Congrats to Hajime and Shie! ^_^

After a relatively uneventful October, the month of November had it's share of moments. First, a friend from Ayashichuo Christ Church, Pastor Hisashi and Junko's son Hajime, had gotten engaged. I met his fiancé last year during their family party.  She was very cute and sweet.  The Sasakis invited us to their engagement ceremony (a tradition done in Japan) at a local church in Izumi, and we agreed to go.

Aaron and I rented the van and drove to the church.  Luckily, it was held in a church that was much closer to us than Ayashi, so we didn't have to drive so long. Unfortunately, we weren't really sure where the building was and arrived about 10 minutes late. When we entered he building, we heard a loud voice echoing from a microphone.  Unfortunately, the no people were to be seen.  We wandered cluelessly for about a minute, fumbling around wondering where the sanctuary was at. Finally we figured it out and sat in the back.  

Of course, the service was all in Japanese.  It was also very silent and all the songs sung were hymns.  Very old fashioned.  I didn't have an idea what was going on, so I decided to take some pictures of the couple. Fortunately, the service was really short.  Immediately afterwards, we went up to the couple to say hi, congratulations, and hand them a present we got for them (it was a big picture frame!).  We went up to them and It was like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie standing before a wall of paparazzi.  Crazy.  Somehow, Aaron and I got caught in the fray and ended up smiling for a bunch of pictures we were sure we weren't supposed to be in, but couldn't escape from. After a few awkward minutes, we finally left the couple and started chatting with some of the other church members who we hadn't seen in a while.  It was especially nice to see Yoshi, who had been my translator when I attended Ayashi.  

After some time snacking on some fruits and tourist the church, we finally said goodbye to everyone and left.  It was nice to see everyone and made me miss all the familiar and friendly faces.  The wedding isn't until next summer, so maybe we'll be seeing them again sometime.

Tying up Loose Ends

Since returning to Japan from our honeymoon in Germany, Aaron and I have had to ask ourselves some serious questions.  What does God want us to do here?  How long are we going to be here?  What are our longterm goals?  What church should we immerse ourselves in?

I've engaged myself in some deep prayer and fasting, as has Aaron and we've slowly been getting answers here and there.  We know that God does want us here in Japan for the time being.  We don't know how long, but it seems that God doesn't really want to focus on that.  Instead, He just wants us to be here.  As for ministry and longterm goals... before we could do anything we had to tie up some loose ends.

It was pretty hard and sad for me to do.  First, I had to say goodbye to Ayashichuo Christ Church for good.  We'd been in touch with them ever since I left, and I had been regularly attending the hula ministry that I helped to start there.  Unfortunately, God has been clear that he wants me to cut ties there.  That meant quitting the hula class rather abruptly and dropping out of the hula performance the very next day.  And not even showing up to support them.  It had to be a clear cut.  Very hard for me to do, but I had to do it and trust that everything was in God's hands.

Now that I've done that Aaron and I are free to dive deep into another mission.  We've decided to go with Arise Sendai, a branch off of a church in Sano, where we have some Bluewater friends living there.  In a way, it's nice that somehow we are still all connected.  What God has in store for us there is still a mystery as we haven't yet dove in.  One thing God has been certain about is that he wants me to be involved supernaturally.  Something that I haven't really done in Japan yet.  We will see...

As for work, I've put myself out there as a private English teacher, but we'll see how everything unravels over time.

Doctor Fish, Robots & Candy Stores, Oh My!

For one weekend, Aaron and I took Melissa down to Tokyo to experience the craziness that we really can't get in Sendai.  I wrote a short entry with some pictures in my "Around the World" page.  But I wanted to journal some of the more in depth details of our trip.

We took a commercial bus down to Tokyo rather than the Shinkansen.  We were really glad we did.  It was way, way cheaper and much more comfortable.  We got to sit back, relax, and eat snacks along the way.  It was pretty fun.  When we finally reached Tokyo, we walked around Shinjuku.  I'd only been to Shinjuku once and it was my first week in Japan for my JET orientation and training.  It'd been so long ago that I'd forgotten a lot about it.  

