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@just bee wrote:
@rnmomwrote:@Oshare-girl-thanks for sharing about your mission trip, I look forward to hearing more about it!
Fascinating! And how cool for your family to have that experience. KFC makes sense in Japan. It would be like tempura except instead of seafood or vegetable, it's chicken. Sort of. (I'm definitely interested in the strawberry soda.)
One of my favorite classes in college was Asian Art. Studied Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Indian art -- and a lot of the history. I worked for a Japanese company for 13 years but never had the chance to see Japan.
My list of states and countries to visit has shrunk over the years but I think Japan is still a place I wouldn't mind seeing. I'd made friends with Japanese students in college and as similar to Americans as we think they are, the Japanese are really quite different.
Riddle: My dog has an Irish name but it's spelled the Japanese way -- if that makes any sense to anyone. He has a certain Eastern sensibility about him. (His middle name is Ichiban.)
It's funny. I was driving the other day and thought about my choices after college. Every English major thinks about teaching English in a foreign country after graduation and sometimes I regret that I didn't. How cool was your class? The thought of teaching English to people who actually want to learn is intoxicating. (Don't get me started on the state of education.)
Your trip is an inspiration. There are two ways to travel -- as a tourist and observer or as a member. Japan is so strong yet so fragile. When I worked for the Japanese every earthquake was a heart-stoppper. (They probably felt the same about their Silicon Valley location. Loma Prieta happened less than an hour before I had to go to work.)
Yes, we definitely want to hear more when you get a chance!
@just bee & All, Japan is a fascinating country. Full of contradictions. Modern but traditional, electronic yet handmade, automatic but unique, crowded yet unconnected. We are 4th generation Japanese-Americans so we have that built-in affinity for our "motherland". Unfortunately we still can't speak the language (curse World War II and concentration camps) but we got by with the missionaries' help and hand gestures. It's almost worse to be of Japanese ancestry but foreign because on the outside we look the same but we act very different. For caucasians, they are obviously different so the expectations are already different. But we have the good fortune of being "Hawaiian" so that makes up for a lot. 
Yes, I guess KFC is similar to tempura, except Japanese fried chicken called "karaage" is SO much better! Novelty wins again. The McD's strawberry soda float was so pretty. It had a gradient pink soda with the whipped soft serve on top. Presentation is so important there. But it's painful to shop in the asian markets back home. Everything is 2-3 times more expensive.
We helped with the church's "life talk" English class. We had a "Hawaiian" night and actually taught them very poor English, pidgin English which is Hawaiian slang. Phrases like "ono" (delicious) and "broke da mout" (the 'h' is silent in mouth; means very delicious) were taught. I'm sure the normal class is taught proper English. It was really neat because the class had some little kids with their mom and a bunch of single adults. Ishinomaki is out in the country so it's a slower pace than Tokyo and people are very friendly. Once we left Ishinomaki and went to the city (Sendai), we really felt disconnected. A lot of people wear masks, like the kind surgeons wear, either if they are sick or don't want to get sick or also to remain isolated & anonymous. Especially in the city, there are a lot of masks.
We've been to Japan several times but this time was really special. @just bee you said it perfectly. We were members of society, not just tourists. We got to live like the locals, among the locals. They showed us their special places like this fantastic estate in the mountains that was donated by a rich family back to the city. It was closed to the public but we met a man whose son is a doctor in Hawaii and he somehow had access to the property. There were several very old buildings with the thick thatched roofs, a couple of gardens and a museum of artifacts and old pictures. How amazing that we were able to see this?! We visited a beach town called Hamagurihama, which was completely wiped out by the tsunami. A man that lost his pregnant wife in that tsunami came back to the town and started the cutest cafe and has a master plan to rebuild the town. It was just magical.
The Japanese are some of the hardest working people and so proud. They give 110% in all they do. Many young people that left the area to look for work in the cities are actually coming back to start businesses and rebuild the towns. I have no doubt that they will make it into a thriving area. However their spirits are still very sad and restrained. That is something that man cannot fix. A void that only God can fill to bring hope and freedom. That is my prayer for Japan.
It was such a privilege to go with my family (DH, DS and DD). We wondered how the kids would do on this mission. They did great and made a bunch of new friends. There were a lot of kids in the same age range. They were able to do their own thing without mom & dad peering over their shoulders. I didn't have to worry about them at all. It really was a blessing to see them fellowshipping. They were stretched a little out of their comfort zone as the rest of us were at times, but when we ask them which trip to Japan was the best, they say this one! It is definitely an experience we will remember together. I hope we can do it again one day. It will be hard as the kids get older and have busier schedules. So I'm glad we got to at least do it once.
