The Heads Go Bobbing By...

Out our balcony we can see a little of the road on the east end of our island. Between two apartment buildings and just over the elementary school we usually see cars go by. Today, we're seeing heads. We can't see the bodies underneath, just the heads, bobbing down the road.

I think this map will help you understand what we see once each year. The runners certainly aren't as bunched up as in the photo above, at the start line in Shinjuku. By the time they pass through Harumi, (#19) they've run almost all of the marathon and they just have a few miles left until the finish line at Tokyo Big Sight, which is a huge convention centre.

While I'm not a marathoner, I have run to Tokyo Big Sight (finish line), Shinagawa (#9) Asakusa (#16) and Tokyo Dome (beside #4). I just run those routes on separate days, not all together. I've also run around the Imperial Palace moat, at the center of the map. A local newspaper counted 3,500 runners on that route on a weekday evening, and I've been amazed at how many runners there are there. It's embarrassing to be passed by so many! Last time I ran that course, I was accompanied by a man who visited Canada for the Vancourver Olympics and toured the country coast to coast. We chatted for a few minutes until our paths diverged. It's a great place to run!

Valentines Tea

Yes, as a matter of fact, they did taste as good as they look.

...and, the Valentines Tea was a good time to discuss what the Bible says about marriage relationships.

The Covenant Players presented a brief but thought provoking play on marriage and appreciating one's spouse that everyone appreciated.

Am I Old Enough for These Glasses?

When you see the metal frames with the dark plastic panels over the lenses, like the ones Dr. Hinohara is wearing in this picture, you know those glasses are meant for men who are past a certain age. I'm not sure what that age is, nor do I know whether I've reached it. You'd be interested to know that Dr. Hinohara was born in 1911. He's certainly reached and surpassed that age, whatever it is. But, he hasn't yet reached retirement age. He's still writing, speaking and working at his day job which is...

running St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo, within sight of our apartment. The medical building is in the foreground, and the office towers in the background. This is where Carol gladly parted with her gall bladder last year. As the name suggests, St. Luke's is a Christian hospital, and because of his longevity, vitality and wisdom, Dr. Hinohara's books sell well, and he is often consulted by the mass media in Japan.

On Sunday one friend of ours brought in a clipping from one of the major newspapers in Japan. It was an article by Dr. Hinohara on the topic of "Forgiveness", something with which people in Japan struggle. Dr. Hinohara's article closed with the words of Jesus on the topic of forgiveness from the Gospel of Luke. It's great to see a believer with such a high profile and vast respect having this kind of influence in Japanese society.

Who Needs Walls?

A roof is necessary in Penang, but not walls. The clusters of food stalls on the island offer a variety of great and inexpensive meals. Dinner for a dollar!

It was no hardship to be called together for a Regional Leadership Team meeting in Penang, Malaysia in the coldest January in Japan in 26 years! Meetings don't make for great pictures, but this was the view we had as we met for three days.

We did get outside for one session, which we held on a nearby beach, with a barbecue lunch served to us. While it was only a few hours, I should have been more careful in applying the sun screen!

We travelled to Penang through Singapore, riding the immense Airbus A380 to Changi Airport, and arriving at 4:00am. We slept for an hour or so in the departure lounge and then got breakfast (runny eggs, Kopi and Kaya, of course!) and continued on to Penang.  On our return we arrived at Singapore at noon, and Toshimi san, our former neighbour in Harumi, joined us for lunch. That was a much more enjoyable layover! This is your typical tourist photo, where you can hardly see the people in the picture. The Merlion in the background is a symbol of Singapore.

A Soak in the Mountains

You can see the lights of Chichibu, a city in the mountains northwest of Tokyo, in the background of this picture. Our room overlooked the city, and so do the outdoor hot springs perched high on the cliffs. We were there for a night during Christmas break to enjoy being together, yet one of us has to soak all on his own in a separate hot spring. Still, it's enjoyable and invigorating to be in freezing temperatures outdoors and up to your neck in hot water, while hearing the rest of the family enjoying themselves on the other side of the wall in the adjacent hot spring.

If you follow Heather's blog, you've already seen these pictures. I'm borrowing them, and you'll see a link to her blog at the top right of this blog, so this is like an ad for her blog and its excellent photography. While the mountains were scenic, the one and only road out was blocked by a collision for two hours, and we had no way out, and an event to attend that evening. That's life in the mountains, I guess.

Getting into the mountains is like going back in time. So many great scenes to photograph, and so many good pictures taken by Heather.

My Visit to Yushukan

Yushukan is a military museum I rode to on my bicycle this week. In seeing all the weapons of war and particularly the suicide attack weapons, and also in reading a decidedly sanitized and selective view of the Pacific War, I asked myself how I would have arranged the museum.

I think it's legitimate to commemorate the sacrifices made by the people of Japan, even in a war of aggression. The walls of small pictures of thousands of men and women who died in the war, of course only the smallest fraction of the more than 2 million who were killed, (plus 500,000 to one million civilians in Japan) is a sobering reminder of the huge pain inflicted when a small group of dedicated extremists seizes control of a country, and then uses that country to attempt to seize control of a whole region of the world.

Those faces I saw were of very young people who were either coerced, manipulated or brainwashed into taking part in the war, some brainwashed to the extent of uselessly throwing away their lives when they could have better served their country by helping to rebuild it postwar. It is good to remember what happened to them, to ensure that all people take seriously their role as citizens in staying informed and voting,  and not shrug their shoulders and say しかったがない (it can't be helped).

Beyond the famous kamikaze raids were suicide charges and troops blowing themselves up rather than surrender. The cause was unworthy, but a willingness to sacrifice oneself for others is admirable. When we lived in Sayama we often saw Japanese Self Defence Force jets flying overhead from the air base in town. One jet had an engine flameout at low altitude, and both airmen stayed aboard rather than eject in order to make sure the jet crashed into the river and not into densely populated areas. Yet, both airmen did not have to stay onboard. I suspect the second airman refused the order to eject from the pilot in command as the plane went down.

In the March tsunami there was the young woman who stayed at her post in the city hall to continually broadcast the tsunami warning over loudspeakers throughout the city until she was swept away to her death by the wave. There are recent examples of brave Japanese sacrificing their lives for others, and I trust future generations will hear about them.

Without Doubt, The Strangest Post in this Blog!

While it's actually January 1st, this would be appropriate for April 1st...
Behold! Christ's grave in Shingo, Aomori Prefecture The Japan Times Online