Melissa had several things on her list that she wanted to check out.  One thing was a Doctor Fish Pedicure.  I'd done some research and found a place that offered it.  The three of us all did it together.  It was something I'd heard about but never thought I'd ever do.  Particularly because I really can't stand fish, whether they are alive or dead.  But somehow I ended up doing it.  I documented it in a couple of somewhat funny videos.

We sat in the spa for about 15 minutes while the little fishies nibbled at our feet.  At first it was freaky.  Several times it was so ticklish that it was unbearable.  But after it was over, our feet were soft and smooth.  In fact, my left big toe had been bothering me for some time because of some skin and callouses that had grown there.  It was actually kind of painful for me to walk with my shoes on.  But after 15 minutes with the Dr. Fish, my feet were baby smooth and the skin that had developed was gone.  Walking with shoes wasn't a problem after that anymore.

The next day we woke up early to visit Shibuya.  Once there we had to take a picture of Hachiko the dog.  The famous story was turned into a Hollywood movie called Hachi starring Richard Gere.  The dog waited every day at the train station waiting for his owner to come home even long after the owner had died of a heart attack.  The story actually took place in Japan instead of America.  In the place where the real dog used to wait is a statue in its memory.  Aaron never saw the movie so he didn't get the significance of it.  But me and Melissa took a picture on behalf of our Mom, who would've appreciated it.

Then we took pictures in front of Shibuya Crossing.  I wanted a picture because it was the spot featured in Lost in Translation.  I had to channel my inner indie Scarlett Johansson.  Except not as well as she did.  And there were no giant dinosaurs walking onto the mega-screens on any of the buildings.  We did, however, see lots of Transformers trailers and advertisements all over the place.

From there we headed for Shibuya 109.  It wasn't a place I knew about, but Melissa sure did.  It was basically a shopping mall with lots of floors.  With stores that looked like the picture on the left.  Pretty interesting.  Pretty crazy.  Pretty exhausting.  I'm not a shopper.  I have a 3 store maximum before I start to lose my mind.  This was hours of walking around in circles buying nothing.  But hey, anything to please the sister on her last day in Japan.  Poor Aaron must've been bored out of his mind.  Like me.  

After shopping, we headed back to Shinjuku for the Robot Restaurant.  Another thing off of Melissa's to do list.  It was definitely a spectacle.  As soon as we walked in, everything was neon lights, mirrors, girls in skimpy costumes, robots, and so many strange and loud things.  The show was pretty long and they had boxing robots, girls dancing in furry outfits, a Chinese lion, a Kung-Fu Panda riding a cow, and so many other bizarre things I can't comprehend.  

Here's a band dressed in shiny costumes performing Lady Gaga's "Telephone" song.  Were they good?  Eh... the keyboardist was good, I'll give him that!  Having to play an instrument with flashing lights and a helmet that covers his entire head has got to be a feat.  Although there's no way to know if he was actually playing live or if it was just a recording.  The singers were singing live though.

After the robots, we decided to head to Harajuku real quick.  By the time we got there it was already night time and things were closing down.  We managed to walk though some weird looking shops before having to turn around.  Not before I saw a candy shop playing Avril Lavigne's "Hello Kitty" song on repeat... that was not a sight or sound I wanted to experience.

It was pretty much a whirlwind and I was a little sad that Melissa didn't get a chance to experience more of Japan since her time was limited.  But maybe one day she'll come back and we can take her to a real crazy place - Osaka!

Welcome to Uobei Sushi!

Aaron had heard from a coworker about a new sushi restaurant that opened called Uobei Sushi, located in the Musashi parking lot. We'd driven past there before and since Melissa was in town, we figured we'd check it out.

When we got there, we saw on the sign that it was actually a Genki Sushi restaurant, but for some reason the name is Uobei. When we were seated, we were surprised by how everything worked.  The restaurant was mostly tables and not so much counters like a lot of the conveyer belt sushi places.  Also, there were no conveyer belts.  Instead, there were bullet trains and race cars and space shuttles delivering our sushi orders for us.  We were so entertained by them!  I had to video them.

