Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas Again!

Yay! I finally got my long awaited banjo travel case!

Now my arms wont feel like falling off whenever I carry this thing.

First time I ever ordered anything from amazon.jp too. Thank you Mon-c!


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

メリークリスマス!

Merry Christmas!!!


Christmas and Thanksgiving are few times when I actually wish I could visit home to be with my friends and family.  My last two Christmas experiences in Japan have been pretty nice, but nothing like it was back home. Nothing measures up to having your family with you. クリスマスとサンクスギビングのころはアメリカに住んでる家族と友達に会いたくなるシーズンだ。今年のクリスマスは日本で三回目。前のクリスマスはそんなに寂しくなかった、実はクリスマスを祝いする友達がいてラッキー。楽しかったが、アメリカのクリスマスと全然違う感じだった。やっぱいり、家族と緒にいるのは何より最高!

However, this year God has blessed me with a huge Yokohama church family. This year he has given me a new life which I could have never imagined having here. In fact when I first came to this country, I almost wanted nothing to do with "missions."  But after walking away from God's family many times over, I realized that emptiness that comes when you put yourself at the center of everything.
だが、今年、僕が神様に大きい浜ファミリに祝福された。想像できなかった素晴しい人生用意してくれた。来日のころ、『ミッション』の活動と関係したくなかったのに。でも、何回も神様の家族から離れて聖書を読まなくなったりして、自分のためばかりの考えをしったりして、僕の心は本当に空っぽいと気付いた。


It took me over a year and half of coming to church and being asked to do the simple task of journaling to finally get up and do it.  Ive been slowly changing things in my life over the past year but its only been a month since consistently journaling.  Reading a little bit of the word and writing down some key points.. a little bit every day.  The way I see things have changed so much.
教会に来てジャーナルするのを提案されてたのに、一年半が経った。その間私の人生がだんだん変わってました。でも、もう一か月、毎日ジャーなリングしてから私のアウトルックがすごい変わってます。聖書を読んだり、キーポイントを書いたりして、一年半前の自分は本当に違う。

I love my life but im learning to be willing to sacrifice if it will help someone else. Im learning to find joy in the most mediocre things. Im starting to remember what its like to be a kid for Christmas once again. There is no other way. This is the path I have chosen.

今の人生が大好きだけど他の人を助けるためにサクリファイスするのを学んでる。簡単な物に喜びを見つけるのも学んでる。クリスマスシーズンの子供の喜びをもう一回感じてます。他の道はない。この道を選びました。

 I love my being in Gods family.

I wish you all who read this a very very Merry Christmas!



Remix is getting crazier.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

American Summer Vacation '13!

I finally got back to my home in Yokohama at almost 2am last night.  It was a 24 hour journey with a 12 hour flight then a 2 hour flight. It was the waiting time and the lines at customs that were killer.  I made it back safe and sound though.  Thank God I made it to the midnight bus when I did. Another minute or two and I would have had to sleep on floor somewhere in the airport. After carrying 30kg of stuff on my shoulders and back I finally made it. Got my self cleaned up and went right to sleep.

For only 2.5 weeks I say that was a great trip!  I wasnt even sure if I would make it, but my wishes of doing a SoCal road trip were made possible with the accommodation of many old university friends and family. I even got to see my longboard again and take her out for a few waves. 

My trip was almost entirely about meeting up with friends just so we can eat stuff, bbq, play games... get tanked...all of it. My socal trip was followed immediately with a rafting trip in Truckee near Tahoe with some of the best dudes I grew up with. 

If that didn't already make my trip worth it, It was good seeing all the family I had in Sac and the Bay Area.  I wish I could've stayed longer, but worth it nonetheless.

Heres some pictures:
The East Bay (maybe)
 


My first night in SF I went to an "exploratorium" which is quite literally a playground for grown ups.  I was so busy playing with stuff that I didn't quite remember to capture all that many pictures.. in fact my entire trip was like that.  So these pictures will be kinda sparse.. sorry.

How about a drinking fountain toilet?  Its never been used and dispenses the same water as a normal fountain.  But the fake piss and the dirt in the toilet was too much for me. What about u?




