Can someone tell me what's going on with the whole Iraq deal? Seeing how Japanese news is wrapped up in the whole North Korean "Return those Japanese people you kidnapped" issue, I'm not getting a whole lot of information. I read this article from the New York Times. After reading the article, I couldn't help but wonder, "What did the United Nations get out of this 'compromise'?" For those of you who don't know what's going at all... here's a quote from Secretary of State Powell describing how the United States recognized French and UN demands on the issue:
"[The UN Security council has] now the opportunity to decide or not to decide [if military action is needed if Iraq fails to comply], to pass a second resolution or offer a second resolution or not, and [the United States] will be part of that debate."
But then, there's this quote:
"The United States would reserve the right to lead a military action against Iraq if Iraq continued to block inspections, even if the Security Council did not give its approval."
After reading this, I'm thinking, "So, lemme get this straight... there are two courses of action if Iraq doesn't comply with the UN inspections. The first is that the Security Council approves military action and the US along with UN forces attack Iraq. The second is that the Security Council denies military action, but the US goes ahead and attacks Iraq anyway." Am I missing something here? What's the purpose of the debate within the Security Council if the decision it makes bears no weight? I always thought the whole thrust of the debate for this supposed "compromise" from the French side was to make sure that the United States would comply to a United Nations Security Council decision.
I can see only three possibilities as to how this happened. A) The United States diplomats to the UN are incredibly smart and persuasive. B) The UN people are incredibly stupid, naive, and forgot the entire purpose of the talks with the US. C) The United States once again strongarmed the United Nations. By my wording, I'm sure you all know what i think.

Two days ago I watched Game 5 of the World Series... at 1 AM. What a game! No, it's not because of the time difference. It's because I don't have cable tv. I already knew the outcome because I saw the results of the game on ESPN.com 6 hours earlier. It's strange though. I didn't really watch the game. At 1 AM, Japanese tv edits the 3 hour game to a 30-45 minute show. How? It's quite simple actually. Fast forward the game passed the batter/pitcher duels and show only the ball being hit. Cut it even further by showing only the innings where scoring happens and the game gets reduced pretty quickly. Well, sort of. If there's a Japanese batter, the entire at bat is shown... each one. So, in this case, whenever Shinjo starts, the game slows down considerably.
Ben Weber's pitching motion. What the heck?! It wasn't until this passed game that I saw this phenomenon. I haven't laughed so hard at 1 AM in a long long time. For those of you who are not baseball fans, I wish I could find a link somewhere on the web to show a video of this strange, strange thing. Instead, I have a link from a sports writer's website on ESPN.com that in part tries to describe the indescribable. It's toward the bottom of the page. My personal favorite is the Seinfeld one.

Yesterday, on the 22nd, courtesy of LIFE Ministries (the missions organization I'm with), I met up with a counselor to get... counseling for an hour and a half. My first time getting Christian counseling. I'd have to say that it was a positive experience. It was actually quite refreshing. Really helped me process things and see situations for what they really are. Gained a new perspective and came away with a better idea of what I can do. I've only been doing this "full-time Christian work" thing for a year, and already I'm seeing how helpful and useful a Christian counselor can be for those who find their vocation in Christian ministry. It's strange. You'd figure that somehow God would give special wisdom and guidance to people working full time for Him. I mean, God would be especially concerned if one of His "guys" is messing up or doing something wrong, right?
What I've found to be the case for me so far is that sometimes, somehow guidance gets lost in the shuffle. Actually, that it's quite easy for discernment to seem to "disappear" when being part of the "God squad." Full time ministry people are more busy that you'd think. I know they're busier than I thought they were. I know this has been said many times by many people but, somehow, the busyness squeezes out God's voice that would give that ever desirable "wisdom and guidance." Take me for example (though I may not necessarily be the best "case study" material).
In a week, I teach a total of 8 English classes. Most of those classes last for an hour, though a few last for an hour and a half. But naturally, when the class ends, for the most part, the people don't leave because the end of a class marks the beginning of hang out time. This isn't a complaint by any means. To me, those times are partly the reason for the English classes to begin with. Add in Wednesday night prayer meetings, Thursday morning Bible studies, Saturday afternoon gospel choir practices, and the occassional performance for a gospel choir concert, and gradually time starts to disappear. And that's not considering Sunday activities.
I do have Mondays off, however. But instead of doing things a "missionary would do" like praying for hours on end, reading books of the Bible at a time, or sitting in the quiet waiting to hear God's voice, I find myself doing mindless things just to be able to feel relaxed. On other Mondays I'll spend time with some people without much of an agenda in mind whether it be with locals or other missionaries. Somehow, the ideas of praying, reading the Bible, or spending time with God in general aren't the first things that cross my mind as being "mentally and physically relaxing activities." And to some extent, in some cases they aren't and shouldn't be. But at the same time, in the Bible, time and time again, God refers to Himself as being a refuge... a person where I can find rest.
In the end, once again, I find an area of spiritual immaturity.

