Valley of the Temples

It's been a while since I last updated this thing, so as an attempt to continue what I started before Japan, here's what Joanne and I got to do last weekend. On Sunday after church we went to visit the grave of her grandmothers. It is always a humbling thing to remember our family who have past. It reminds us that life is short, fragile and a gift from God. It was actually Joanne's grandmother who first brought her to church so I am eternally grateful for the influence she had in Joanne's life!

http://picasaweb.google.com/beradcasa/ValleyOfTheTemples#

Day 8

Today was full of new experiences for our entire team. We woke up this morning a little later than usual but at the point we set out to pick up some breakfast and do some laundry. Laundry only took about an hour and a half, so Ken started the wash cycle while we picked up some food. I had a chirashi type of bowl which was great. After we ate we had a worship session in the Laundromat. People slowed as they walked by and looked like they were interested in what we were doing, but continued to walk right on by. Good times indeed

Day 7 cont'd

After the financial fiasco was taken care of, and lunch was eaten, we were supposed to meet up with the Shizuoka team because they were up in Tokyo. We decided to take the train to Harajuku and met up with the Kobata and Hayashi gangs. By the time we met up with the other group it was close to 4:45 Here are some of the pics I took today

Day 7

Today we had some problems pulling together our monies to pay for the dorm we've been staying in. However after a few trips to the bank, post office and ATM, things got straightened out. Ken, Tony, Sean and I spent some time on the Waseda University campus tossing around the frisbee. When the security guards told us we had to stop (After about 10 minutes) we busted out the guitar to jam some worship tunes. And while I was playing the first song "Beautiful One," we were asked to stop that as well. We decided to move off campus and looked for a park. Ken asked the security guard where the nearest park was, and he pointed us toward Toyama Park (which was only a 3 minute walk from our dorm). We got there to find a small patch of dirt with a homeless man and a business man sitting on two of the three benches that were there. We thought, this is lame, but nevertheless we busted out the frisbee and guitar in hopes of sparking conversation or interest in the passers by. I did my best to invite some of the college aged, children and few adults that walked passed our base camp, but no one stopped or even gave us the time of day. There was a woman named seated near the bike racks so I asked if she wanted to play frisbee. To my dismay, she said she was a mother and was waiting for her children to meet her there.

After about an hour of non interaction, we needed to leave and head back to the room. But we found a dirt trail with people walking down it. Only to find out that we weren't even at the park. That was just the enterance. The park is actually quite large so we took a quick look around and decided that we'd head back to the park tomorrow August 1 to do our best to be a light at that park.

Day 6 cont'd 3

After our time in Yokohama we headed back to to Nakano to watch our new friend Justin play in a "live house." Japan has taken the concept of an open mic session and revamped it. So what a live house is, is a place (ie.bar) that a band reserves for a few hours to perform their music. The bar provides food, and drinks for an entry fee. Justin's band was recently compiled of some fellow Sophia University students. It was a great time of music and fellowship!

Day 6 cont'd 2

We also ate lunch there and saw cool stuff

Day 6 cont'd

After Church, we traveled around Yokohama for a little while in search of lunch, and found ourselves at the Sogo Mall in search of some sportswear. We were unsuccessful, but did find some Sanrio stuff. There were a lot of cool sites to see from this place, go figure...