Flying to Japan - Day One

April 30th - May 1st

Woke up at 7:00 am to begin a very long day. Leah met me at Mom’s at 8:30 and we left shortly for our appointment at Surrey North Automotive at 9:00 am. After leaving the car, we went to Starbucks for coffee and to just hang out and talk. It is so beautiful today! Everything is so green! The sun is out. Things feel so “fresh” and “alive.” Leah shared about her ministry and some things going on at church. She is interested in going to Uganda in October with others from Westminster Chapel. I hope it works out.

Bert (Mary Ellen’s husband) drove Mom and me to the airport. We got there in plenty of time. We where wheeled through security pretty well. We left right on time – around 2:30 pm, ready for our adventure. Mom and I were the first ones on the plane!

The time went pretty fast on the plane. I didn’t sleep a wink. Mom and I talked, played pinochle, and I listened to music, did crossword and Sudoku. We arrived in Narita almost an hour early! We got through customs and immigration pretty quickly since Mom was in a wheelchair. Hiro and Chris were there to meet us so warmly and graciously! Hiro quickly bought us some cold bottled water. We went to the restroom which I found an interesting adventure. To enter the bathroom, I pushed a green button which opened the door. To close the door behind me, I pushed a red button. I noticed no towels to dry my hands after washing.

Once we got to the car, the first thing I noticed was that the steering wheel was on the right side for driving on the left side. It wasn’t as big an adjustment as I thought it might be. Hiro is a very good driver and maneuvers himself very well through traffic. There are many toll highways. He gets through with a device in his glove box which the gate reads automatically. Generally, the speed limit is 80 kilometers. Hiro has a radar detector. He shared that he got a speeding ticket recently while in their other car. He was going through the tunnel at 9:30 at night with not much traffic. I think he said the policeman clocked him at 160 kilometers per hour which would translate into 100 mph! Hiro was thankful he didn’t get a “red card” for the ticket which is a more severe ticket.

From my conversation with Hiro I learned that the church in Japan is having a hard time keeping the youth, especially once they become teenagers, and especially boys. Sports and other activities consume times on Sunday.

Education is very important in Japan. It's not unusual for students to be at school or at "clubs" at school to further their education until quite late in the evening. “Juku” is a costly private school and business which many parents pay for to help provide further education for their children.

The church is made up primarily of older people, and mostly women. I am burdened for the men of Japan! What can we do to reach them? I also learned that once a Japanese man retires, he finds it difficult to adjust to life. Japan is doing more to help retirees find a more satisfactory living after retirement. I also learned that many wives wait for their husbands to retire before divorcing them, so that they can live on half their retirement.

We stopped at a couple “P” stops (as dad used to call them). One was in the middle of Tokyo Bay where we had something to eat. I ordered noodles, a custard kind of thing (not sweet), miso soup, clams (very little ones) over sticky rice. It was all very good. Not how I envisioned Japanese food to taste. For dessert, we had “sesame” ice cream with mochi (a tasteless rice paste in balls). After one last “P” stop we finally arrived at Shizuoka. We are staying at the Century Hotel, the newest and finest hotel in the city. I'm overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of our hosts Hiro and Chris Unno. I’m hoping that it might clear up enough so we can see Mt. Fuji. I've been told we should be able to see Mt. Fuji from our hotel room.

Well, we settled into our room. Two twin beds, lower to the floor than usual, each with a feather down comforter. Our pillows are made up of buckwheat, like Dad used to like. I like them as well. My head hit one of those pillows at precisely 11:00 pm, exactly 24 hours after waking up in Seattle. It hit me that I had been up for 24 hours straight!