First Steps

The first time I set foot on Japanese soil, I was excited but exhausted; I ended up working much harder on luggage transport than necessary and making a complete fool of myself before I made it to my place & into bed.

This time, thankfully, was different.

I had the privilege of finding a new friend in my seatmate: Kohei, from a town near Tokyo, who had just finished his own study-abroad adventure.  We talked about Japanese dramas, sports and economic development for a good portion of the flight.  Between talking and enjoying said dramas from the plane's well-stocked movie collection, I only needed a few winks of sleep.

After the plane touched down, I prayed in the airport with seven friends & fellow interns, grateful to God that He finally allowed us to go--with no visa trouble this time!  (We're still waiting for the final member of our team, but confident that she'll join us very soon.)

A familiar staff face welcomed us to Japan and let me play a geography game on his iPad while heading to our apartments.  We took a minivan taxi, barely fitting all nine of us in the tinier seats, and I must compliment the driver on his superb Tetris skills--he managed to fit all of our bags and didn't even charge us extra!

After the ride and unloading, I used my Japanese to work out payment of our fare with the driver; we needed smaller bills in change so all of us could pay evenly.  Between the suddenly obvious time lag, general travel fatigue and long-unused vocabulary of payment I felt really tired.  The high humidity didn't help, but also didn't keep me from crashing asleep a few hours later.

Long, yes, but blessedly hassle-free.  Thank you, taxi driver.  Your efficiency and professionalism was wonderful.

Sneak preview: life in a palace

Putting Life Together

Packing isn’t fun for me.  In fact, it has historically been the most annoying and stress-inducing part of my international travels.  I have consequently developed the unhelpful habit of delaying it as much as possible and cramming it into the evening before departure.

This time, however, I was able to break with that unfortunate tradition.  From the beginning of the summer I made a small stack of essentials: Bible, passport, description of how best to bike to a good soba [buckwheat noodle] restaurant.  I then commenced packing my clothes, selected with an eye toward a cold Japanese winter and Euro-style Tokyo fashion tastes, on the Friday before my Monday morning departure.

My sister and I had much more fun than I imagined picking out several fun new wardrobe updates, and for the first time as a grown man I went beyond tolerating or shrugging my shoulders at the thought of trying on clothes.  Some of the styles were simply fun to laugh at together (salmon colored shorts…for men?) and others fit me surprisingly well.  Very glad I had an objective eye with me in the store—thanks, T.

I know that Tokyo boasts a lot of options, particularly with regard to books and entertainment, and so the only real essentials were: clothes that fit me (sadly rare); fewer than 5 English books (an exercise in self-restraint + a spur to reading more Japanese); and basic starting toiletries, which I could safely replenish once in country.

I was able to fit all these desired belongings into two large luggage containers, with my computer, books and two card games in my single carry-on.  Oh yeah, and my “special item” under new airport regulations: a fine, soft-case-protected ukulele!

Overall, I’m grateful that packing let me bond with my sister & family and was not a huge source of stress for anyone involved.  Rather, it will not only relieve some of my in-country needs before I feel them—no need to hunt around desperately for more long-sleeve shirts after the chill sets in—but also helped me get excited for life in Tokyo again.  The Lord has finally allowed me back, and I get to get ready for it.

My packing night’s theme song: the evocative “Ships on the Ocean Floor” by The Autumn Film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wONgIBYbA70)

Hilo Writing

This post is dedicated to my friend Dave Young Kim, a visionary artist--see for yourself at daveykim.blogspot.com/--who taught me all I know about what I used to call "tagging" but now know goes by "writing" on the streets.

Some of these works are better seen by clicking the image for a full-size view.

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Kinoole St. has quite a few murals. Starting with the most striking, which is on the side of Spencer's Gym:


This impressive piece of work features a tiki idol on the left side, an unknown water just to the right of some traveling Polynesians (the golden boat) and the often-seen Pele, goddess of the nearby volcano. This rightmost character has lava for hair and a hibiscus flower behind her right ear.


The mural's title.


Just in case you manage to step off a flight to Hawaii without catching some of the lingo: Mahalo = thanks. Vague words of wisdom courtesy of an island boy who's king of the unofficial state music, judging from the selection of FM stations.



The contributors, with a close-up of the aforementioned lava locks. 2 ladies and 4 gentlemen, but what really interests me about the list of artists is the fact that all but one (second from the bottom) have Japanese surnames.


On the side of supermarket KTA, you can find this version of modern food production, topped by a phrase which seems like a 1930s-era relic to my Bay Area mind. Just beneath it is the idyllic past of Polynesian fishing:


There's also a display of local flora & feathers further up the street:


And now for something completely different! Poi [taro root paste] is the one food that I have a hard time getting excited about due to its bland taste, library paste-consistency and expensive price. Hilo's no LA or Oakland if people have time to put up things like this (just add a few vowels if you can't figure it out):

Book Review #6: Return of the King

Sixth in a series of 8. The book for this review is courtesy of Amanda Sever: J.R.R. Tolkien's Return of the King.