This is the banjo I missed for so long. Shes back in Japan with me now.




I saw this at Guitar Center. Its a new instrument made just recently. Its sold as a 6-string banjo but it is literally a guitar with a banjo body. It was interesting to play, but i felt like I was cheating. Im happy with my traditional banjo.. ill stay with that.

Got to see my sister in LA! Brunch with the siblings.

Marshmallow Crack


Good times eating Pho!
 
 Standing in the old Active room at AGO.
 

At one point it felt like my birthday. I havent had the two different groups of people I grew up with in the same room for years.
 
 



 Conquered Mission Peak with my cousins. The blazing sun and no shade was the hard part.




In-n-out, I will miss you.

 Natsuki now exists in the wii system at my parent's house.



I managed to convince a bunch of my friends back home to get Line. Now i have a new room mascot.


Heres the mt.Fuji airplane shot. The camera doesnt capture it well, but I think the peak was actually higher than the position of the jet at that time.



Yay!

















Sunday, July 28, 2013

Beach Day

Today we had Church for the first time in Shonan at a venue called "Live館."  It was a good opportunity to meet some people living near that area. The funny thing was that our original plan was to just do an acoustic only church service outside on the beach.  The reason why?  cuz we couldnt book our usual venue or other options in Yokohama.  But! It worked out well.  Maybe part of the reason was that its Summer time and God wanted us to have a beach BBQ right after church. So what did we do?  We had a beach BBQ!

For me personally it was a good trip.  Got to finally swim for the first time this season and go all out. Playin in those waves really knocked the wind out of me though.  Also both of my calves cramped up so bad I had to just stop and sit dead in the water twice.  Acutally, one was from being tackled by Jed and that left a gross scrape on my knee. It didnt hurt, but blood was everywhere.  I think I may have attracted some sharks.  I didnt get to take many pictures since I was too busy enjoying everything I could.

Todays experience: Beautiful weather, good food, good people, some fun in the sun with a few minor complications with getting the wind knocked out of me and losing some blood. Overall, today was a good day.


今日は湘南でチャーチを初めてしました。ライブ館と言うホールで出来ました。その辺りに住んでる人といい触れ合い機会だと思いました。でも、本来はビーチで教会をするつもりでした。何でですか?実はね、横浜の普通の場所で予約できなかった。でも、うまく行ったと思います。何でうまく行ったのかな。教会の後でビーチBBQをやりなさいと言う願いがあったかもしれない。神様からの命令。それで私たちは何をしましたの?ビーチでBBQをしたした!

僕にとっていい日だとおもいました。久しぶりに海に泳いだり勢いで遊んだりチャンスでした。でも、波で遊びながら疲れちゃった。足のカーフが引きつられちゃったり、ジェッドに取り組まれちゃったりしました。ひざから血が良く出た。そんなに痛くはなかったけど色んな人をびっくりしてた。写真はあまりとれなかったがいっぱい遊びができました。

今日の感想:今日はいい天気で、いい食べ物食べたり、いい人と遊んだり、楽しい事ができました。けがもしちゃったがそれに負けないで遊びを続けました。

Friday, June 14, 2013

A little bit of Yokohama knowledge.

Apparently a HUGE part of Yokohama used to be underwater!  Actually, not underwater... but it used to be part of a lake!  What we know today as Sakuragicho, Kannnai, Nihon-odori... and other big parts of Yokohama are all build on artificial land.

That part of the city was once a busy lake with boats sailing everywhere around it fishing, trading and doing other things.  That was 400 years ago. But suddenly,350 years ago, someone decided to fill it in and build a bunch of rice paddies.  Then 120 years ago it became prime real estate with the opening of Yokohama's port to the rest of the world.

Its an interesting fact to me. However, the book i was reading didnt explain why or who exactly decided to fill in that lake.  If someone decided to fill in Lake Tahoe with land to build whatever on it, people back home would throw a huge fit. I know I would.



I love learning something new everyday!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

I love Daiso.