The quality of the sushi wasn't bad either.  So far we've eaten at Hama Zushi, Umai Sushikan, and Sendai Heiroku.  Sendai Heiroku and Hama Zushi are all cheap in price and quality.  We end up going to Hama Zushi when we're hungry late at night and there's nothing else open.  Umai Sushikan's sushi is much better in quality, but pretty pricey.  Well, Uobei seems to be the perfect medium.  The prices are cheap, but the quality is much better than Hama and Sendai Heiroku.  On top of that, it stays open until 11pm!  Awesome!

What I like about Uobei, is there's more variety just like Genki Sushi.  It's kind of weird to be excited about Genki Sushi, since in Hawaii it's not that great.  But in Japan, the variety (and space shuttles) is welcomed!  Here we ordered basil french fries.  Seems weird, but not bad!

We were so excited about this place that we ended up returning two more times in the next two weeks. By then I was pretty sick of sushi!  But not a bad place to go to, especially if you've got kids.

Tanabata Festival

Early August was the Tanabata Festival.  I'd gone once before, but this was Melissa's chance to try on a yukata.  We had arranged for some of the Japanese ladies from Meysen to help her put it on, but at the last second they fell through.  We had planned to go to Tanabata with Janele, an employee and coworker of Melissa's, so we walked to her apartment where we tried to put it on together.

It was definitely a puzzle trying to put it on right.  Janele and I both reviewed youtube videos on how to do it.  We managed to put on the yukata okay enough, but when it came to the obi we had serious problems.  Turns out, Melissa's obi wasn't a traditional obi (which is what I'm used to using).  Instead, it was an obi with a clip on bow.  Something I'd never used before.  It took me and Janele forever to try to figure out how the bow was was supposed to stay on.  Unfortunately, Melissa was so skinny that the bow wouldn't stay on tight enough and it kept slipping.  Oh well.

Melissa in her yukata.

By the time we finished, there wasn't enough time for Janele to put hers on.  We had to run out the door and catch the bus.  When we got to downtown Sendai, it was already super croweded.  We found a spot on the road near the back.  It probably wasn't the best spot, but we were pretty tired from rushing and we just settled on that spot.  Melissa and I walked around the vendors looking for dinner.  Everything was ridiculously overpriced.  We had passed by a McDonald's on the way and I knew we should've gotten something from there.  It would've been way cheaper and much more filling.  But oh well.  Melissa seemed to enjoy the fireworks display, which lasted 90 minutes straight.  When it was all over, the three of us stopped at Baskin Robbins for some ice cream.  The line was really long, but it was well worth it!  That ice cream was probably the best part of it all!

Later that week, I took Melissa to see the Jogi Temple.  We took the bus from Sendai Station, because we weren't sure of any other ways to get there.  We caught the bus and it took us through my old town of Ayashi (where I realized we could've caught the train for much cheaper) and after about 90 minutes, we were at the Jogi Temple.  It was a long bus ride, but it was nice because we got to see the country side and the dam.

When we got there, it was super hot and muggy.  I immediately went for some kakigori (shave ice).  Melissa got one too.  When we were done, we walked through the main gate and started looking around.  We took lots of pictures.  Mostly me taking pictures of Melissa on her phone/camera.  We went to all the usual spots.  All the temple and shrines.  We went into the newest temple and I was surprised you could actually walk in it.  I've been there about 3 times previously, and I had no idea you could step inside.  We did and we walked around and found that there was a school or a little play area for kids.  It was air conditioned too and it made me want to stay there all day.


After that, we headed to the pagoda and tea house.  We took pics of the pagoda but when we went to the tea house it was closed.  We couldn't figure out why because it was still early.  Finally, we read on a sign that it was open every day EXCEPT for Wednesdays.  It was a Wednesday.  I was super annoyed and Melissa was bummed because that's the thing we wanted to do the most.  Melissa was a pretty good sport about it though and she was content with sipping tea at the tea house in Matsushima.