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The final film of the Matrix trilogy (remember when those set the cultural standard of cool?) carried this tautologous tagline: "Everything that has a beginning has an end." This has interesting theological implications* yet could have carried more meaning by speaking in terms of expectation. If a story grabs our attention, we want it to end in a satisfactory manner. And the more we are invested in the storyline and world, the more deeply we desire that the ending suits the story. Witness 8.3 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being sold in its first 24 hours of American release or diehard fans of the cancelled TV series "Firefly" demanding further material, released in movie form three years later as Serenity.

Tolkien's desire to create a believable world for the Elvish language he invented ultimately blossomed into The Lord of the Rings, the gold standard of fantasy writing (although if you are more devoted a Tolkien fan than me, you probably think that The Silmarillion is his pinnacle achievement). This is not the book to begin with--the characters get no introduction and most of the events, including the climactic War of the Ring, are long foreshadowed in the earlier two volumes--yet given that any proper reading of Return of the King must be in context of the other two, I cannot count these facts against the work.

I reread the entire trilogy last summer and fall, and it was quite rewarding on several levels. Since it was read to me by my father in childhood, I had forgotten the value the book places on true, unhurried conversation--clearly influenced, I think, by Tolkien's peer group the Inklings and their pub meetings. While not explicitly Christian in terminology, the author weaves Biblical material throughout the narrative. My personal favorite point of overlap was the "healing hands" of the prophesied King of Gondor, modeled on Jesus's earthly ministry and displaying this other King's humble, servant character.

In addition to intellectual and spiritual satisfaction with the story, I thought Tolkien continued his fabulous job of crafting a world consistent with its own rules and history. Indeed, he went beyond wrapping up the requisite plot threads and in doing so proved that his fictional universe is bigger than the mission of destroying the Ring of Power. Though at times I felt he was taking too long to get back to the action in Mordor pre-war, I had no such qualms about the extended denouement. Why? Life doesn't simply derive meaning from any particular task or even what we get to do in the time allotted to us, so I appreciated the philosophical statement about the value of 'regular life.' Though I don't fully agree with the political implications of the Shire's scouring, it makes sad sense in the story. And the final scene--how dare I spoil it?--is a very rare moment of authentic and satisfying closure in fiction, made all the sweeter by the momentous journey it took to reach.

SUMMARY

Appreciated the clear Biblical worldview, imaginative milieu and satisfying end to the saga

Disliked its sometimes too-languid pace in the first half

I would recommend this book to anyone seeking true adventure, though starting here is nowhere near as rewarding as beginning with the first two books. It's worth your time and not replaceable with the filmed version.

Disclaimer: There are extended scenes of fantastic battle violence (not that meaning, though they are well written)

*God is the only uncreated One; everything else is by definition finite, and apart from His gracious sustenance will end (the world as tainted by our sin is the most obvious example). The Biblical teaching of eternal life for those who trust Jesus does not contradict this because He defined eternal life as both Himself and the knowledge of Him (John 14.6, 17.3), thus imparting His own eternality to those who are joined to Him by faith. This is completely different from one-with-God paganism or mysticism, which reduces God-likeness to an earthly experience and attempts to bring Him down to our level.

Slow is Fast

Take 8 recent college graduates who are praying for a way to share Christ with students in Japan but aren't given official permission to live there and add 1 teammate soon to finish a semester of ministry in Tokyo. We were prepared for a stunningly efficient public transportation system, astronomical prices for rent and food, a bewildering linguistic environment (most of us), Biblically disinterested students who keep to themselves and some of the densest urban living possible on the planet.

Given our expectations and prayerful preparations, where would you have considered reassigning us?

Through Cru staff, who were incredibly helpful in the transition process, we believe God's will for the remaining six months is that we live and work here on the big island of Hawaii. True, it's a great contrast with where we were headed before: a mere 43,000 laid-back inhabitants who often embrace others when meeting them; full domestic cell phone and postal services; car-dominated roads with few reliable buses; and an abundance of the Lord's glorious creation from beaches to rain forests. But there are also great opportunities ahead.

Yes, Hawaii is part of America since it was annexed in 1898. Yet the culture here, particularly on this island, is strongly tied to the traditions of the native Hawaiians as well as Japanese immigrants. This doesn't just mean that living in this non-touristy small town will involve culture shock, but also that students who here surrender their lives to Jesus may head to serve in Asian countries rather than the mainland given their cultural affinity to the former. In a strange way, then, coming here may be a bigger step in reaching Japan (if, as we think, it's the Lord's will) than if we had been able to go directly ourselves. We are at least praying that this will prove true.

The realization of this dream, though, will have to wait until students return to UH Hilo the second week of January. For now, we are mostly accustomed to the time difference, PST + 2 hours, and attempting to get used to the incessant bouts of rain--anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours in duration. (Just to put things in perspective from the averages: 90% of days in a year are at least partially cloudy here, with 278 days on which a total of 126.3 inches of rain fall.) Since students have yet to return, we are locking down the logistics that the transition left undetermined: where will we live? And how will we get to campus?

