From Kyoto to Kongo

Well it’s been a long time since I last posted and it’s been a long journey. I’ve moved not only from Kyoto to Southern Osaka, but also from living in a dorm to living alone and from studying full time at a language school to having a job working at the University.

To be honest the last couple of months have been some of the most difficult I can think of in my life. For those of you who know how I always worked at college I was kind of last minute. But now working at the University and having to write talks and Bible studies and study Japanese I almost feel that I’m constantly under a kind of last minute pressure.

Part of it might be that I just don’t have any of the kind of escapes that I used to have, spending time with family or playing games with friends. When I did the Myers Briggs test I came out on the extroverted side of things and I guess that’s why it kills me to be surrounded by people but not be able to joke or chat or talk about philosophy or theology.

Having said all that the challenges that I face have also been a real wake up call about my relationship with God. It’s really made have to focus on Jesus as the reason for why I’m really here and the challenge of sharing from the Bible really helps you to engage with it.

On the bright side I’ve felt a bit more useful in terms of speaking at chapel services and bible studies. In particular I’m really happy that we’re planning to start a Bible study at the Junior High. Although I’m a little concerned that some students might come just to see the foreigner, it’s still a little hard to know exactly how to handle the enthusiasm.

The Bible study itself will be using materials from a bilingual Church in Osaka. I’m hoping that perhaps we can help build a relationship with them so that our Church can learn a bit from their way of reaching young people and they can learn from the history and experience of the Anglican church. So if you could keep that in your prayers I’d appreciate it.

God Bless,
Philip

Home is where the heat is

“Cold, isn’t it?”

So goes the daily mantra among the students here at Bishop Williams’ Seminary. Every morning in the kitchen, where I tend to the solemn duty of making the 11 slices of toast, I greet the other students and we invariably comment on the temperature. You might think that I remark on this because Japan is colder than I expected; but in fact the Winter climate in Kyoto is not far removed from ‘Norn Iron’. The kicker is in the heating and insulation.

My morning routine generally begins when I surface as the heater comes on at 6:15. At which point I begin praying that the thermometer will rise the few degrees necessary for me to feel like I can crawl out of my cocoon. When I gather the determination to rise I jump out of bed and quickly pull on a t-shirt, my fleece lined tartan flannel shirt, followed by a wool hoody. If the cold is particularly biting then I might add a pair of gloves and my peruvian llama hat. I then scuttle across for our 7am daily prayer service.

The thing is that most houses in Japan don’t have central heating and insulation, thus they rely on kerosene heaters. So day to day you often find yourself either huddling around a heater until the room warms up, or mourning as the heater turns off (they’re on ‘safety’ timers) and the room quickly becomes uncomfortable.

Apart from the heating problems the house I live in is really very nice. I have a small manageable room and, from Tuesday morning until Saturday afternoon, I eat with the other students. The dorm house is also just across the road from the Old Imperial Palace. Considering how bustling and energetic Kyoto is it’s amazing to walk just a couple of minutes into the park and have the sense that you are in the countryside.

Living with the other students has also proved invaluable as I get the opportunity to use the little bits of Japanese I know. Although I still feel frighteningly basic I also feel like I have more confidence to try and communicate. In fact sometimes I’m surprised by how much I can actually get across.

There have been times that have been lonely, as I miss friends and family, but God provides opportunities for fellowship and I feel like this challenge is the best way for me to grow. Learning the language is exciting and, while difficult, it forces me to focus on God every day.

Sorry that I’ve been negligent with the updates, but I’m going to try and get to updating weekly. In fact it would help if you could ask me questions about living in Japan which I could then write an update about. A friend has already asked me to take some pictures of arcades in Japan and, considering it’s something of a passion of mine, I will certainly share with you a bit about these magical places next week!

God Bless,
Philip

It’s funny how happy a cup can make you

It’s funny how happy a cup can make you, originally uploaded by nihon iron.

Sorry for the lack of activity on the blog. I was being a bit lazy last weekend and this weekend I was in Tokyo! This is a little interim post before I can put together something a little more substantial about life in Japan.

I bought this cup in Shinjuku from Tokyu Hands, a pretty nice department store. I don’t know why it grabbed me initially, I honestly haven’t read a lot of Tintin, but on reflection I think I was caught by the sense of adventure that exuded from our Belgian friend. I hope my own travels in Japan can be a little adventurous and with this cup to remind me I’ll have to go out and look for some!

First steps, old footprints

Konnichiwa Minna-san!

It’s been a week of new experiences but I think I’m finally finding my feet. I had hoped that in this space I could describe everything that has happened but to be honest it’s all blurring together in my mind. My classes, new friends, mundane shopping for bits and pieces and spacing out are now a smudgy yet colourful panorama in my subconscious. So over the next few weeks I’ll try and single out areas to bring some focus to the different aspects of life in Japan. With that in mind I’ll start with my first free day which was last Sunday.

It was on Sunday that I found myself master of my own fate once more and so decided to retrace the path I took when I first came to Kyoto in 2007 in the hopes of finding some recognisable landmarks.

