Amy : Adjusting to a new culture

For some of us, this is our first time in Japan. As we`re walking through the streets of Tokyo and observing the people, we can immediately see that this is an entirely different place with a very different way of life. We woke up this morning to have orientation at the SEND center. John and Richard gave us a quick overview of the Japanese people and their culture. Some of the statistics that they gave us were shocking:

- approximately 33,000 commit suicide a year (those are only the ones who succeed)
- the people who commit suicide often feel a sense of hopeless, and have no meaning or purpose in life
- Japanese people are very non-confrontational - Richard shared a real story from the news about a boy who was fed up with the expectations of society so that he shut himself up in his family`s kitchen. Instead of confronting their son, the parents built another kitchen in their home.
- harmony is more important than truth. The Japanese people would rather ignore a problem rather than trying to fix it because oftentimes trying to fix a problem will disrupt the harmony.
- Japanese people don`t ask for help - they feel that once they do ask for help, it becomes an obligation they feel towards the person who helped them. They now feel that they owe someone something.

With these points in mind, we set out on a prayer walk in Tokyo. We journeyed to a government building to the 45th floor where they have an observation deck offering views of the downtown. Afterwards, we met up with Shirley and here, we split into two teams. The Nokendai team has arrived safely in Yokosuka and we are resting at the Tamuras condo after having travelled all day. We will be meeting with the Tamura family for dinner tonight and orientation again.

We travelled through the Tokyo core today as a team of 18 and not once did anyone get lost. Praise for keeping us safe and sound and for continuing to make this journey smooth and without incident. Please continue to pray for our team and the people of Japan. We pray that through the VBS program, we can develop relatoinships with the children but also the mothers and possibly fathers and be able to follow up with these relationships as well.

I`ll end this post with a humourous story relating to cultural adjustment (and what happens when we have lack of sleep):

We were sitting at the breakfast table when Patti came to our table and told us that the towels that Shirley had purchased for us were 400 Yen (approx 4 USD). Lyanne was sitting at the table and said - oh. 400? Can I pay you back at home? I didn`t bring enough money. Patti looks back at her and says - you don`t have 400 Yen?? Lyanne goes, no i only brought 300. Then she goes, oh!! you mean 400 Yen - 4 USD! Right...... The rest of us laugh at her - was she really willing to pay 400 USD for a towel??