@just bee I'm so curious to know Ichiban's first name. 
What could it be? Of course Ichiban is already fitting for the WGD. (Ichiban = #1/best)
@geezerette wrote:
Wow, that’s an experience in a lifetime! Makes me feel totally selfish and inadequate.
Globalization. Has its good points and bad. It’s a shame that we all now seem to want to be the same. Same clothes, same food, same cars. Our local/regional uniqueness is disappearing. A shame in so many ways.
But, look at what you did. You and your family gave of yourselves in a basic human way to people that, not so many years ago, our country was trying to destroy, and vice versa. Yet here you are today, with many others, trying to help them survive and to carry on their traditions and culture. Global interaction at its finest.
And isn’t that what this place is about too? Simplicity. The simple action of one human being helping another human being sustain life. Food, clothing, shelter, emotional/mental/physical stability. When it comes right down to it, a lot of the other “stuff” we get burdened with over our lives doesn’t matter at all. In fact, we don’t have room for it in our lives if we’re busy doing the things that really do matter.
Sort of like lipstick. Sometimes, it just doesn’t matter. Unless your husband happens to request it. Yep, you just gotta love the guy. ❤️💄💋
@geezerette Yes to all this! You said it perfectly. Except about you being selfish & inadequate. We all have a role where we are. I never thought I'd go on a mission, ever. Even DH is amazed to this day that I went. But it was my time and Japan was the place. You are where you are meant to be.
So I just found this out shortly before our trip. Not only was Nagasaki the site of our atomic bombing, but in the 1600's it was the site of Christian persecution to the nth degree. Martin Scorcese directed the movie "Silence" based on the book by Shusaku Endo about the purging of Christianity in Japan. So interesting. But today we are able to enter the country freely without any fear and the same goes for Japanese coming to the USA. We cannot let our past determine our future. We cannot be slaves & victims to the past. We must work & live together in peace.
And yes, when we focus on what really matters, we don't have time for the other stuff. Unless our husbands request it. I barely had time to look in the mirror. I'm sure I would have slapped on the lipstick if I could see myself.
Boy, there is so much in my regimen that I can omit. If I can survive in that cold & dry climate with the basics, I certainly don't need it here. I think I have finally cured myself of the need to purchase many versions of the same thing.
BTW @geezerette, my DH would be a fan of yours. You say "vice versa" not "vice-a versa". Gee, I don't even know how to spell "vice-a". It drives him bonkers.
@just bee wrote:
Wow, that’s an experience in a lifetime! Makes me feel totally selfish and inadequate.
I've noticed lately that a lot of the nurses I know are paring down so that they can spend their final years as travel nurses, hopping from city to city, hospital to hospital. I have a weird fantasy that's similar except it would be more like going to areas that need help and living there, helping to get a region back on its feet. Not the Peace Corps, but some sort of organization. But for now I'm sort of stuck in one place. BH would ditch the house in a heartbeat, but I'm not as ready. I need a base camp.
Our local/regional uniqueness is disappearing. A shame in so many ways.
Yes!
Sort of like lipstick.
If you're on a mission, busy thinking about others and not yourself, your best option is Burt's Bees tinted lip balm.
@just bee Now that I got a taste of missions, I totally can see the appeal of being able to up & go someplace else. Not tied down to our gold-leash jobs & ball & chain homes. When the kids leave the nest, I totally want to downsize, maybe even sell and then rent only. I love watching Tiny House shows and seeing how it could be possible. I would love to go back to Japan for a long time, at least several months.
Gee, I didn't even have a tinted lip balm on, just a plain one. That's why DH had to make the special request, LOL. I just love the Japanese sheer lipsticks. That's the one product I bought there. It's from the brand Canmake and it's called a Jelly Stick Gloss. Unfortunately I bought it at the end of our trip. It would have been perfect earlier in the trip.
The things I really missed from home were our furry family members. Wish we could travel with them. Ooh, that's another thing that Japan is superior in. Cute pets. They had the cutest, tiniest puppies in the pet store. If I didn't see them move, I would think they were stuffed animals. I don't know how they do it... Genetic engineering?
@Oshare-girl wrote:@just bee I'm so curious to know Ichiban's first name.
Well, as I said, his first name is Irish but it's a different spelling. The Gaelic name means "dark." And it's something one might order at a Japanese restaurant.
Think giraffe.
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