 I got a flat tire with my bicycle last week.  In the few days I didn't use it, i realized how long it takes just to get somewhere, even around my neighborhood just walking.  I was thinking of taking it to the bicycle shop for a fix, but then I found this repair kit at Daiso. The equivalent of the Dollar Store but with actual quality items! 

I bought a tool for different size bolts and a repair kit for flat tires.  All it cost me: 210 yen.  Thats a little over 2 bucks!  Also, I rode all the way to the bike shop after fixing it myself just to test my repair and see what kind of repair kits the store might have.  And just as I thought, they had lots of neat tools, but they were freakin expensive. 

Looking at the kit below, do you see those two orange cylinder like things?  Those are just plastic tools to help pop your tire off of the wheel.  A pack of those alone at the bike shop would have cost me about 7 bucks. No patches or liquid cement included!  Hah, im glad i fixed it myself.. like a BAUS!






 

Im glad to be using this beautiful bike again.


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Undokai

Something new I got to see in the last two months is something known as the Undokai. Aka, a sports festival.  Kids at the school train and practice for months before the day of the actual event. Sometimes the kids are there early before I even get to work.  Every morning is filled with the school band practicing, or kids yelling chants and singing songs, running relays and all that fun stuff.

Thinking back, I don't believe I ever experienced this at my elementary school when I was a kid. If we had one, i definitely dont remember it. All 6 years in primary school and no sports festival.. boo.

One thing that left in impression on me was that the entire community around the school, parents, grand parents, kids who graduated from the school a year or so before.... all these people come to watch.  The school puts this event on a Saturday and takes the following Monday off. Its a serious event, but really interesting how it brings the community together as they watch these little people battling it out in sports games.

I like how during lunch time, the entire school becomes like a park with people picnicking all over the place. From grandparents to grand kids, its just one big family in the school almost.  I don't remember having this in my primary school. Im not sure if we have this in america for primary, or even jr highschool. But I think it would be really awesome if we did.


People of all ages, even ojisans getting together to throw bean bags at those piniata looking things.


The group that pops theirs open first wins.




Unfortunatley I was a bit busy and couldnt take more pictures of the cool stuff they were doing. But I do have a video i will edit later.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

May

This month marks the 2 year anniversary I got to "walk" for my graduation from San Diego State.  Although I didn't actually graduate until December that year, it symbolized quite a few things. One: It was time for me to move into "the real world".  Two: It was time to graduate from living with 17 housemates in the AGO house and either move back home or find a new job really really fast and get myself an appartment in SD. I moved back home T_T. Though for a very short time.  Three: I finally had that "International Business" degree I worked so long to get.

Fastforward to now and I can see that lots of things have changed.  I live by myself in a tiny apartment with a tiny loft I sleep in above my kitchen. I go to work everyday to be surrounded by monkeys... uhm i mean kids who make me laugh and sigh at the same time.  I have the blessing of being able to finally develop skills with guitar as i am surrounded by musician friends i see every week and alos have the privilege of jamming with them in addition to playing in a church band really similar to Flood Church in SD.  I get to make loud noises with friends with and without instruments on weekends.

While I do feel like I haven't accomplished much in the career area of my life, I did get to Japan and somehow receive God's blessing to stay. Despite trying to be independent and live for myself (while horribly failing at it) Ive been blessed with a good (hopefully not for the rest of my life) job, great friends, a really interesting town to live in and something to look forward to every week.  After all, I did meet another SDSU graduate with the same major as me, yet in the same situation with the same "temporary" job as me.  A little encouragement to know that im not alone in the "career limbo" part of life.  Im not the only one feeling the need to move forward.

Somehow I am still living in this country and it hasn't ceased to amuse me, I only dreamed of being able to play in a band, a church band.. or just any band up until now.  And I don't know how, but I'm livin it.  Meeting new people every week in and out, mostly through church made me realize what a special place it its. In normal Japanese or American life you just dont meet these many new people so often. Ive never seen so many people come together  for or because of Christ.  But thats another story for another time.  Ill share some of the things I experienced this month.



In the beginning of May they have something called "Golden Week"  Its really just a bunch of holidays put in a row just so it feels like you have a week off.  城ヶ島 or Jougashima was the place we went to. Just south of Yokohama about an hour or two. 


