Thanks Kyle for the cereal comment. Glad to see that someone's interested, reading, and contributing. So yeah, cereal is a very good way to go. I mean, it's quick, it's good, and look at the side of the box and you see that you get all these vitamins you never knew existed... you know, those vitamins with a letter followed by a number. Not only that, but it says in one serving you get like at least 25% of all those good vitamins and minerals. And everyone knows that you don't eat just one serving a day. So, it's like stocking up on all the things that you're told is good for you in case you run into one of those "there's nothing in the refridgerator so I'll grab a spoon and just eat a bunch of peanut butter and ice cream" days.
BUT... if you go to supermarket in Japan, you'll see that there's only 6 different kinds of cereal. And for me, 6 kinds of cereal is fine if it's Cap'n Crunch, Honey Bunches of Oats, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, Frosted Shredded Mini Wheats, and well, i can't think of another. But no. In Japan, it's 4 different kinds of corn flakes, some chocolate ringed cereal, and something else i've never seen before. 4 DIFFERENT KINDS OF CORN FLAKES! What a waste! Plus, the boxes are half the size but still cost about $4-5 a box.
I tried to explain cereal to a Japanese person once, and he said, "Oh, you mean corn flakes?" Can someone reading this please send me a digital picture of your local cereal aisle? We must educate these Japanese people! Knowledge is power! If possible, please make it so that I can get it developed into a 3" X 5" pic. Send it to hopping_keroppi@hotmail.com .

I don't get myself sometimes. So a few days ago, I go to the supermarket because I'm low on food. Among other things, I buy some vegetables. Before I pick em up, I have a set idea of how to use them for food that I'd eat (I'm not a real big fan of salads... I don't have any salad dressing in fridge now, and I don't think I had any salad dressing in my college apartment fridge either). So here's the mystery. I know how I'm going to eat it beforehand. I put the vegetables in the crisper (that compartment in the fridge that's supposedly a little cooler), I use some of it for dinner for that night, but I don't use all of it. It's ok right? Wrong. Somehow, I kind of forget about or something... I don't really know. I might use the veggies one more time but that's the max. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the veggies go bad in the fridge a few days later.
THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS. And maybe it's the Asian person in me... but when I see food go bad, it's a mini tragedy. "What a waste!" "Think of all those starving Ethiopians." Now the problem solver in me thinks about this problem and sees two logical solutions. A: Think of a way to make sure that the veggies last longer than 4-5 days in fridge (Unlikely). Or B: Buy less veggies in one trip to the supermarket (More realistic). I think I've gone through this process a million times over the passed 4 years. But somehow, I keep getting the same amount of veggies when i go to the supermarket. Maybe I'm trying to feel good about myself buying veggies. Or maybe I'm an idiot.

I'm peeved at NTT (the Japanese major telephone company). I have a NTT cell phone. Here in Japan, only outgoing phone calls are charged. Incomings are free. And in general, I use the cell phone for incomings because I'm out so often from meeting with people and teaching classes. So here's the situation. I get my monthly bill, and it's about $40 over what I think it should be. Problem is that NTT never shows a breakdown of the phone calls. On the bill it shows how much I'm charged for all the phone calls I make, but it doesn't show where I called and how much each phone call cost. So, by looking at the phone bill there's no way to check if I've been overbilled. At this point I'm not too annoyed.
So I go to the local NTT cell phone shop in town (about a 10 minute walk). I tell them that I think i'm overbilled and that I'd like a breakdown of my phone calls for the last month. He's gives me this weird look and says that he can't do it. He says, "Sorry, but you'll have to go to the Tomakomai shop personally if you want something like that." Tomakomai is an hour and 45 minute car drive from where I am. At this point, I'm annoyed. I'm wondering, is it worth 3 hours and 30 minutes of driving to clear up something that's worth $40? Not only that but I figure in the gas money (which is about $4 a gallon in Japan) and I really start to wonder whether it's worth it. So basically, I ask the clerk at the local shop if there's anyway we could get the information without going out to Tomakomai. Call them up, have them fax the information over... email, something. I mean, this is the information age! To which the clerk says, "We have this policy because we want to protect the privacy of our customers." At this point i'm really annoyed. I don't care about my privacy at this point. i just don't want to pay an additional $40 that I don't think I have to pay. And that's what I say.
So the clerk says, "Well, if you don't pay this bill by the end of the month, we'll be forced to cancel your subscription." I know that. I know how to pay a bill. I know what happens if i don't. I'm just really annoyed by the fact that NTT can overbill somebody and get away with it because of the huge inconvenience it is to even check if you've been overbilled! Oh yeah, and of course, the Tomakomai office/shop is open only on regular business hours when normal people are working. AAaahhh!

