My first days in Japan!!

Hey everyone! So if you know me, you probably know I've already been in Japan for the last few days, but finding time to blog has been really hard. The flight from Raleigh, NC was...really long to say the least, but we got here safely which is a huge blessing! We took a bus from Narita airport to Makuhari City, which is in Chiba prefecture. For those who don't know, Japan is divided into 46 prefectures which function sort of like something between a county and a state. Tokyo, for example, is a city, but it is also a prefecture, kind of like New York City in New York. So, our first two days we stayed in a hotel as we toured the city that contains our IES abroad office and University, specifically Kanda University of International Studies. I've tried A LOT of food since I've been here. I've finally gotten to try real ramen. Its really delicious; it almost has too much flavor. A lot of Japanese food is known as "aji ga koi," which means very rich, heavy, and savory all at once. Yep, even this soup is aji ga koi, I could only eat half of the bowl. This ramen was in a food court, so maybe that's why?

 This is my host dad! He has asked me to call him "Papa," so cute. He showed me how to use the train and subway to get to my classes on Monday; it will be hard, but It'll be great! I gave my host family to go Carolina mugs, Aunt Jemimah pancake mix, sweet baby ray's barbecue sauce, tetris jenga, perfume, and the New Testament along with the Psalms and Proverbs. The family is so great. Every time we eat, the mom tells me I may pray at the table even though they definitely aren't Christians. God has blessed me with some very accepting people who are openly willing to ask me questions about my faith. Although they have been simple questions so far (ie, how long do you pray? how many times a day?), I am encouraged that they may see a glimpse of Jesus' love and message through our interactions.

This is my bedroom

Our bathroom. So Japanese toilets are super high tech. See the panel of buttons on the side? Well, these buttons will heat up the toilet seat, shoot water onto your backside, and make various noises so that other people won't hear the noises you make while you use the bathroom. Lol, but like, if you use the sound button, won't everyone know that you are probs pooting? Whatever.

Yeah, so if I don't die going down these stairs, it will be a miracle.

Here is where we take off our shoes before going into the house. Japanese people have a strong "Uchi vs Soto" awareness. The "uchi" is the house while "soto" is the outside. Both these elements are supposed to stay very separate. Japanese people take their shoes off at the door so that the outside will not intrude on the relaxing and very clean uchi.

The living room/ dining room area

The kitchen! This tiny little space is where the mother spends most of her time. For breakfast today, she made me this soft bread that had butter and sugar on it, grilled cheese and ham sandwiches, soup, yogurt, and grilled vegetables with ham. Lunch were these cold noodles called "Hiyashi chuka," a dish only served in the summer. For dinner, we had rice, miso soup, beef, tofu, bean sprouts, salmon, potatoes, milk tea, and melon ice cream. It sounds like a huge list, but everything is in really small portions. Everything is also very delicious :)

This is a small shrine above their entertainment center. I haven't asked them what means yet, but from my knowledge, it is a shrine honoring the death of a family member. Japanese people aren't very religious; about 2% is Christian, and everyone else practices Shinto and Buddhist traditions, but they don't necessarily believe in these religions. They are just traditional rituals that have been practiced for a very long time.

God's already been teaching me so much. Life here is so different, and I could easily get discouraged, but this strange environment has forced me to depend on God so much. This has been a very humbling experience so far, and I can't wait to see what else He has in store for me. I'll put out another post as soon as I can! If you have any questions or any aspects of Japanese lifestyle or culture you want me to touch on, just let me know! Other than that, God bless you guys!

A quick encouraging word from George MacDonald that I have found very comforting in my current season of growth:

"However bad I may be, I am the child of God, and therein lies my blame. Ah, I would not lose my blame! In my blame lies my hope."