Really beautiful scenery mostly. There were a few shots that would have been good except for the huge crane or just random construction machines in the way.



One of our friends decided he wanted a picture of himself taken with nunchucks and his shirt off.


The latter part of the day just turned into a ridiculous photo shoot.



Club Spare Room, a literal spare room at our friends' apartment had a sweet sound system and vinyl turn tables. A true club indeed.

















Here's some manga style pictures from the Yokohama Girl's Apartment. Who can you recognize?



 Another view I get to see when I go running near where I live.


And something interesting I found.  This bass is literally an AXE!



One part of having church potlucks is that we are lucky to have people who live on base bring real american pizza every once in a while.



 Cool fountain park area in my beautiful city.

























Okay, way past my bed time. I get more and more terrible at posting and writing things so ill put up more pictures of this past month later!

Sunday, March 31, 2013

The word "religious"


Before reading this, please know that this post is a copy of my own personal journal. Its a message that is not intended for any one person but for all.   These thoughts I have written down that I think are good things to think about.  Though I may fail at this at times, my goal here is to develop my listening skills with the intent to understand. Most people listen with the intent to reply.





The word "religious"


 








I often hear the phrase " I'm not religious, im just living a Christian lifestyle."  People who say this phrase are often the same kind of people who will use the example of a strict church or group of people that will kick someone out for drinking, smoking or being seen doing worldly things. They claim that living the Christian lifestyle is not about judging people who aren't perfect, but rather encouraging people to do their best in battling those worldly desires so God can bless us.  They then go on to say, "Christianity is not a religion, its the truth, its the way of life." 

 

They are correct in that as Christians, we aren't here to judge people. It’s not our place to. We are here to encourage people to seek the truth so they may be able to see and choose the journey that brings them to a fulfilling life with God.  However, they are incorrect in using the words "I am not religious."  I believe that before even using the word “religious”, we need to know what it means, to us, to other people, and the correct definition given in the dictionary.

 

In the online Miriam-Websters dictionary these are the definitions:

1: relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity religious
person> <religious attitudes>

2: of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances religious
order

3: scrupulously and conscientiously faithful


In my own words, being religious is synonymous with being faithfully devoted to something.


You can therefore be religious because of your faithfulness to your spouse, devotion to consistently journaling and reading scripture or even unceasing prayer. According to these definitions every Christian should be religious, they are in fact called to be faithful to the lord and devoted to his kingdom are they not?  You can even be religious because you faithfully wait until every sunday just so you can watch the new episode of the Walking Dead or from this month, the Game of Thrones season 3.

When I hear, "It's not a religion, its a relationship, lifestyle….etc."  What I believe my good willing Christian friends really mean is "I'm not legalistic."  After all, it is the Law that condemns us but Jesus who sets us free.

 

Often I hear stories about many people who don't know much about Christianity stepping in to a church or running into a group of people praying somewhere like a public place, lets say McDonalds or Starbucks, and they think “those guys are religious, those guys are weird.” 

But many of my protestant brothers will do the same thing when they think about the Orthodox or Catholic Churches. They hear about a church that has icons, tons of traditions dating back hundreds of years, priests that wear robes, and no rock band and think, “that's weird. I don't understand that.”

 


The problem here isn't that it’s weird. It’s that we are failing to look at each other with the intent to understand. We just dismiss it as foreign and go on our merry way.  We want the world to look at us and see the light of God, but many dismiss us as a bunch of crazies.  But are we not doing the same thing when we look at our brothers of the other major branches of Christianity? We don't even try to understand where the traditions came from.. we dismiss it as religious and go on our way.

My call to my brothers and sisters who read this is to:

-Please do your research on certain terminology before you use it in conversation because it may mean something different to someone else.

-also, please open your eyes and realize that no matter what denomination you or anyone else is, Christians still have a lot to learn from each other no matter how different they look.



Happy Easter!  Sorry that im writing this at 2am, April 1st Japan time. -_- and  i don't have pictures of cute bunnies T_T.