Japanese news isn't all that exciting. I mean, aside from all the political scandals that seem to pop up all the time, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot more to report... well, other than the World Cup for now. I'm wondering, what would Japanese news be like if there weren't any political scandals or the World Cup? An super extended weather report? And it doesn't help that the newscasters here seem to have zero charisma.
So anyway, because of the lack of what I consider to be news, and because somehow, I'm still drawn to watch the news... I've found the most exciting part to be when they report about the currency exchange to the dollar. But I don't get it. Japan's in the middle of an economic crisis that only looks to get worse, America's looking like it's due for a strong recovery, and the dollar's been steadily sinking to the yen! Looking at the economies, the dollar should be getting something like 150 yen.

Yesterday, Armageddon was on TV. Even though I watched it already, I was really excited, and wanted to see it. Why? Usually I don't like watching movies for the second time unless I thought it was really good. Armageddon doesn't fit in that class. So why? Because it was an American movie. It's strange. Now that I'm here, in Japan, I get all hyped up about anything that's "American." TV is the best example I can think of. For example, the entire day, I'll get all excited about a Steven Seagal movie that's showing on TV that night... and well, Steven Seagal isn't exactly my favorite actor, if you can even call him that. Just watching something on TV that's in English is an event. How sad i've become!
Well, anyway, here in this area of Hokkaido, only two stations are bilingual. And guess what. Armageddon wasn't on one of them. And of course, the one thing i like about the movie are the little one-line bits... in English. And of course, I don't laugh all that much when it's dubbed over in Japanese because either I won't understand the Japanese, or if I do, it wasn't translated accurately and I didn't get the laugh that I wanted. I was a sad boy.

So funny thing happens today. At the end of the adult English class I taught today, as always, we sat around just talking about how our week's been going, and just interesting things that have happened. Well, it turns out that one of the students was a witness to something that's going to court. And so, she's going to the courthouse the day after tomorrow. Because my Japanese is really bad, I thought that she was going to the courthouse because she was a potential juror. So, when I started talking, I got the most blank looks. Thankfully, they understood eventually, but explained that in Japan, all trials are decided by judges, not juries. This completely took me by surprise. I dunno. I guess I always imagined that most developed countries with a court system had trials decided by "peers" as we do in the States. Well, I was wrong.
So then, I was asked if I was ever a juror. Which lead to a rather long discussion about jury duty. For those of you who can somewhat speak a second language... try explaining jury duty and all the feelings that come with it to someone (who has no idea what jury duty is) in a second language. It's hard!
So now I'm left wondering. Is America the only country that has jury duty?

So, I'm finally gonna write about what my experience has been as a Japanese-American, living in Japan as a missionary. Two words. It's strange. To say that I've been utterly confused would be an understatement.
Case and point. I have a postal bank account. In Japan, instead of having a normal bank account with a bank, you can have a postal bank account with the Japanese postal system. The thing that's really handy about these postal bank accounts is that you can draw money out from any post office in Japan! And in each of these post offices (that i've seen at least) is an ATM... really handy! So, on the bottom right hand corner of each of these ATMs is a button that says "English Guide." If you push the button, everything on the screen that used to be Japanese is translated into English! Very handy for those of us who are Japanese illiterate.
When you step up to the machine, the ATM says "Irasshaimase" which means "Welcome." The thing is that when you push the "English Guide" button, a voice comes out of the ATM saying "Welcome to the Post Office." Now, maybe it's just me, but i swear that the "Welcome to the Post Office" voice is twice as loud as the "irasshaimase" voice. It's like it's announcing to everybody around, "Hey, look! We've got a foreigner here!" And of course, if anyone's around, i see that heads are turned in my direction.
So, going to the point. It's weird. Sometimes, I like the attention it brings. So much so that I've found myself going to the ATM even when I don't need money. I mean, I'm Japanese-American. I look like all the other Japanese people. I just blend in. I don't have blue eyes. I don't have blond hair. I don't have white or black skin. But being a foreigner, and at the same time because I blend in so easily, sometimes I feel like I'm lost in the shuffle. I mean, I see the ways that people who look foreign get treated differently, and sometimes wish that I got the same kind of attention.
But then, sometimes, when I push that "English Guide" button, I want to shrink away. Like I'm ashamed of the fact that I'm not one of them. Why? I've been trying to figure out an answer to that question for a while now. I think it's because I find myself trying to belong. Trying to blend in. And when that voice goes out saying "Welcome to the Post Office," I suddenly feel like I'm alienated from the very people I'm trying to blend in with. So, then the next question goes, "Why am I TRYING blend in when I already do blend in?" Well, the answer's quite simple. I blend in when I'm seen from a distance. But when someone interacts with me, eyes are opened, and immediately I'm seen to be different. Most times, I don't even need to speak a word. My mannerisms, my attitudes, my expressions, are distinctly different. Maybe not American, but definitely not Japanese. And so, when the Japanese people take a closer look, I don't blend in at all.
This dualism. The blending in with the Japanese people on the outside, but the differentiation from them on the inside. But then that's not all. There's the additional dualism of my pride of being different from them, and the desire to belong as one of them. When the two link up (like in the case of liking the attention that the ATM brings), everything's cool. But of course, this isn't always the case.
And this is only when i interact with Japanese people. The same kind of thing (but reversed) happens back home and here when I interact with "Americans" (that is, non Asian descended Americans).
It's funny I bring that last point up because, the stuff I wrote just now, I expected to some degree before I came here. It's more the realization that I'm not like the other "Americans" here in Japan that surprised me. But then, that would be another post.

