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! ;)

Sister in Sendai

Melissa and her roommate, Olivia, over our meal at Namaskar.

My sister Melissa came back to Sendai with me at the end of May.  She's interning at MeySen Academy for the summer.  So far she's been working mostly non-stop, though she seems fine with the pace so far.


Aaron and I have been playing tour guide.  We've taken her and her roommate to various places around Sendai.  We first took them to our favorite sushi place, Umai Sushi Kan.  It was pretty disappointing when the roommate only ordered a cucumber handroll and Melissa said she liked Arizona sushi better.  And I know for a fact that Arizona fish does not compare to the quality to Japan's fish.  But Arizona has a wide variety of creative rolls, with avocado, cream cheese, and jalapeno peppers.  Japan is traditional and kind of boring compared to that.  Still, that meal was not cheap.

Look how yummy it looks!

Next we took them for Indian food at Namaskar.  Thankfully, they seemed to enjoy it that time around. Afterwards, we took them to Yodobashi Camera, the biggest electronics store in Sendai.  Usually, that's the place that most internationals are excited to see and are most impressed with.  But I guess the girls weren't really into electronics.  We got what we needed and left.  Next was a series of clothing stores, an arcade, the Pokemon store, the taiyaki shop, and Daiso the 100 yen store.

I guess in my head this was going to be a lot more fun.  Like I'd take lots of pictures and stuff.  But the girls reactions haven't been largely underwhelmed.  They mostly seemed to like the kiddie stuff.  They'd probably be more impressed with someplace like Tokyo or Osaka, but there's no chance we'll ever have to go there.

Due to the busy work schedule of the summer, we don't know if we'll be able to take them to the better places like Yamadera or Matsushima.  Maybe one day we'll make that happen.

Back to AZ, USA

In the month of May, I flew back to Arizona for my brother's college graduation.  Since my sister was also planning to come to Sendai for an internship at MeySen, I ended up staying for two weeks and flying back with her.

Those two weeks were pretty good.  I went to my brother's graduation at Arizona State University Polytechnic.  It was a really small graduation.  Smaller than a high school graduation.  My brother majored in Mechanical Engineering and his campus is separate from the main campus so it's a smaller school.  But it was a very nice graduation.  At the end, we all got free ice cream and cake.  Something I'd never seen before at a graduation ceremony.  What was nice was that my whole family was there.  Me and my dad.  Usually one of us is missing.  But this time we were all there.

We spent most of my two weeks there eating.  And most of that eating took place at Denny's.  I've never eaten so much Denny's in all my life.  But it was great to eat real American food again.  We ate so much food, so much dense food, that by the end of the two weeks I was really for the lighter Japanese cuisine.  And now I'm on a diet!  I gained a gut while I was in AZ.  I don't know how they can do it.

While there, one of my mom's good friends' son graduated from high school.  At the time my mom and dad were in Vegas to visit my mom's cousin.  Erik, Kayla, and I went for her instead.  My mom was adamant that we make a money lei for this kid.  We spent the whole day frantically folding 10 one dollar bills and attaching them onto a bead necklace.  It was a little weird when we got there.  For one thing, I haven't been at a high school in over 10 years.  It was so weird to see how kids dress these days.  Also, Erik just graduated college, so even he was old.  Weird.  What was also weird was that this was a high school in our district, so they were kind of our rivals in high school.  But the weirdest thing of all was that I was the one who presented the lei to this kid, and the last time I saw him, he was maybe 7.  He probably had no memory of me.  I didn't even know what he looked like.  But his mom is a good friend to our family and we were there to support her, just like she was there to support me at my wedding.

My two weeks also included lots of shopping.  I bought two new pairs of shoes that altogether cost me half of what I would've spent on just one pair in Japan.  I also bought 4 dresses.  Two I bought for only $10.  Deals!  And probably the most exciting thing was that Erik and I watched Godzilla together.  Not the best movie in the world.  But what was cool was seeing a Bluewater member IN the movie!  I was so excited about it that I facebooked it right away.  Very fun.

At the end, Melissa and I left for Sendai.  We had a LONG journey of layovers, 3 flights, and 2 train rides.  We made a stop in Portland, OR on the way over and we saw a really cool piece of art.

