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!

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.

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!

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。

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!

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.

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.