As I looked at my calendar, I realized something. It's been a year since graduation. When I realized it, I just thought to myself, "Has it only been a year?" Wow. I mean, there was the support raising for Japan, the speaking, the car accident, the saying goodbyes. And that was before I came to Japan. And yet, when I think about it, at least recently, a year is a lot of time. Four years and college was done. Four years and high school was done. And within each of those four years, I've seen and experienced so much... and yet, I know that there's still so much to see and experience. Within each of those four years, I've changed so much. And now, having started a new chapter, I can't help but wonder about the experiences to come. A year into this new phase, and now I wonder, "Have I changed since graduation?" And if so, "How?" I guess I'm feeling a bit of a combination of nostalgia and reflection. Just one of those points in time where all you find yourself saying is, "Hmmmm."
In somewhat related "news," recently I've been seriously wondering whether I should stay an additional year here in Japan. The associate program for LIFE Ministries has a maximum term of three years. I committed to two. Right now, I'm in month number 9. So, I have a little over a year left as of now. It's weird. I mean, before, sure, I didn't know what was coming next, but I knew when the present chapter was going to end. Like, the transition out of high school. I didn't know where I was gonna go, but I knew exactly when I was going to graduate. College was pretty much the same. There was a definite end time. That's just not the case this time. Do I feel like I need a definite end time? No. I guess I'm just realizing what the situation is like. As I try to recall similar instances to help me know how to react to the circumstances, I find myself realizing that I don't have any similar circumstances to draw from.

This has been on my mind for quite some time now. And after talking with Nori about it over AIM, I decided "Hey, why don't i post it up?" So anyway, the question on my mind is this: Why are there so many early morning prayer meetings, and hardly ever any late night prayer meetings? The only times that I can ever recall having a late night prayer meeting is when it is the continuation of some other Christian event... and even then, it's usually something that's spur of the moment. It's almost never planned. So why do I ask this? Well, I am a notorious night person. In other words, I don't look like much in the morning. Most people who knew me in college knew this about me. In my last year at Cal, I served as part of what's called a "Core" team for AACF the college fellowship i was with. And the "Core Coordinator" at the time, Brian Hui, knowing that I was possibly interested in becoming a church pastor once joking said, "Hideyo, if you ever pastor a church, are you going to be able to make it to your own morning services?" Oh yeah, and I did everything in my power to keep from scheduling 8 AM, 9 AM, and some semesters even 10 AM classes. How I pulled off going to school at 7:30 AM every morning for high school remains a mystery to me.
So anyway, back to the subject. Here in Japan, I've been re-learning what it takes to become a morning person. Or at least pretend to be one. So what is it that associates morning with prayer? Sure, there's a few instances in the Gospels where it's recorded that Jesus got up early in the morning to pray. However, (or as the japanese say, "shikashi!") wasn't His prayer time in the Garden of Gethsemane, right before his arrest, late at night? Unlike the early morning prayer instances, the time of day isn't specifically written but we are led to believe that it was late at night because a) it was after the last supper and b) the disciples were so tired that they fell asleep when they were supposed to be praying. Obviously not night people. Then again four of em were fishermen... a profession that requires you to get up early. But goes to show, that Jesus selected times to pray both in the morning and at night. So why does prayer always go with morning? I've always heard of, and gone to (especially in Japan!) 5 AM, 6 AM, and 7 AM prayer meetings where people gather together for the sake of prayer. But never have I heard of, or gone to 11 PM, 12 PM, or 1 AM prayer meetings. Am I just not holy enough?

