Japanese Lessons and Tourist Days

So some of you may wonder: what does the J3 do while in Tokyo and not teaching? The answer: Japanese lessons three days a week, lectures and bible studies, homework, church duties, and a lot of exploring. So let me take you through a class day and then we will talk about seminary days (which include the history of Christianity mentioned above that I swear one day I will write about) and finally some places discovered while exploring.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday I have Japanese class (*note: by the time I post this, the correct terminology will be had. My last class was on Friday). I leave the apartment at nine with Laura and Morgan and get on the subway. We are right at the end of Tokyo rush hour so the initial part of the ride is, of course, packed. I am pretty used to it by now though. The ride takes about forty minutes and then we walk about five minutes to the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Association headquarters. The headquarters building is really nice and we hold class in a big room on the first floor where they often hold meetings and worship services. Laura is in an advanced class on her own, so my class includes Morgan, myself (obviously), and Eric and Tauna, the new missionary couple here in Tokyo. Our teachers (we have two, one for Tuesdays and Fridays and one on Wednesdays) are very kind and patient. Class lasts two hours with a ten minute break in the middle. It is sourly needed because, depending on the day, okay so most days, my brain is about ready to explode by that point. It has gotten easier though, especially as I have gotten much better at reading Hirigana (the first of the three, count them, three, Japanese alphabets). Sentence structure is another matter. For the English speaking brain it is backwards and circular at the same time. Like Yoda, but more complicated. Anyway, since I was late coming in (stupid appendix), I have tutoring sessions after class to catch up. By this point my brain is mush, so I don't retain much, I'm sure.

After class the five of us and Paul often go out for business lunches at Ebisu station. We discuss how class is going (HA!) and what is coming up in the grand scheme of the J3 adventure. Always a good time. On Wednesdays we go to the JELC headquarters (the same as above, but substitute Church for Association) and have bible study or lecture with Pastor Asano, the head of the JELC. These sessions are thought provoking and interesting. Afterwards I go home and crash for about an hour before beginning homework. We have "a lot" of homework for class. It's really not all that bad, but when I was just starting out it took me like ten minutes to decipher the question and then another ten to answer it and say I had ten questions... you can see where I am going with this.

We have gone to the Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary twice for lectures on different subjects: the history of Christianity in Japan, living as a foreigner in Japan, Christianity and Japanese culture, etc. These lectures need a blog post unto themselves and trust me, it is coming. The breadth and the scope is such that when it comes, steal yourself. Its gonna be one long post.

If we don't have a lecture at JELC or at the Seminary we have afternoons off (also Mondays and Saturdays are free). We either explore or do those mundane things such as laundry, grocery shopping, errand running, along with studying, studying, and more studying. Grocery shopping is always entertaining because, unless I stand right next to Laura and say "what's this, what's this, what's this" pointing to every object in turn (which has happened, you can ask her) I really don't know what I am getting. To make this even more complicated, I didn't really know how to cook when I was in America, much less here in Japan. These two things combined have put me on an interesting diet. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, instant ramen, eggs, pasta, bananas, Ritz crackers, cereal... and that's about it. Sad huh? Peanut butter is really expensive here, but its half the protein in my diet so I can't give it up. Plus, it's Skippy. So good. The ramen is not the fifteen cent packs at home, its way better, though still instant and not as good as the real deal you get in the restaurants. I tried to make the real deal once, with an egg and everything, and it was positively disgusting. I really have no idea where I went wrong. I haven't tried to "cook" since. I am looking up recipes though, so hopefully this will change. Let's be real, it has to change. Just writing it out makes me ashamed.

