After our week of manual labour in the hot Aussie sun, the five members of Team Japan were off on a full day of traveling, with a short stop in South Korea and an extremely full bus and train. you need to be prompt with timetables in Japan, nothing is ever late from what I see. Japan is absolutely beautiful, with presentation as a huge part of culture here. They may not have a lot of space, but they are so good at using what they have well. If at all possible, we walk. Bicycles are everywhere, trains are well used, and there is almost no litter. Osaka is such a beautiful place.
Our base is a very old traditional building, situated between a power plant and a shrine. It is quite cold, so we use kerosene heaters when we are in the rooms.
Our days so far have consisted of dancing and handing out tracts with our faces on them (written in Japanese) in preparation for a Music Art Dance night held at the local church. We met some sweet girls who were super excited to use their English skills, and worked on figuring out the Yen system while some slightly complicated shopping. Guesswork was involved while buying groceries, but It turned out well so far! the base staff are great, helping us get our bearings the first few days.
There are quite a few surprising things I have learned while here. Some of which are most things in Japan are smaller and less expensive. Slippers are the best things ever. (The Korean airline gave us disposable ones for the flight!) Green Tea stops altitude nosebleeds. When served, the servers always start with "I'm Sorry" and then continue to serve you. Never hand cash to the cashier directly, put it in the tray first. Japanese rice, curry and noodles are amazing. Chopsticks are fairly easy to use after the first few tries. Cherry blossoms and cabbages are beautiful. It's impolite to speak loudly in public. Playing loud music in a neighborhood may get you a visit with the police, simply because it's unusual. If you want to be a supermodel, wear tye-dye and have blue eyes and freckles. If you want to stand out, be taller than 5 feet. Squatty potties and large amounts of buttons on everything is not unusual. Total Eclipse of the Heart is now our theme song. Art is a HUGE part of culture here. If you can do Manga, the kids love you. Hugging isn't normal.
There you go, observations for the evening!
I love Japan, and the new experiences are going to last a lifetime. I never knew how very Canadian I was until now though! I'm really enjoying reading Anne of Green Gables in my spare time, and rereading it now, I know why my mother used to call me that. Anne is just like me when I was young!
God has really been using the language barrier to teach me to trust my leaders. I have always been extremely independent, so it's a hard lesson to learn. That, and I can't read! I think I would love to stay longer if I had the chance. Next update I'll try to give some real news, not just observations, but for now Sayanora!
Before we left for outreach, the fine art track went on a field trip to the Brisbane art gallery, so the first pictures are from that. The last few are the very small amount of pictures I have taken so far in Japan. If you want to see more, check out our hashtag at #teamyapan !
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