The Current State of Japan

This excellent graphic was put together by international workers planning to come to Japan. I found it on their blog which is: https://trimmedtales.wordpress.com/

A Little Perspective

http://www.buzzfeed.com/simoncrerar/tokyo-is-a-mega-city#.qmdQ7rn4O

Recycling

We've been recycling since we arrived in 1987, and it was years later that blue bins arrived at home. We take our styrofoam trays to a bin to be recycled, and we wash and flatten our milk cartons to be recycled, and separate our cans, bottles and plastic bottles. Burnable garbage and plastic garbage is separated, but both are burned. The plastic is burned at much higher temperatures to prevent the release of dioxins.

But, this town in the mountains takes it to a whole new level! https://www.facebook.com/SeekerNetwork/videos/1077313645626123/?theater

Religious?

Here's a good article to explain how such a secular nation can be simultaneously so religious.

http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/113663.php

Yum!

No, a Japanese barbecue isn't that different from what we're used to. We happened to arrive at the barbecue park just as the thousands of cicadas in the trees had shed their shells and started singing about it. The children decided to collect them all. Crunchy, but not filling. 

We went for the more ordinary fare of hot dogs and hamburgers. The Edmonton team (see the next two posts) were on hand to enjoy it with the children of our English Day Camps and their families. Here Jeff is helping Tetsuya get the grill going for the hot dogs. 

There was the team and five of us from our family, and another forty or so children and adults from the day camps in Harumi and in Shiohama, our own neighbourhood. 

Even Emma found the watermelon tastier than the cicada shells. 

Praise Time Retreat

We had an overnight retreat at Torchbearers Yamankako, the Capernwray school where Laura will soon return to resume kitchen coordination while continuing studies online.

Little did we know we were arriving in Yamanakako on the day of their huge annual fireworks display, but the traffic jam on the way should have given us some warning. We enjoyed the fireworks by the lakeshore. 

Afterward, a campfire and testimony time, and S'mores. 

We did do things other than eating, but it seems a number of our pictures are of that activity in particular. 

You can tell that the Edmonton team (see blog post below) was with us for the weekend as well. 

English Day Camp Reprise

Six years ago Jeff and Yumi brought a team from Beulah Alliance Church in Edmonton. They returned this year with another team to do more English Day Camps to help us make contact with people in both Harumi and in Shiohama, our new neighbourhood.

I think this is Jeff and Yumi trying to teach "this is his ear" to the children, or it could be that Jeff's in trouble with Yumi. 

 This one's a little easier to interpret. I think it's the classic "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" song.

The boys really enjoyed Rich. We had 80 children in Harumi and Shiohama, divided into preschool and elementary school aged classes. It kept everyone busy and active, in 30+ degree heat and high humidity. It doesn't get quite this humid in Edmonton, it's safe to say.