After that there was little to do, so we went back to Sendai.  It was another 90 minutes - 2 hours on the bus, but it was a nice ride since we had been walking around in the sun all afternoon.

When we got back into town, we saw that there were a bunch of festivities going on and we realized that the Tanabata Festival was still going on.  So we jumped off the bus and started wandering through the crowd.  We ate snacks and walked through all the streamers hanging from the bamboo sticks in the shopping plaza.  It was insane.  I actually recorded some video footage of what it's like to walk through there and it's crazy.  It's down below!

Matsushima & The Loople

My sister, Melissa, had some days off and we decided to take advantage of that by going to all the tourist sites around Miyagi.  First stop, Matsushima!

I wasn't sure if Melissa would like Matsushima.  She's definitely a city girl, and Matsushima is a coastal fishing town.  Very small.  Fortunately, I think she liked it.  We first stopped at a green tea shop.  I don't know if Melissa liked it.  She seems to take her green tea with sugar, and this place was very old-school, very traditional.  But I think she enjoyed the novelty of drinking in an old green teahouse.

Afterwards, we walked around the temples.  It was nice and hot and scenic.  I took lots of pictures of Melissa walking around the pathways and gardens.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any for myself.  After the temples, we took the boat tour of all the islands and it was long and boring.  But it was a chance to sit down.

After the boat tour, Melissa and I checked out Godaido, a little island connected by a red bridge.  There Melissa saw one of her students.  She was so shocked to see the little boy who seemed to be in love with her on her one day off miles away from Sendai.  The boy seemed shy, but said hi.

Next, we walked to Fukuura Island.  I managed to snap a really nice shot of Melissa crossing the bridge. (see above).  We walked around the small island for a bit and turned around to go home.  Along the way, we stopped at a kokeshi store where we watched an old man make the wooden dolls by hand. There Melissa picked a couple up for her and my mom for souvenirs.  There were really nice.

The next week we took the Loople around Sendai.  Our first stop was Zuihoden Mausoleum.  I'd never been there before but it was really nice.  I took a lot of pictures of Melissa wandering around the place.  We didn't have a tour guide so we didn't really learn about the history.  There was, however, a small museum, which was really nice because it was air conditioned.  There I learned that Date Masamune was only about 5'2".  Super short.  We walked around and it was a nice place.  It did creep me out slightly that we were basically walking around a gravesite.

After that we went to the Botanical Gardens.  From the picture on the brochure, we thought it was going to be a greenhouse with flowers.  Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a gorge, hiking our way back into civilization.  It was something we were not prepared for.  After about an hour of wandering lost in the forest, we made our way back to the loople bus.  Since we were hot and tired, we made our way to the Art Museum.  A building with air conditioning.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the only way we could get in was if we paid a fee.  A very high fee considering that Melissa wasn't interested in seeing any of the art they had displayed.  So we walked out.

After that, we went to the Osaki Hachimangu Shrine.  Something I'd been wanting to see for a while but never was able to.  It's the probably the most famous shrine in Sendai.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there our loople pass was almost up.  We had just enough time to walk up the stairs, take a few pictures, and walk down again.



When we did, we managed to catch the last loople bus and boy, was it crowded!  Good thing we decided to get off at the Mediateque instead of Sendai Station.  From there we checked out the glass building and walked around Ichibancho.  I couldn't believe it when Melissa actually wanted to go shopping!  I was so freaking tired from all the walking, hiking, hot sun, and overcrowded buses.  But we went.


At the end of the day, I was so happy just to sit on my couch and watch an episode of Chuck.

More of Melissa

Melissa feeding the koi at Zuiho Hotel, Akiu.

It's been several weeks since my sister Melissa has moved to Sendai.  It seems that she's gotten the hang of things.  She goes to work and walks to the mall by herself.  Over the past few weeks, Aaron and I have taken around to do some different things.

