Goodbye Tsugumi

I'm reading a book called "Goodbye Tsugumi" (confession: mainly because the author's name is "Banana Yoshimoto", and that is just fantastic) and I'm really enjoying it. It keeps surprising me with these random paragraphs of thoughts from the main character that just scream "God!". For example:

"...the ocean had always been there, in the good times as well as the bad...all I had to do was turn my head and it would be there, always the same...what on earth did people in the city turn to when they felt the need to reckon with "balance"? Maybe the moon?...but then the moon was so small and far away, and something about it felt sort of lonely, and it didn't seem like it would really help..."

The need for something constant. And not just constant, but bigger - greater than ourselves. And not just greater, but near- close- here with us. I long for the world to see that that something is there. And just as the ocean is more helpful than the moon, our God is infinitely more satisfying than the ocean.

Where do you turn when you feel the "need to reckon with balance"?

Matsuri! (Festival!)

One of the portable shrines (omikoshi)
at the shrine the night before.

Our neighborhood had their big, only-happens-every-few-years festival (Sumiyoshi Shrine Grand Festival). They had to post-pone it last summer because of the 3-11 disaster, so it was a huge deal.

They've been building these huts around the community
all summer, so I've been super curious about what would
go in them! Notice the offerings of sake, symbols of the crane and
the crest with the 3 dots, and (blurry- sorry) dragon heads. 

The dragons started at the shrine, with this big repetitive
 ceremony of mock fighting/dancing, then paraded the town.
While really fun and interesting, it sinks in how much of a
religious festival this is: we saw lots of people displaying framed
pictures of deceased family members (whether to help their spirits
travel back, or get blessings for them from the gods, or something
entirely different? I'm not sure...)

The ones with green lighting were kinda creepy...




All of the portable shrines feature this bird on top.
Our guide at the history museum said the shrine gates
(called torii; tori=bird) were originally made for
the birds to perch on. Birds are definitely an important symbol; I think they're supposed to connect the world/spirit world...

Lots of excited people, lots of mikoshi of all sizes parading
the town, lots of water being splashed on the carriers!



I woke up at 7 Sunday to the sound of drums, and looked out
window to see one of the mikoshi "parading" the river around
our little island neighborhood.



and docking right below us!





Tasty festival food, colors, music, clothes, decorations, meanings behind them, learning more about what my neighbors believe and desire... I'm still processing it all. Such an interesting weekend!   

Reflections on Tea

Single flower in a vase. Single kanji painting to meditate on (waterfall). Tatami mats. Shoji (white paper) doors. Small sweet cake. Green tea. Every turn of the bowl, twist of the hand, placement of the cup...is careful and deliberate.

For weeks I have been processing the tea ceremony experience, trying to figure out how to put my thoughts into words. It is fascinating to look into Japanese history, culture, and values... and to compare with Communion. While it is obviously missing the deep and powerful meaning of the Lord's Supper (I'll just say "grace!" and leave it at that), it shares so many other themes: ceremony, beauty, humility, cleanliness. In the tea room, everyone is equal. The mind is quiet and meditative. The small cake and tea are not meant to fill you up like a meal. The relationships of everything from placement of tea cup to whisk, to the relationships of person to person are central.

Though there is a loneliness, an emptiness, in Japan, sometimes more than others, which some people sense more than others... Japan is so incredibly good. While there are certainly exceptions and I wouldn't make these as universal statements, the values and themes we saw in the tea ceremony can often be seen all around Tokyo: the cleanliness of the subways and streets, the conscientiousness of the people around you, the care for beauty seen everywhere from bento lunches to plants grown on every doorstep, the honor, the drive to excell, things are orderly and prompt, people are helpful and hospitable, my person and my belongings are far safer than they were in, say, Jackson, MS...

 I glimpse the beauty of Communion in the tea ceremony, and in the many good aspects of Japan I see a shadow of the Creator, like His signature on a masterpiece. While I fumble for words to express both the goodness and deep need in Japan, my mind keeps returning to this quote: "The Divine ‘goodness’ differs from ours, but it is not sheerly different: it differs from ours not as white from black but as a perfect circle from a child’s first attempt to draw a wheel. But when the child has learned to draw, it will know that the circle it then makes is what it was trying to make from the very beginning." ~C.S. Lewis (Problem of Pain) 

Radiant Smile; a reflection

As I took a seat in the warm, full-of-200-other-people-waiting immigration office waiting for my little number to be called, I ended up right next to the kids' area. About 2 hours in, just as I was feeling reeeally bored of the textbooks I had brought with me, over comes yet another slightly frazzled looking family of gaijin (from India, I think, but that's irrelevant). Their little girl, probably 2 years old, was the most adorable little girl on the planet. Within seconds this girl had started her rounds: clutching a fuzzy koala bear to her chest, she would walk over to a random person, look up with wide eyes, then break out a huge smile, hold eye contact for a few seconds, and move on to the next person.