  

Now I'm back in Sendai again after a nice two weeks back in USA.  And this time Melissa is with me (some of the time), but that's another blog entry.

A New Home, New Season

Cake cutting ceremony.  That's my lil bro to the left!

Wedding week in Hawaii was something I never want to live through again!  Of course the wedding turned out great.  But man, so not worth the drama.  Deep down I wanted a small, private beach wedding.  But how those things morph into something else!  Still, I was really, really happy to see my family again.  Not just my immediate family (especially, my dad who came in from work on his ship to walk me down the aisle), but a handful of my aunties and uncles and cousins.  It was like a really tiny family reunion.  I was really happy that Aaron could finally meet them.  I wish that more of them could've came, but it was a lot to ask for them to fly in from whatever part of the country they live in.

Immediately after the wedding, we had a mini-staycation in Koolina, the west side of Oahu.  My uncle works at one of the resorts there and he got us a great deal.  We had only four days, and we were still so busy with post-wedding stuff that we didn't really get to enjoy the hotel all that much.  Still we made the best with what we could.  We went to Roy's, our favorite restaurant, and swam in the pool and the lagoons.  There are four lagoons at Koolina.  Most people stay in the lagoon in front of their hotel.  We were smart enough to do some walking and we found one that was much cleaner and less crowded.  I wish I took more pictures!  But it was exactly what we needed after a really stressful and exhausting week!

The view from our hotel lobby.

After all the chaos was over, Aaron and I finally flew back to Sendai and moved into our new apartment.  Unfortunately, Aaron had to leave immediately the next morning for a work trip.  I didn't see him again for another two days!  What a way to start married life!  Our new apartment is small, but nice.  We didn't have much furniture at all.  We've been here now for about two weeks and I still haven't unpacked everything.  I still have an entire suitcase of clothes that needs to be put away, but I have nowhere to put them!  More than half the closet is already filled with all of Aaron's jackets, coats, and work shirts.  He had an entire large suitcase of nothing but t-shirts!  I'm waiting to buy either some storage bins or another dresser to put it all in.  And more hangers.

We spent all of last weekend shopping for used furniture.  We were mostly unsuccessful.  We found a used recliner chair for $40 that we thought about using as a makeshift couch, but I realized immediately after purchasing it that it would not do.  We were stuck with it though and tried to look for other couches.  We found some nice ones at Hard Off (a used furniture store), but they were either out of our price range or too big for our apartment.  The few that we could afford were too small or too dingy looking.  Finally, we went to a real home store and found a new loveseat for under $200.  It was the best deal we could find and it was the right size too.  We took it!  Unfortunately, it won't be delivered to our home for another week!  Until then I'm sitting on the floor.  Aaron can have the recliner.

Since we have a really small space with two people living in it, I've been spending my days trying to create systems for each room in order to maximize our space.  I'm finding ways to rearrange the furniture so we have much more room to move around and more places to store stuff without making everything look so cluttered.  Still, we've got lots of clutter!  No where to put stuff, ugh!!

I'm just waiting for the day our couch comes in and when we finally get my dresser.  Then I'll feel like I can do something with this place!  But I'm enjoying the challenge.  It's kind of nice to play house, or Extreme Home Makeover: Japan Edition.

*~*~*

This Wednesday,  a group of Aaron's coworkers and the two of us went to a place called Ogawara.  It's outside of Sendai and is famous for it's cherry blossoms.  I'd been there once before with Nobuko many years ago.  But after a really disappointing cherry blossom season last year, I was really looking forward to some hanami.  After we all hopped into a few cars and carpooled there, we all walked through the trees and took pictures.

Cherry Tree Lane?

On the plane coming back to Japan I watched Saving Mr. Banks about how Disney acquired the rights to Mary Poppins to turn into a movie.  In it, the author lived on a street that was lined with cherry trees and Cherry Tree Lane is mentioned in her books.  Well, walking down the row of sakura trees made me think that this was the REAL Cherry Tree Lane!

There were about a thousand sakura trees lining the river.  Aaron and I walked about halfway before turning around.  We got hungry.  There were food vendors at the site, similar to a carnival, so we walked down the line of vendors looking for something good to eat.  Aaron got a yakisoba.  I bought some yakitori.  It was tasty, but not filling enough.  Not long after, the whole group moved on to a Chinese ramen shop nearby.  There I ordered something adventurous.  I don't know the name, but it was Chinese, with thick noodles and very little broth and came with a small bowl of rice.  (I should've took a picture.)