Today I had a classic conversation with a 4 year old named Takeru. On Tuesday afternoons I teach English to preschool and 1st graders. Takeru is one of those students. After class was over, I went out of the church to see all the students off as they returned home. Takeru along with his older brother and mom were getting into their car. So here's the conversation as he's about to get in:
Takeru: Mr. Satake, do want a ride home?
Hideyo: No thank you, I'll walk home today.
Takeru: How'd you get here?
Hideyo: I walked here. And I'll walk back.
Takeru: But doesn't it take a long time to walk to America?
That conversation got me laughing pretty hard. A little harder than when I heard Hanson's "Mmm Bop" on the radio today. Just a little. Sheweedopbop mmm bop.

"More Western missions groups are looking for ways to work legally in China. There are 51 American Protestant missions agencies working inside China, according to the Evangelism and Missions Information Service." This quote is from this article from the Christianity Today website.
I remember, returning back from home, thinking about why there are so many missions organizations working in China while there are so few working in Japan. A while ago, after World War II, there were quite a few missions organizations working in Japan. What happened? According to the Joshua Project website, the percentage of evangelical Japanese is at 0.3%. Obviously, the work here isn't done... or close to being done. On and on, I wondered, "What's going on?" Why are the agencies pulling out of Japan? Why aren't the agencies looking for ways to work in Japan as they seem to be in China? I look at the congregations I've seen in Japan, and see that indeed the average of pastors in Japan is climbing to senior status. I listen to the congregations and hear that many if not most members have been saved through a missionary or some missionaries some years ago... and so, they themselves are getting to senior status.
The pessimist in me says that the excitement found in the amazing reports of the movement in China is the reason for the drastic shift in resources. But is that all that the Western missions movement is about? Going to where the "action" is? I hope not.

I'm getting very afraid. The mercury's starting to fall. Last winter was my first winter with snow. That was in Kaminoyama which is on the northern half of Honshu. It was very cold for this long time California boy. Oh sure, the first few days of snow were wonderful. At first, you see the snow fall from the sky, and immediately melt when it hit the ground. It was beautiful seeing the snow falling from the sky. I remember thinking, "So this is what it's like to have seasons." The temperature would hover around 30 degrees... which was definitely cold, but nothing 2 sweaters, a scarf, gloves, and a heavy jacket couldn't solve. As an added plus, I learned how to put on a scarf! For all the fellow lifetime Californians, no, you don't just put the middle of the scarf over your mouth and just swing the ends of the scarf around and around your head! Yep, that's what I thought before I was enlightened.
But then winter really hit. All the native people kept saying how that year was unexplainably "warm" and that the snow didn't come down hard. I don't know, but I consider having to shovel snow every other day, a lot of snow! As for the temperature... well, let's put it this way.
I homestayed at the pastor's house that winter. I lived on the 2nd floor, but had a separate fridge and pantry area down on the 1st floor. Naturally, if I was hungry and wanted a bite to eat, I'd go downstairs, grab the food, and cook it up in the kitchen. Well, one winter day, I felt like having some pasta. So, I go downstairs, grab the frozen pasta sauce from the freezer and bring it to the kitchen to thaw. After nuking it for a little bit, I go back to the pantry area to grab the pasta and olive oil. As I'm walking back to the kitchen, I notice that olive oil bottle feels pretty cold. When I put the glass container down on a table I notice that my oil is solid! No, it didn't just emulsify as oils might when the temperature drops a little. I opened the bottle, stuck a finger down the opening, and found that the oil really was solid... and ice cold! I had olive ice. It froze. I've never seen oil freeze until that point. Keep in mind that this is indoors! No I didn't put it in the freezer. It was simply on a shelf, in a room. I don' beeleef.
Now, the people of Kaminoyama all said that Hokkaido (the place I'm at now) is a lot colder than Kaminoyama. And I heard the same thing when I came here 6 months ago... but with a twist.
Upon my arrival in Hokkaido, with almost tears in my eyes, I asked the locals "Is it really true that Hokkaido is a lot colder than Tohoku (northern Honshu)?" To which I got a smirk and this reply: "Yes, that's true... but it doesn't nearly snow as much, so you don't have to worry too much." What kind of consolation is that? At least I can play with the snow. I can't play with sub-zero temperatures. Well, it looks like it's about time to start putting on that third and fourth sweater.

