Day Two

May 2

I was awoken in the middle of the night with a man's voice speaking Japanese coming from a speaker in the bathroom. He repeated himself. I thought it was a problem with the speakers in the bathroom and that somehow it was playing what was on TV. Why I thought that, I don't know because the TV wasn't even on! Anyway, it WAS the middle of the night. Then I realize that Mom is in the bathroom. She finally speaks some words in Japanese (amazing how they just came to her) informing the Japanese man "in the speaker" that everything was ok.

To explain what was going on I have to tell you something about the toilets here in Japan. They are amazing! The toilet seats are warm! Yes, warm! Then they've got these buttons on the side of the toilet which allow you to spray some water which cleans you up. I hope you get the drift of what the water does, because I'm not going to spell it out for you.

Anyway, Mom apparently thought she was pushing the button that sprayed water to clean herself, when instead, she had pushed the "HELP" button which rang the front desk in case of emergency and help was needed. Wow, what a way to be woken up!

This jet lag thing is interesting. I haven't had a problem staying awake. I've had the problem of waking up in the middle of the night or early morning and not being able to fall asleep too easily.

We enjoyed a lavish breakfast bar at the hotel which our friends and hosts Hiro and Chris Unno have provided for us. They have been so kind and generous to us! Hiro has made all the arrangements for us here down to every detail of where we go, who we see next, etc.

After breakfast, Hiro and Chris picked us up and we headed to Shizuoka Eiwa Gakuin University, where dad used to teach. We were ushered into the conference room at the university where a steady stream of professors and administrators greeted us, including the president of the university. We were shown pictures of dad from yearbooks of the university the years dad taught here. It was obvious that they all thought a lot of dad.

From the conference room we headed to chapel where we heard a report from an alumnus who is now working with handicapped children (all of the chapel was in Japanese, but interpreted for us by Hiro and Chris in whispered voice). Toward the end of chapel, mom and I were introduced. I was disappointed in what I saw at chapel. I saw the students disinterested and showing lack of respect to what was going on at the chapel service. I thought of the potential in that room if each one would truly come to Christ and experience what it would be like to serve Him in changing the world.

From the university, we travelled next for lunch to the Nihondaira Hotel, a hotel on the top of a hill overlooking the city of Shizuoka. Since we were early in meeting our friends Tadatoshi and Fumiko Mochizuki (mom and dad's former landlords and also students), we stopped off for a view from a view point which just happened to have some ice cream for sale. We each had some green tea ice cream. It was pretty good. Green tea is grown in the area and you see a lot of green tea products here.

The cuisine at the hotel is a French - Japanese mixture. Food was elegantly prepared. Seems like the presentation of the food is just as, if not more important than how the food actually tastes.

Following lunch we headed to Shizuoka Eiwa Jogaquin where mom used to teach. This is an all girls "Christian" junior high/high school. Here we got the same royal treatment as we had earlier in the day. A steady stream of former colleagues came into the conference room to greet mom and meet me. Here again, it was obvious to me that these people thought a lot of mom. We toured the facility including a remodeled chapel complete with the preserved podium/lectern/pulpit which mom had used to address the girls at various chapel services when she taught here. One colleague mentioned how she remembered to this day mom's challenge one chapel with the acrostic J-O-Y as a help in prioritizing one's relationships: Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last.

Our next stop was the Sunpu Castle in the middle of the city. Yes, a castle complete with moat and everything! This castle was built and inhabited by the Samurais several hundred years ago. There is a beautiful traditional Japanese garden within the castle walls now. We were too late in the day to tour the Japanese garden, but we were able to get a glimpse and take some pictures of some of the garden.

From the castle we went to the Mochizuki's home and visit the house where mom and dad lived for most of their stay here in Shizuoka. It's a cute two story white house which mom and dad called their "doll house." The Mochizuki's have a very nice traditional style Japanese house. Tadatoshi is a hunter. I had met him before when he came to Washington after one of his hunting expeditions. He has one room of the house devoted to stuffed animals which he has been successful in hunting. He has been to Siberia, Canada, Wyoming for some of his hunting trips. Fumiko is a trained pianist and very talented.

From the Mochizuki's we went to visit Ricky and Sarah Gordon. Ricky is the pastor of Living Way, where Hiro and Chris attend and where I will be preaching on Sunday. I was very impressed with their ministry in getting children adopted through an agency they work with. They themselves have adopted 5 of their 10 children. They have placed closed to 200 babies in the last 10 years or so.

Following the visit to the Gordon's we went to a restaurant with the Unno's where we shared a traditional Japanese meal. I ate raw fish for the first time, can you believe it? It really wasn't bad. It sure slid down easily! We also shared together a traditional "shabu shabu" which is basically thinly sliced meat along with vegetables stirred in boiling water served at the table. Shabu shabu refers to the stirring action. Literally, "shabu shabu" means "stir, stir."

What a fun and stretching experience. Another full day experiencing some reminiscing as well as brand new experiences.