Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!

This is the entrance to the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa which is close to downtown Tokyo. It is the largest and oldest temple in Tokyo. It is visited by millions of Japanese each year for worship and spiritual cleansing. Dating back to 645 AD, it has been an active temple except during restoration after being bombed during World War II.

It is common to see monks standing in public places collecting money; not just at the temple.

These little girls were at the temple to worship and we stood back and observed them as they approached the altar. With their parents; they walked up the steps to the altar, stood facing a statue of Buddha, clapped their hands twice, bowed briefly, and then backed away.

Inside the temple there was a large case that housed burning candles. We were told that when a Buddhist aborted a baby, they would sometimes purchase a candle to burn in order to recognize its spirit.
This week-end was the "Paddle Festival" in Asakusa. Legend has it that this was a game that young girls played during the new year celebration. It seems to be an earlier rendition of today's badminton.The loser of the game had her face smeared with ink.

This was just one of dozens of booths selling the elaborate and ornate paddles. I was standing next to a man who was negotiating (the first I've seen here) the price of two. They settled on the price of Y40,000 ($400)! His were probably two feet tall. The paddles ranged from about 10 inches to over three feet.

The shape of the character is made of padded brocade type material with intricate designs then glued onto a wooden paddle.

It's been a week of renewal and saying "good-bye". I'm going to work backwards through the week.
Our fall interns are leaving soon. Whitney left today, the 11th; Amy and Jude leave on the 21st. We got together for a dinner last night in their honor. This was my first experience of eating at a traditional Japanese table; sitting on a pillow on the floor.

This is my chicken dish; sorry I forgot to take a picture before I had eaten some of it. The menu: deep-fried marinated chicken, traditional miso soup, white rice, shredded cabbage, their version of potato salad, cooked onions served in dipping sauce, and cucumbers. It was a very tasty meal. We've adapted to eating with chopsticks, even at home in our apartment.

At the next table, this little girl and her family were also having dinner. She crawled over to our table to explore us. Her parents seemed amused at her curiousity; so were we. I think she reminded us all that babies are the same no matter what country they are from; a gift from God, and irresistable!

Our first house church meeting in Tachikawa last Sunday, was joined by the fall interns and two Japanese ladies. We wanted Whitney, Amy, and Jude to be a part of our first meeting since they had worked with us each Thursday in that city. It was a great night.

For the Georgetown folks: Do you remember Masa who was a regular at Georgetown Baptist Church during 2006? He lived in our community for one year while learning English and working with sudents at Scott County High School learning the Japanese language.
We had been in touch with Masa and were finally able to connect this week. He travels to Shinjuku every Wednesday for an advanced English class. From his town, it is a three hour bus ride each way.

He has fond memories of his time in Georgetown and kept asking about different ones of you. He told stories of how you had been kind and helpful to him while he was there. I will relate those to you personally as I have the opportunity.

I thought I had been zapped back to the Kentucky Horse Park, and their annual Christmas light display, when I first saw this. The picture was taken from the southern plaza in Shinjiku. We had gone there to visit a Christian book store and got this beautiful "light' surprise.

This was like walking through a winter wonderland.

How would you like to go Christmas shopping in this crowd? It's like this all the time! Just down the street is the Shibuya train station; where an estimated 4 million people pass through each day. At the crosswalk in this picture, over one million people cross the street daily.


It's beginning to look like Christmas when you see Colonel Sanders dressed as Santa. (Although you can tell by the date how long they have been advertising the holiday.) KFC is their choice of meat for their holiday meal. Each restaurant has a designated counter to place orders for a roasted chicken at a cost of $50.00. December 25 is just another working day in Japan. Their holiday centers around the Emperor's birthday which in on December 23; not the birth of Christ.

Another surprise for me was seeing poinsettias in Japan. Most of them have been reasonably priced.

Christmas is strictly a commercial holiday here. You will hear Christmas carols being played in the department stores, but for the Japanese they are just songs that go along with the decorations.

We've been told that the decorating for Christmas began after WWII, and especially since the 1960's. The commercialism of Christmas has grown every year since.