Missionary Escapades, 2008

Kanazawa Castle.

August is the vacation month in Japan, and since our time here is drawing short we decided to explore some as-yet unknown parts of our host country. On August 6^th we headed from Tokyo toward the Japan Sea on the other side of Honshu, Japan’s main island. From our train window we watched for about 5 hours as rice paddies, towns, and mountains zipped by, before arriving at Kanazawa, known for its large castle complex and park. Although Kanazawa was untouched during World War II we were impressed by the modern buildings that greeted us in the area around the train station. That night we ate at a Chinese restaurant and later relaxed by catching a little of the Olympics.

The next day we visited the Castle, which dates from the 16^th century. The castle itself was burnt down several time during its history but some buildings have has been reconstructed. David was impressed that for hundreds of years the Japanese have been developing sophisticated wood framing technologies for earthquake-proofing building.

We had agreed that since we were on holiday we weren’t going to pressure ourselves by trying to witness to lots of people. Nonetheless, we took some Christian literature along to be prepared for any divine encounters that the LORD may have had in mind. Sure enough, at the Castle we ran into a class of outgoing junior high school students who wanted to practice their English. As teachers we take every opportunity to provide positive reinforcement for non-native speakers of English and were glad to converse with them! In such situations we try to employ our meager Japanese and somehow communication seems to take place. We had an opportunity to share some of our literature with the students as well as their teacher.

Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa.

After some detours we found our way to Kenrokuen Garden. After pausing for nourishment and refreshment we headed in and wandered for a while, got separated from each other (we’re still learning how to use our cell phones as walkie-talkies) and were reunited again.

Our next stop was an historic geisha district where we met a friendly man who had lived for several years in Portland, Oregon. We had time to squeeze in a visit to an old samurai residence before calling it a day.

Geisha district, Kanazawa.

Samurai Garden, Kanazawa.

Samurai residence, Kanazawa.

Beachside restaurant, Uchinada.

David’s desire has always been to visit the Japan Sea, so we took the bus to Uchinada and hoofed it a mile or so to the ocean. What a pleasant surprise to find a broad, sandy beach with a lifeguard tower and blaring reggae music. David took a dip in the warm Japan Sea under Becky’s watchful gaze, protected (only somewhat, as we later discovered) from the midday sun by an umbrella. The trip back to Kanazawa took only 15 minutes from the train station.

From Kanazawa we moved on to Kyoto, an old city with a laid-back feeling. Dating from the 8^th century, Kyoto, with its interesting castle and impressive imperial palace, was the capital of the Japanese empire prior to its relocation to Edo (Tokyo). We were determined to visit some of its innumerable Shinto and Buddhist religious sites, but that would have to wait.

Golden Temple, Kyoto

In the evening we strolled through a shopping arcade and took in the sights, sounds and smells as we milled around with the crowd. We saw a building with a cross on top and said, “Look, a church! Perhaps, we can worship there on Sunday!” It turned out to be a Christian bookstore. However, Becky found a shop where should could satisfy her hankering to buy a pair of comfortable walking shoes.

As a result of the lingering effects of sunburn and tiredness from Uchinada, the next morning we got off to a late start. After discovering that our free tour bus ticket was only valid in the morning, we figured out how to use the Kyoto subway/bus system to visit to the Golden Temple before calling it a day.

Monday morning we visited the sanjusandendo, a Buddhist temple recommended to us by our students. It is filled with some 1,000 statues of Buddha and various other Hindu/Buddhist deities. We took off our shoes and padded along with the other sightseers, but can offer no pictures since photography was not allowed. We also took several opportunities to stop and quietly pray for the salvation of the Japanese people.

A short time later we left for near-by Osaka, which in some ways is the mirror image of Kyoto. Osaka is Japan’s number 2 city, and a booming commercial capital. We chose Osaka as a convenient hub for visiting nearby Nara and Kobe.

Nintokyuro Tumulus (imperial tomb), Sakai. "National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photograph), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport."

That same day we visited Sakai, which features a series of large Kofun tumuli, keyhole-shaped mounds that served as gigantic tombs for the earliest Japanese emperors. We reached the Nintokyu-ryo Tumulus and trudged around the entire perimeter before finding the entrance. Alas! If we had gone in the opposite direction we could have saved an hour and nursed our waning strength. It turned out that the entrance was gated shut so we couldn’t go in.

Oddly enough, on our return to Osaka we met a young lady on the train who was extremely helpful, inasmuch as we have the gift of getting lost. She asked us if we were Christians and told us she liked Gospel music. We had a good conversation and she explained exactly how to get back to Osaka. This provided a natural opportunity for us to give her some reading material as well as our business card. We don’t know if we’ll hear from her again but if we hadn’t gotten lost earlier and wasted an hour of our time we may not have met. We’re always amazed at how God works things out accidentally on purpose just the way He wants.

Todaiji Temple, Nara.

Tuesday was our chance to visit Nara, which also offered its share of surprises. Nara, established in 710, was the original capital of Japan, before Kyoto, then Edo/Tokyo. Most of the sites are located in a park-like compound but we were surprised to find tame deer wandering around almost everywhere. Becky decided to buy some dry wafers to feed them (we called them “matzos”) but she was even more surprised when one of them hungrily bit her on the thigh! That dampened our enthusiasm only briefly, but afterwards we were more circumspect and skittish around the deer.

Chinatown in Kobe.

The following day we hopped over to nearby Kobe, a relatively young city (1889) that was devastated by Great Hanshin Earthquake 1995. The city has been totally rebuilt since then and the train station features an expansive underground shopping mall.

Our adventure for the day was searching in vain for the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial – Disaster Reduction Museum. We were first directed to the City Museum, tried to take the City Loop bus, were told that it was shut down because of the obon holiday (but it wasn’t), walked some more, asked for more directions, and kept walking. When we finally reached the City Museum they told us we were in the wrong place, but we could get to the Earthquake Museum but walking some more, traveling one stop on the JR line, getting off, walking some more, etc. etc. After reading the brochure kindly provided to us by the museum staff we decided to head back to the train station for sustenance and shopping.

Japan is a blast! We were impressed by the diversity and distinctive atmosphere in each of the cities we visited. We’re always happy when we can meet and talk with people along the way and we give God the glory for his blessing, protection and continued presence during our journey.