All this took place on a Wednesday morning before Aaron had to start his day of work.  After the drive back, we parted our ways.  He went to work and I took a nap.  Haha!  But after my nap, I was very productive in continuing my quest to turn our apartment into a real home.

This upcoming weekend is another eventful one that I'm looking forward to.  More shopping for furniture, but also Easter Sunday and Captain America 2 finally comes out here!  It's going to be fun.

Hello. Goodbye.

My last few weeks at Ayashichuo Christ Church was a whirlwind!  I was so busy cleaning, packing, teaching, and preparing for the wedding, it was hard for me to keep track of everything.

Our new teacher, Ryan Munchinsky, came in just in the knick of time!  After a lot of issues trying to get his visa, he finally got it and hopped on a plane from Canada.  We showed him around a bit and introduced him to everyone.  He's eager to learn about the culture and the language.  I think he's going to do a great job!  Hopefully, much better than I did!

Ryan at Thursday Bible Study.

I spent the last week saying goodbye to everyone.  I gave my farewell speech at the Sunday church service and some students showed up to give me some presents.  I received many cups.

My students, Isa-san and Mayumi, presented me with a bouquet of flowers.

Some kiddos wrote me cute letters in English.  One of my student's mothers made me some towels.  On Wednesday night, we had a mini-dinner party.  Kyoko made quiche and triange spring rolls.  They were so delicious!  Manami Sato made a dessert with custard.  Also very yum!

We took one last photo together!

It was a really crazy week of hellos and goodbyes.  Somehow, miraculously, I was able to finish it all.  Praise be to God!  I was surprisingly very sad to say goodbye to the students.  But I know I will see them again.  I am still living in Sendai, after all.  But now I'm off to a new adventure!

Light vs. Darkness

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug movie came out here in Japan.  I had already seen it back in America during Christmas, but Aaron hadn't seen it.  I enjoyed it a lot the first time and was willing to see it again, so we decided to check it out together.  It was a really good movie.  I really like J.R.R. Tolkien's stories (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) because you can see imagery and symbols that are very similar, if not the same, to what is written in the Bible.  The language is also similar.  There were a handful of scenes that stood out to me, but one in particular stays in my mind.

This scene is of Gandalf going into an old, abandoned tower.  It looks empty and normal.  But actually, there are hundreds of evil creatures hiding in the shadow.  When he unveils the truth, he is faced and attacked by the darkness.  He uses light to fight it.

On a spiritual level, this is what it feels like to be a missionary.  In any country, I imagine.  You go about your days and everything seems ordinary.  But you're aware of an emptiness and an unseen darkness.  When you pray and actively live in the light and try to bring that light to others, you're met with spiritual attack.  And often it feels like you're one small person facing something much bigger than yourself.  But seeing the light come from Gandalf, it's a reminder that God's light is inside of us.  And how great is that light!  I mean, He did create the sun.

The clip also reveals the character of the enemy.  Evil is not brave, but cowardly.  It hides and does not want to be exposed.  It deceives and cheats.  Gandalf goes into the darkness knowing he will be outnumbered, but he believes that good and light and truth have more authority.

In the end Gandalf is overpowered by the darkness, but in reality, darkness always flees from the light.  It's physics. The yin-yang is bogus.  Light and dark are not equal.  God's light and power and goodness is ALWAYS stronger than evil and darkness.  Sometimes we may get a little bruised up or fall on our face, but God will always win.  And good will win in the end of this movie trilogy.  Hooray for the little guys!

Don't see a connection between my geeky obsession with The Hobbit and the spiritual battles we face? Here are some of many Bible references to prove it:

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." -- John 3:19-21

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." -- John 1:5

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." -- Ephesians 6:12

"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." -- Ephesians 5:11

"I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness." -- Ecclesiastes 2:13

"You are all children of the light and children of the day.  We do not belong to the night or to the darkness." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:5

"The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.  But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble." -- Proverbs 4:19-20

'When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."' -- John 8:12