Our exploring has taken us to some interesting places. A few weeks ago Laura, Morgan and I went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum which tells the history of how the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, moved the capital of Japan from Kyoto to Edo, which is now Tokyo, and history of Edo/Tokyo up until the 1964 Olympics. I was so excited to be in a history museum... until I got to the first exhibit. The English explanation was two paragraphs and the second described where they had gotten the information. I was so upset. How was I going to learn anything about what I was looking at? Luckily, this museum has volunteer tour guides at no extra cost. So I marched right up and asked if someone could show me around. I had my own personal tour guide! The man who took me around had the best stories for everything (not that I have anything to compare them too but still) and had extra materials to supplement what I was seeing. I learned about the firefighting in Edo, the literacy rates (over 80%!), wars with Korea and China, women's roles, city development, the shogunate lineage, kabuki or traditional Japanese theater, Commodore Matthew Perry, the Chinese influence, the first Western architects in Japan, the Meiji Restoration, the earthquake of 1923, World War II or the Cold War as it is known here, and so, so much more! I was in history nerd heaven! I walked around for over two hours, the entire time desperately wishing I had something use for note taking. Morgan and Laura, God bless them, let me have my fun. It is my favorite place I have been so far and I cannot wait to go to the Japan National History Museum! Below are some fun pictures I took at the museum.

This fancy fireman's pole was used to tell other fire departments which department was handling a fire that had broken out. Some poor guy had to stand on the roof of a nearby building and twirl that thing for hours while the others put the fire out (mostly by tearing down the buildings around it so it had no where to go). Oh that pole? It weighs 15kg. Which is about 33 pounds. Pretty heavy to hold up high without a break for hours on end.

Poor Canada. This is the surrender agreement signed on the USS Missouri. The Canadian representative apparently got nervous because he didn't sign on the line. He signed under it. Now New Zealand is just hanging out at the bottom. If you look close you can see where MacArthur's aide initialed the changes since MacArthur himself had already left.

 

A replica of the Nihonbashi Bridge which spanned the Nihonbashi River and connected the merchants to the more elite classes. It was a very popular spot during the Edo period and was replaced by a stone bridge during the Meiji period.

Another favorite stop has to be Korea Town. Reasons one, two, three, and four are listed here. Reason one: I get to unlease my inner fangirl. Many of you might be unaware, but I love Korean dramas! Subbed in English of course. It's slightly ironic since I am in Japan, but let me tell you, my fellow ladies here in Japan are right there with me. There are fangirl shops up and down the street and if you go at the wrong time there is a line out the door and down the block. These places are packed! So fun! Reason two: hotteok. This is a Korean pancake/English muffin fried in/with? honey, stuffed with honey, peanuts and brown sugar. I took one bite and thought I had died and gone to heaven. You can get all different kinds, but I probably will only know this one, because I can't NOT get it, it's so amazingly good. There are five street vendors selling these and I intend to try every one and compare. Reason three: Snow Cup. The best mocha I have ever had in my life. It's on the second floor of a building and as you climb the pastel colored stairs you can smell powdered sugar. The shop sells waffles decked out in whipped cream, powdered sugar, strawberries and all other kinds of goodness. Mocha only for me though (I was full of hotteok at the time). Laura had a strawberry mocha. Amazing! Reason four: Tokyo Lutheran is on this street and they cooked us a turkey for Thanksgiving. How can you not love that?

Korea Town. View from Snow Cup. If you look really close you can see how packed the sidewalk is; so hard to move!

Self explanatory I think!

Eating turkey and mashed potatoes with chopsticks!

 

I am really enjoying my time here in Tokyo. So much to see and do! It's hard though because we are leaving so soon. It makes it difficult to "put down roots" as it were. I don't really want to get to attached, but it is hard not to. God made a very special, unique place here in Tokyo. I feel blessed to be here and a part of the madness if only for a short time. And I call it madness with the utmost love and affection. We are already making plans to come back over summer break in order to a) climb Mount Fuji (though I might be the only one of the three of us!), b) go to Disney Land/Disney Sea c) see our friends again! It will be hard to leave, but I am ready for Kumamoto. I am impatient to see the place I will call home for the next two years.