult.

Japan, known as a homogeneous honor-shame culture, responded to this discovery by blaming Koreans, foreigners, and eventually any foreign church of any kind. In Japan rather than take individual responsibility, pressure from the group is often placed on those outside of Japan for ultimate responsibility. A similar transformation has become regular routine in the USA as well in that when a mass shooting occurs it is often blamed on whatever group the shooter was associated with rather than the shooter themselves. In a honor-shame based society sin is understood by the embarrassment that it causes to those in authority, as opposed to a law-type system in which guilt and innocence are determined by a justice system that is supposed to punish evil. In this case heavy shame was placed upon the Unification church as well as the LDP party members who received money from them. Eventually distrust and shame was transferred to foreigners as well as churches. Another example would be early on in the Covid outbreak; it was seen as a foreign caused issue which led to foreign blame as well as shutting down the country up until very recently. ( Even though massive Covid outbreaks have happened in the last year with almost no foreigner entry. )

How does this apply to evangelism? When the media frenzy is stirred in a group-oriented homogeneous culture like Japan there is little room for critical thinking. Most Japanese became highly cautious about foreigners. In my personal case two people that I was getting to know here suddenly started to become unfriendly and unresponsive immediately following the Abe assassination. (Although not all Japanese respond this way) An already cautious people became more cautious. In a nation with a history of opening and closing down over its long history this is nothing new for the character of Japan. Time is the factor that usually heals these issues. However, in modern times with rapid flows of information and travel it seems that this current cycle will move quicker as doors will soon re-open to foreign tourist travel akin to the other G7 nations. How else does this apply to evangelism? In the honor-shame culture Japanese have a hard time seeing themselves as individuals responsible for their sin but rather see themselves as part of a greater group that they cannot distance themselves from. Even if they see the truth of individual sin as well as the need for salvation they often do not have the courage to 'leave the group' physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally to risk offending others as well as their ancestors. At some point each person just like their ancestors in the past have to make a decision to accept or suppress the truth. As I work here longer I can clearly see that God truly does deal with nations and it would seem that in group cultures often times the individual has more often than not cast their lot in with the nation whatever the outcome may be. Please pray for unreached Japanese who suppress the truth and imagine vain things!

Buying and Driving a Car in Japan

 

After a month of paperwork, insurance registration, and various government clearances it was finally time to step into our first Japanese car in Japan. We purchased an eight year old mini-minivan with roughly 23,000 miles on it for 1,000,000 yen ($7500 USD at the time). It does not sound like much usage, however here people do not really drive too far in the city and are more interested in having a “new car” than wearing out their current one. Every two years a car has a required test to make sure that everything is in working order, which can cost $600-$900 or more (plus repairs to be deemed road ready). As a car gets older this test changes to yearly. Most Japanese people prefer having a new car than dealing with problems with a car test. Japanese people typically have overly high standards for their cars. Also each year an annual car tax must be paid, so expenses can really add up when owning a car. ( List of typicalexpenses. ) When buying a car a test drive is not allowed so it is of the utmost importance to rely upon the relationship built with the dealer as well as the very stringent standards for buying and selling of cars here. People often build trust with a certain dealer and only go to them whenever they need a car. This level of trust would be unheard of in America!

My family and I had lived in Japan for close to seven years now always using public transportation as well as bicycles to get around, so this was a very new experience. Our children are getting older now and it will be too expensive to pay for us all to use public transportation, so we decided that it was time to buy a car. Stepping into the car with the steering wheel on the right side of the car as well as driving on the “opposite” side of the road certainly takes some getting used to. The first few trips were quite anxious to say the least. Some lights here are Red with Green arrows at the same time directing traffic forward!

Japanese cars are typically very small with low ground level clearance as opposed to the average American vehicle. They are known for their economic advantages at the cost of safety. Most cars seen in Japan are not available in America due to certain size regulations, impact standards, and other complexities. In Japan roads are very narrow, speed limits are significantly slower, and people are very cautious as well as safe drivers in general. For these reason it would seem that Japanese cars can get away with having smaller sizes with less “armor” for accidents. Much of our time is spent waiting on traffic lights and driving very slowly. This road setup makes the country appear larger than it actually is! Some roads are very narrow, requiring great patience and good manners to navigate when encountering others. Japan has very few parking spots so it is not uncommon to have to pay to park. Free parking spots are certainly cherished and well guarded so as to be not taken advantage of! Gas is about $4.70 a gallon currently. With good gas mileage it is quite reasonable, especially with gas rates in the USA costing as much as $7.00 per gallon in some areas. 

Thus far it has been a good experience learning to drive here. Getting used to turning around in tight areas, narrow roads, parking fees, and tolls fees for highway use takes some time, but for the most part it is similar to driving in highly urbanized American settings in some ways. Having a car has allowed us greater access to get gospel tracts out to areas where we could not reach by train, bus, or bike including small towns. Please pray for us as we attempt to use our car wisely to share the gospel with Japanese people! 

Moving in Japan

Living on a densely populated island slightly smaller than the American state of Montana certainly has its challenges when it comes to living space. Fortunately Japanese society is diligently organized in such a way as to have a unique process when it comes to moving. As many Japanese people do not own a car, nor the time to move their possessions to a new location, a moving service is of the utmost importance.

For many working as salary-men the company will determine when it is time to move as well as where they must move if they want to keep their job. Japanese business culture is one of unquestioning dedication, so much like American military, they will move without question to their new location. Many companies will not give them much time to move, or require it to be on their own time, which leaves them in a hard place. The solution is hiring a moving service. Services such as Moving 123 will come to your house, label everything, pack everything, move everything, and unpack everything in your new location for a negotiable price. The service can cost anywhere from US $1500 to $5000+ depending on the terms of the contract. Generally, from my experience, Americans tend only to hire a moving service if they are going across country and even then will often pack and unpack everything themselves. However, in Japan it is almost expected that you hire a service to do everything for you. Services are preferred because Japanese housing is challenging to move objects in and out in a certain amount of time. With a specialized system in place it is seen as more efficient to hire a service.

What did we do? After living in Japan for a combined 12+ years we have accumulated a lot of stuff, even after living minimalistically by throwing things out constantly. We looked at a few different services and could not justify the high moving costs given that the end of March is the busiest time of the year for moving. We were able to find an independent contractor through a friend to do it for a fraction of the price with us doing most of the work. It took about a week to pack up 50 boxes, and two days of driving back and forth to unload everything. It then took another week to unpack and organize everything. Quite a project! I could only image what it would be like if we had to maintain salary-man hours, so I could understand why they would want to pay more to deal with the entire hassle of moving!