So it's official. I'm mad at the computer I'm using. So check this out, right? I'm trying to navigate through ESPN.com to update me on some non-World Cup Soccer sports news (because that's all I'm getting out here in one of the countries hosting it this year), and at the same time I'm trying to use AIM. That's it. A web browsing window and an instant messaging chat program. No biggie right? WRONG! I'm chatting with a friend when I decide to switch over to the web browser so that I can go to the ESPN baseball page. My plan's to respond to my friend, do the quick switch-a-roo, and switch back to the chat when I get that nice little AIM respond back sound that goes something like "Doo-doo-DOO!" Anyway, apparently, the switch to the browser and then the subsequent loading up of the baseball page was too much for my computer to handle, and so, when I finally do manage to switch back to the chat, the person's gone, having written "You still there?" as the last message.
Now get this, it's not the connection speed problem cuz I finally got DSL! Woo hoo! Or so I thought. I'd probably say that with the computer I'm using right now, and the webpage load-up times because of the computer's capabilities, it'd be just as fast with dial up. So then, why don't I just switch over to dial up if the service is cheaper? Because in this country, even local phone calls cost you by the minute! And I dunno about you all, but when I'm on the internet, sometimes, time just flies. And that means so does the money! It turns out that with my usage, the DSL service would still be considerably cheaper than dial up if i figure in the added phone bill costs. Ughh.
Now, this might be a little confusing... but, it's true that I'm mad at this computer, but at the same time I'm really thankful that I have it. Why? Because it's a laptop. And technically it's not mine. I got it from my uncle who heard that I needed a laptop. Why do I need a laptop? Well, if you're reading this, you very well know that today, people communicate through computers! And try to imagine shipping a desktop overseas... and the hassle that that would bring... along with possible added costs. Oy!
Kind of a mixed bag I guess. Ahhh, i think I'm turning Japanese! The only words i can think of to describe the situation would be Japanese: "Shikataganai"... which basically means, "It can't be helped." But then, how often do we Americans say something like "The situation can't be helped?" Come to Japan, and you'll hear "Shikataganai" practically everyday. The culture! THE CULTURE!

Oooh... before I forget. A funny thing happened not too long ago in Sunday School at the church I'm working with in Hokkaido. So, for some reason, we're asking one of the kids, Akari (3), "What do you want to be when you're bigger?" So she goes, "A bunny." I don't know what was funnier, that she thought that she could turn into an animal, or that we asked her what she wanted to be when she's BIGGER and she responded with something that SMALLER than she is. So after the laughter, we finally ask her "Why do you want to be a bunny?" And she goes, "Because they're cute." Awwww.

Wow oh wow. Once again, it's been a long time. The thing is that I don't know if I can use the whole "I was moving and so I couldn't take the time to write" excuse. I mean, it's almost been 3 months! How long can you officially use that excuse? When does it expire?
I'm not thinking of doing some boring overview of what's been going on cuz that can be figured out from the newsletters posted on the missions page. Woo hoo... easy out! I do have to admit though, recently, I think my newsletters have been kind of bland. They've been just reports of what's going on. "But that's what they're supposed to do," says my mind. I dunno. The reports are important, so that other people know what's going on and can pray! And the reports take up so much room cuz there's so much going on. And no way am I gonna put out something more than just one page. I mean, most newsletters I got from missionaries or friends going on summer missions were like 3 pages minimum. It's like there's some unwritten rule that says that a missionary report/newsletter has to be at least 3 pages of content. Always, first page... front side, the header with a bunch of writing and a picture. Then there's the backside completing what they wanna say. And then, technically the second page,... front side, there's the miscellaneous along with the prayer requests along with contact info. And that's the minimum. And to some extent rightfully so. There's so much you wanna say and tell about your experiences. And you want people to know about them all. So you write it out... and blam! You've got yourself a 3-5 page report/newsletter. And that's after editing out the smaller stuff like how you saw someone take some positive baby steps toward following Jesus. Only the big stuff and somehow still 3-5 pages. You try to hide it by changing the fonts. Shortening the margins. All the tricks you learn college. (Funny, I'm doing that with my own newsletters right now!)
I dunno. Am I heartless? Do I not care enough about my friends going on missions? Do I not care enough about God and the things he's doing outside my conscious world? I mean, I know for a fact that very rarely, when i do receive something like that, that I hardly ever turn a page to see page 2 and 3 and whatever more there might be. Let alone page 1 if I feel like I'm busy. Now that I think about it... I'm lucky even if anyone reads my little one page diddy. That is if everyone's as heartless as I am!
Well, either way... mad props go out to Christine who's distributing them for me so that I don't have to pay crazy money for postage! It's gotta be crazy to be working full time and send out about a couple hundred letters once a month. I'm thinking "Yuck!"