Without a single failure, every person she approached, from bored teenager to tired Mom to grumpy businessman, met her eye contact (once they noticed her) and returned a big genuine smile. You just couldn't help it, her joy was so contagious. It didn't mean we were happy about the waiting, and we still very much wanted to get out of there ASAP, and that other kid in the corner was still screaming... but somehow that smile brought our focus out of our little self-centered bubbles of paperwork/boredom, and in the midst of it all there was a splash of beauty, of joy.

In a way, I think God is a little like that (or rather, that is a little like God). He wants to be our focus, to get us to snap out of our little bubble, to wake up to His beauty, to share in His marvelously contagious joy.

And now that I think back, as more of us were charmed by this little girl, the simple fact that we were focusing on her and smiling caught other people's attention, too: they'd look at us, then look where we were looking to see what was so great...

"The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." (Numbers 6)

What do you do for fun?

"So, what do you do for fun?" is a question I've been asked quite a lot lately. I've had some trouble answering it spur the moment because... when I do get free time I often just want rest. But I am thoroughly enjoying all the things I get to do!

~One of my favorite discoveries is this studio, where the owner invited me to come practice clarinet anytime! Besides being a free practice space (where my noise isn't bothering anyone), it's also a really relaxed, welcoming, international atmosphere. (Their mission/vision is providing this atmosphere for high school students, a good place to take lessons, hang out, and jam. Pretty awesome.) I'll be visiting them often on my days off!

~Summer in Japan is omatsuri season! This one was really fun, and there's more to come. Luka and I donned yukata (hand-made by my friend's grandmother when she was in highschool/college!!) and hit the main street to check it out and try some traditional tasty treats. Awesome look into culture- including watching the traditional dance that night, accompanied by singing and lead by a lone taiko drummer.



I'm also really enjoying being part of gospel choir! Here we are after leading the music for worship at church last Sunday. Besides being fun, Gospel music is great for my Japanese study, getting to know people, a great outreach ministry...fantastic on so many levels.



And one of my favorite activities for fun: eating! : ) This particular outing was with a group of Christians who meet about once a month to eat, talk, and have a Bible study together. Just hanging out over a meal is so refreshing (and again, great for my Japanese practice)!



Trip North

Here are some snapshots from my first short trip to Ishinomaki, one of the cities hit hard by 3-11, and the focal area for our relief/restoration ministry. Above, the neighborhood where we stayed (I slept in one of the big yellow tents with about 15 other volunteers).

Set up the portable pipe organ for the concert in Ishinomaki

started off with audience-participation
hula dancing
lead by a short-term team from CA!

There is quite the story behind what remains of
the building on the left.

It now has a memorial at the base. Smell of incense, song of birds who have taken up residence in the beams, bright colors of 1000s of paper cranes contrasted by the dingy greys of lost "hello-kitty" dolls...

The coast-line of Rikuzentakata, a few hours
farther north. It used to be known for its beautiful
pine trees, now broken stumps-

except for this one. One tall miracle tree somehow
 survived, a symbol of hope and strength.









~Sunday we went to a church that started last year after the tsunami. 2 people came for the first time, because of the work Samaritan's Purse (and other groups) had done for their homes. 

~Conversations about music after a concert- how it was the first time someone had heard a live cello... how years ago someone from their neighborhood got into one of the top music schools... why Juilliard musicians would come all this way just to play for them... 

~perspective. dreams. nostalgia. strength. perserverance. looking back, and looking forward.

Hope. Praying for these cities.

The team from Juilliard! Here they are (14 musicians and a dancer) with some new friends after a performance party. They did so many performances, lessons, played for churches...and were just a fabulous bunch. I miss them already!

3 of the musicians are staying a few extra weeks : ) This morning they performed a mini benefit concert at a tower community room, the center of "Tsukuda Loves Tohoku" (disaster relief from this neighborhood to the area hit hardest by 3-11). One of the workers at this tower dropped by, donating a pile of change he had found while cleaning around the building.

I'll be seeing a lot of this great little room as I get involved in "Tsukuda loves Tohoku", and it's also where I go for our neighborhood Gospel Choir rehearsals every Friday : )