The staff couple here has been super helpful, even letting us housesit during this period of transition as long as we feed their animals. That said, the days tend to flow like molasses: little to do which, given the island mentality of those managing apartments etc., takes lots of time--so different than the hurry-hurry lifestyle I've adopted in the Bay Area. I have to remind myself that part of this process of waiting (still) is being used by the Lord to grow us in patience and ground us in His love & a shared team mentality (best born out of frustrating and trying times!) so we can be maximally effective together come January.

The title of this post is a maxim one of the staff, a Hilo native, quoted to us in our re-briefing. Things do indeed run at a different pace here, but to best minister to the locals we must adapt and speak into this context. After all, didn't our Savior do the same in His earthly sojourn?

Book Review #5: Artemis Fowl

Fifth in a series of 8. The book for this review is courtesy of Kimiyo Brown: Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl.

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Children are too often sentimentalized, I think. They are complicated, imaginative and clearly sinful beings, their shifting personality gaining shape underneath a time-sensitive ration of cuteness. I dearly love playing with them--OK, most of them--and am intrigued at the thought that (to my knowledge) Jesus is the only major religious leader who is reported as socializing with them. But kids can also behave very badly, especially under the influence of bad examples, and a recent superhero movie titled with an expletive made headlines for a particularly profane 11-year-old character.

A good fictional portrayal of children, therefore, should not be sentimentalized (and even a cursory glance at Jane Eyre or most any story by Dickens reveals was not such a temptation in past centuries as now). Leaning the opposite direction, however, not only breeds cynicism but also sets a low standard for any observing children. It bears asking, then, if Colfer's portrayal of this book's titular protagonist--a 12-year-old prodigy seeking to step into the criminal shoes of his gangster father by robbing fairy gold--walks this fine line of reality or not.

In my observation, the answer is no. Artemis is clearly not meant to be a role model, but he is also short on redeeming qualities save his melodramatic habit of becoming the winner by staying intellectually ahead of his opponents. The one wrinkle in his cool facade is affection for his mother, living in a world colored by dementia and grief. Apart from the fairy costuming, this is a genre thriller for kids, with the requisite cast of one-note characters behind the scenes, high degree of violence and grey-shaded morality in its numerous double-crossing twists. What sets this tale apart for me is its notes of sarcastic humor, which add a level of sophistication and interest to both the characters and the plot (though I could have done without the appearance of a poop joke at a key plot point).

If this is part of the future of kid's literature, I would have to say it's more influenced by televised & filmed sources than written ones, as almost all of the material hinged on the actions and not the thoughts of the characters; to my thinking, this is tantamount to ignoring the medium's greatest strength and reminiscent of the later episodes in the Harry Potter series. I know it's not exactly fair to criticize the wandering nature of the plot and its several loose ends by the conclusion, as this is the first in a series and is not attempting to be conclusive. However, I didn't feel compelled enough by what I found here to want to further acquaint myself with either the fairy world or the overly static characters.

SUMMARY

Appreciated the sly notes of humor

Disliked the inverted morality and occasionally aimless plot

I would recommend this book to less impressionable readers (preferably adults) who want a mental break

Disclaimer: This book contains one scene of graphic violence and several other fights.

Bend in Plans

My 'year abroad' has thus far been a giant exercise in trusting the sovereignty of the risen Christ Jesus over all things, including my emotions, bank account and exact location on this planet.

We have heard official word from the Japanese government: our visa papers were denied. There is as yet no explanation, but though eventually it would be nice, my team is learning to rest in the fact that the Lord has made His will clear through the bureaucracy.

Our leaders made the decision not to appeal their ruling for several reasons: 1) God calls us to submit to and obey government leaders so long as they do not command sin or forbid what He commands (Romans 13:1-2); 2) it's late in the year and better that we get on campus somewhere; 3) it's doubtful that the Japanese government, which doesn't respond favorably to what they may consider meddling, would reverse the decision; and 4) there are few options for sidestepping this barrier, all of which would involve going behind the backs of the authorities--which is far from a Christlike testimony.

Does it challenge my faith that through financial provision and personal leading, it was clear that He wanted us to go to Japan but the plan has changed? Somewhat. God is free to do what He wants; He is the Creator and I am not. And since I was called to serve with Cru this year not of my own will, but (in part) because I needed to be directly reminded that ministry is His work and not mine, this wrinkle in the mix comes as a further confirmation of His desire in molding my heart through these various circumstances.

If I could have chosen, I would be in Tokyo right now, meeting up with friends old and new, savoring the cuisine I became accustomed to (even with high prices for daily groceries and a dearth of fruit & vegetables given my budget) and telling more people about Who Jesus really is--the Creator of all there is--and why believing hearts have a reason to commemorate His coming to earth. But that would not be walking in faithfulness to the doors He has opened; it would seem spiritual, but in reality be a selfish escape to my own dreams. Ministry without Christ's presence and direction is truly pointless.

We are being redirected to the University of Hawaii, Hilo for the remaining six months of our missionary term. I look forward to updating you on this blog, despite its title, of our coming adventures of faith as we follow our great God and Savior on this new island.