The kids make their way down the steps at the Church Street shopping center. It is a fairly new addition to the quaint downtown shopping district in Karuizawa. It is on the old road from Tokyo that served as a stopping point for many travelers back in the day. This is considered the "old" part of town, while the more urban section is west of here. Karuizawa grew out of tourism over 100 years ago when foreigners began to frequent this area, missionaries in particular, wanting to escape the heat of the summer months down south. It is in that tradition that the Church Street gallery of shops grew up.

Labels: history, photos

This is Hideko. She was 9 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on her hometown of Nagasaki, Japan Aug 9th, 1945. Weiling and I were introduced to Hideko-san by Bo and Ida. We hope to get to know her more as time allows. Please pray for a successful hip replacement surgery for Ida on Tuesday 3/31.

Labels: history, prayer

Thanks to the Florida Christian Convention booth we had earlier this year, we were able to connect with Betty Turner for lunch. She served as a missionary in Japan for nearly 30 years! She shared many great stories about the struggles and the victories she and her husband Bill had overseas. Had it not been for little Timmy's allergies to the heat of the Philippines, they might never have moved to Japan in the first place. Tim has since gone on to pastor Machida Church where we visited with Phil and Kim during our vision trip. Betty nowadays spends time between caring for her grandson suffering from cerebral palsy and her husband who is in hospice. She is a God's girl with a great big heart and is a gifted teacher as you'll see in the video below. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see an old-school missionary mom sharing her secrets to learning Japanese Kanji. Betty tries to visit Japan once a year, but it's becoming more difficult. Please be in prayer that God would continue to pour out His Spirit in her life and that she may continue to be a great encouragement to others. That's Seasons 52 restaurant in Orlando if you're interested in healthy dining.

Labels: blessings, history

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of Japan's history may be aware that Francis Xavier was among the first missionaries to the island nation back in 1549. What you may not know is that he has a blood-relative still living there. Saturday night’s episode of Sekai Ichi Uketai Jyugyou introduced him to television viewers in a short trivia segment. Fortunately, you don't even have to speak the language to know what's going on.[more:JapanProbe]

Labels: history, Japan

With his camera, Michael John Grist captures the overgrowth of a shrine that has fallen into disrepair. Buddhists have temples, Shinto believers practice their rites in Shrines. This is an intriguing look into the Ashiodozan ghost town in the Tochigi region of Japan.

Labels: history, Japan, photos

Young men of the samurai class, the only ones outside the nobility and the priesthood who were educated, were attracted to the missionaries through their desire to secure foreign learning, and many of them, pushing beyond their first objective, became in time earnest Christians and coworkers with the missionaries in propagating the Gospel. For these young men classes and small private schools were opened in Kanagawa and Tokyo, and it was not long until even the government sent students to be taught by the missionaries.
Source: Fruits of Christian Mission in Japan
Photo : Shimooka Renjo

Labels: history, Japan

When the [first Protestant] missionaries in Kanagawa succeeded in securing a teacher to help them in the study of the language, they found that he was a government spy. To avoid complications with foreign 'governments, the authorities appointed guards to protect the "foreigners," and warned them not to go about the streets without escorts, lest harm befall them from armed samurai they might meet. There were two things the missionaries in the early years had to do in order to secure any progress in their work, namely, to win the confidence of the people, and to gain a knowledge of the language. Neither task was easy, but with patience, perseverance and uniform kindness, they won out.
source: Fruits of Christian Mission in Japan

Labels: history, Japan, outreach