Out of everything, she's enjoyed the shopping the most.  Ever since she got here, she'd been talking about a store called Cecil McBee.  I never heard of it, but she saw someone coming out of the Parco department store with a bag and was determined to find the store.  Aaron and I searched through the Parco directory all written in Japanese until we finally found it listed under 4th floor.  We took her up there and she had a heyday.  She and her roommate Olivia spent I-don't-even-know-how-long in that store.  Aaron and I walked around the entire floor, perused several different shops, and came back and still ended up waiting forever for them to get out.  Finally, she bought a wallet and a bag for herself.  It was her birthday, so I guess it was a nice birthday present to herself.  She was super happy after that.

After Cecil McBee, we had some purikura fun.  We made two different sets of purikura.  It was an adventure and probably my favorite part of the day because it requires some sort of creativity.  I don't know if Olivia enjoyed it, but I know Melissa loved it.

We took her to Don Quijote.  Another field day in there.  We spent several hours there as she went through EVERYTHING.  Groceries, shoes, and especially cosmetics.  It wasn't a total waste of time for me and Aaron either.  We found a set of pretty good hangers for cheap.  Something we really needed.

Finally, since it was her birthday, we took her out to dinner.  It took us a long time to find a place we really wanted to go to.  We specifically wanted to take her to eat some okonomiyaki.  The problem was that the best okonomiyaki shop that I knew of was very far away and we were without a car.  So we had to find a different place nearby.  We ended up going to Kita-Sendai, the only place I knew of.  It wasn't as good as the other place I wanted, but Melissa and Olivia seemed to both enjoy it.  We did too!  It was good.

Recently Melissa expressed a desire to try an onsen and to check out some temples.  Aaron was feeling burnt out from work, so he took the day off yesterday.  We decided to make a trip to Akiu onsen and we wanted to check out the Jogi temple.  Well, halfway there it began to rain really hard so we decided to scrap the trip to the temple, which was very far away.  Instead, we went straight to Akiu.  When we got there, it was miraculously sunny.  The clouds didn't reach that part of Sendai.  We went into the Zuiho Onsen.  There Melissa and I went into the women's side and Aaron went into the men's side.

When it was time to undress, Melissa didn't realize that we had to get naked.  She adjusted pretty well to the environment but commented that it was wasn't prepared for this much sisterly bonding.  I didn't care, haha.  I had no problem walking around naked.  We washed off and went straight outside to the outdoor baths.  It was pretty nice and relaxing.  But Melissa was disappointed it wasn't a wild pond out in the mountains with steam and monkeys.  She said it was basically a naked jacuzzi.  Which it pretty much is.  After about 20 minutes, Melissa was bored.  So we left.


Aaron still took another 30 minutes in his side, so we had some time to spare waiting for him.  I went to get some ice cream from a vending machine.  When I came back, an old man had given Melissa a bowl of fish food to feed the koi in the fish ponds.  Sad to say, it was probably her favorite part of the onsen.

Afterwards, we did more shopping.  We took her to Birthday bakery in Kuriu.  She liked it there, the bread was good, and it's a cute shop too.  After that, we took her to Seria.  She loved Daiso (the dollar store), so I thought she would like Seria (another dollar store) more.  I do anyway.  I think their stuff is cuter and better quality than Daiso.  I was right.  She spent a good amount of time looking at all the cute stuff.  Aaron and I bought some stuff too.  I found a measuring cup that measured actual cups.  And some measuring spoons.

Finally, we ate some dinner.  Melissa had been nagging forever about wanting some tonkatsu and miso soup.  The only place I knew of off the top of my head that served that stuff was Kadoya in Ayashi.  So we headed there.  She liked the ambiance.  Definitely the nicest atmosphere of all the restaurants we've taken her.  And finally, she was satisfied with her dinner.  She loved the tonkatsu.  She said the miso soup was too fishy and so was the sashimi.  Luckily, she's not a big eater so that tonkatsu was a enough for her.

We're getting the hang of what places to take her too and what kind of food she'll like, so she's been enjoying our outings a lot more now.  That's the good thing.  The bad thing is that Sendai is not a really busy city, so we're running out of shopping places to take her too!  We still have to take her to a temple though.  We'll see if she appreciates that when we come to it... Overall, I think when she goes back to AZ, she'll realize she enjoyed Japan! ;)