It all started when I arrived into Kyoto station late one balmy summer evening foolishly expecting to find accommodation. After 20 minutes of increasingly frantic phone calls to every cheap hostel in the lonely planet, I had exhausted all my options. I was ready to tap out and pay for a hotel room when a Spanish couple I had bumped into by the phones handed me a couple of torn out pages from their guidebook. Thanking them profusely I called the first number I saw and received barked instructions to come to the Ryokan Ohto somewhere in the East of Kyoto beside a McDonalds. I set out into the darkness with more courage than direction and after stumbling around the streets blindly for half an hour I was eventually directed to a thin building in a dark alley. Inside the front door was a narrow corridor with a solitary man typing at a computer who spared me only a sideways glance. I asked for help but he was unresponsive and so I decided to forge ahead and search the building. At the top of a cramped staircase I found an old woman smoking furiously while doing laundry. Faced with her bent fuming figure I was a little uncertain about what to do next but she seemed to recognise me and confidently beckoned me onto the rooftop pointing to a little free standing room. It was dark inside and it was only as my eyes adjusted that I noticed that the room was draped in dirty sheets. While I was hesitant to commit she offered me a 30% discount and after a pause I accepted this dingy little laundry room for two nights.

After dropping my bag I decided I needed sustenance and so went to find a noodle shop. I found one nearby Gion-Shijo station, however my next problem awaited inside. Unable to understand the Chinese characters on the menu I once more used my lonely planet and managed to garble a request for their speciality. I was provided with a bowl of syrupy brown liquid under which lay a strange chewy white rectangle and some soba noodles. Observing the maxim ignorance is bliss I consumed the food with gusto before trying to find the nearest Irish pub in the hopes of a little familiarity.

I found the Gael pub and within it’s comforting confines I met a Northern Irish couple who were experienced travellers and were planning to visit Toyota city (renamed for the car manufacturer). They proceeded to make my plans for the following day and now somewhat cowed by the spiral of events I meekly accepted their suggestions. So it was that I ended up in Hiroshima on the anniversary of the bomb dropping, visiting the memorial and catching a jazz concert before ending the night sitting in my little laundry room eating a small piece of soggy cake to celebrate what had been my twenty second Birthday. But despite my lonely celebration I appreciated that I had enjoyed myself immensely.

I find it odd as I reflect on that chaotic chain of events in contrast with my current desire to settle down. As strange and unpredictable as those few days were I am comforted in how I was consistently provided for. And so now I am encouraged as I am reminded of this verse:

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

P.S If you’d like to see more pics from the day out and about then

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58114719@N08/sets/72157625826595870/

And here are a couple of videos of some New Years celebrations I happened across as I walked around Gion last Sunday.

My life weighs about 37kg

Konnichiwa Minna-san!

Hello everyone!

So I made it to Kyoto in one piece. It still feels like a bit of a dream moving from the family, friends and food of my last two weeks in Norn Iron to the vast metropolis of Japan.

I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the amount of people writing back and wanting to know how things were going. Thank you all very much and sorry that I haven’t been able to write each of you back yet but it’s been pretty non stop from my last letter but I’ll try and catch up with each of you over the next week.

As it came to the day before my flights I was more worried about packing than flying. I’m not the most ordered person and my dog Chloe deciding she wished to use my bag as a bed was as good a reason not to pack as any. Fortunately my dad is a genius at maximising space and although it took a while we did a good job. Packing helps you to realise how much stuff you have, but suddenly you are faced by the question, “what do I really need?
As much as I’d like to answer that I don’t really need any of this stuff I still managed to fill the biggest bag I could find and still have to leave stuff behind!

The trip itself was easy apart from from spilling tea over myself and feeling like the obnoxious nightmare neighbour everyone dreads when taking a long haul flight. Despite that little stressful incident I’ve been so well received here that the last couple of days have been a catalogue of little kindnesses rather than a struggle, from Rev Iwaki meeting me at the airport and treating me to dinner, being given a tour of Poole Gakuin and welcomed at the seminary to enjoy curry rice I’ve been enjoying myself a great deal.

The main challenge I feel I’m facing at the moment is just trying to pace myself in regards to Japanese. I was talking to my parents yesterday and told them how I felt I didn’t know enough and they had to remind me that I have only been here for three days! So at the moment I’m trying to live in the reality that I just need to focus on God every day and just do my best.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is it’s own trouble.

God Bless you all,

Philip

PS I’ll probably upload more general pictures to facebook so please add me as a friend on there if you want to see more.

Everything happens all at once

Hello all,

I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a happy new year.  I’m just writing because things are finally all falling into place with my plans for Japan.  It was only during the past few weeks that I finally received the necessary paperwork for my visa and so have booked my flight to Kansai International!

I’ll be flying over on the 5th of January and the current plan is that I will spend the first three months in Kyoto studying at a language school there and living in the dorm of the local seminary.  I just want to thank all of you for how you’ve followed my progress and prayed for the various steps I’ve gone through.

Now that I’m moving out to Japan I’m planning to try and update you monthly on how things are developing and I’m going to start a blog for people who want to see more regularly what’s happening and maybe some more pictures and stuff.

For example, here is a wonderful pic of my last fry at Maggie Mays!

God Bless,

Philip

Prayer Points

• Final preparations
• Journey
• Settling in