A couple days ago on the Christian Today webpage, there was a fairly interesting article that made me think quite a bit. The author of the article is using the success of the rock band P.O.D., as a marker to show the changing face of America and thus, changing face of the American church.
Recently, in the Christian world, there seems to be a great deal of intrigue into the idea of getting rid of the idea of ethnically specific churches and replacing them with diverse multiethnic churches. Urbana 2000 can ultimately be summarized by this growing trend of the plea to diversify the church of Jesus Christ. "Isn't it interesting that the most segregated day of the week in America is Sunday?" But, I've always been somewhat wary of Christian articles and speeches that promote the idea of the multiethnic church. And so, when I began reading this article, all the lights were flashing and the sirens were going off. I don't consider myself to be ethnically exclusive... or dare I say, racist. It's true that most of my friends are of Asian descent. It's true that I've gone to an ethnically Japanese church all of my life. So, maybe I should explain myself.
I would love to see a truly multiethnic church... and when I say church, I don't mean just one building or group but as a general given among Jesus believers. I suppose my "thing" is that I feel that all those feel good articles and speeches for the "desegregation" of the church are naive. Coming here to Japan has only further solidified my general pessimism for this movement. Why? Different cultures have different ways of leading and influencing people. The Anglo-American style of leadership would easily be considered as being pushy and bossy by Japanese standards, while the Japanese style of leadership would probably be considered as being weak and passive by Anglo-American standards. And I think most Christians would say that Christian leadership is neither characterized by pushiness, bossiness, weakness, or passivicity. The thing is that when used in its home culture, those very leadership standards are not perceived in the same way. The perspective is the only thing that's different. They work in each others' respective cultural circles, but outside of them, who knows?
This article from Christianity Today was interesting to me because it reminded me of how ethnically heterogeneous America is becoming. Not in the sense that other races are pushing out the whites, but that fewer and fewer people can claim a single ethnic heritage. However, I think that the article falls short as do many other conversations on the topic in that it doesn't challenge believers to become more aware of other cultures and their values before jumping into this thing called "the multiethnic church." I'd love to see it come to fruition. But before it can happen, we must consider such difficulties that are bound to occur. The biggest difficulty I believe isn't trying to convince hard-headed ethnically exclusive believers in the church to buy into the idea, but to get the existing church to be open to ideas and ways to do ministry that are not within the bounds of their own culture. To clarify: The churches of America must examine themselves to see if it is being controlled by Jesus or their surrounding culture. Only then can we seriously consider getting into the endeavor.

One thing I really enjoyed in America was musical worship. It felt so incredibly freeing to be able to sing to God, knowing what I was singing. My first taste was at Berkeley AACF large group. At that occassion, I was more trying to get over the shock of this sensation. I didn't quite get it... and so, for the most part I just mouthed the words. The second time around was at Joyfest, a Christian concert held at Great America every year. Most the acts were obviously performers, but when the final act, Third Day stepped up, the feeling changed. They turned it into a worship service and it was great. It's the weirdest feeling to do something you love to do that you haven't done in a while. (Does that last sentence make sense?) And of course, the following Sunday it was more of the same... it was great.
This passed Sunday was my first Sunday going to a Japanese Christian service since coming back. It was hurtin. When I first came here a year ago, I couldn't understand a thing and so, naturally, I felt incredibly lost. This time around was a completely different experience all together. I understood most of what was said during the service. I got the gist of the sermon and the lyrics of the songs from the hymnal. The language wasn't the problem at all this time. It was something different.
Actually, thinking about it now... it's hard for me to describe. It's much more than just the musical worship... and the atmosphere it brings. Coming back to Japan has made me realize even more that what makes church isn't necessarily the sermon or the songs we sing. I have both here in Japan... sort of. It's more the combination of the felt presence of God and community of believers. That's what I got back home that I'm not getting a whole lot of here.

Two days ago marks the end of my relationship with NTT DoCoMo. So, a while back I accidently crushed my old cell phone. Here's how it happened... please hold your laughter until the very end. I'm walking up to my car... when somehow, my phone drops on the ground. I have no idea what just happened because I'm just absent-minded like that. I proceed to back the car out and do my business. All the time, I'm wondering what happened to my cell phone. I come back... park the car and later realize that I crushed the phone when I backed the car out. Yes, I ran it over.
So, three days ago, I go to the NTT DoCoMo shop to see how much it'll cost to get a new phone. Please keep in mind that I have a history at this place. A couple of months ago, I was way overcharged. I'm pretty sure I wrote about that a while back. So, to continue the saga with DoCoMo... I ask how much for the new phone. The front guy punches a few keys on his computer, looks at me with a straight face and says "about 20,000 yen." That's close to $200 for those of you who have no idea what the exchange rate is. $200! I don't know what shocked me more: That a phone costs $200 or that he said $200 with a straight face. I wanted to ask, "Is that the special foreigner discount?" The discount that makes a $40 phone $200? Instead, I asked, "How much for the cheapest phone you have?" He punches a few more keys on his computer, looks up at me, and says, again with a straight face, "18,000 yen." Great, it got reduced down to $180. So then, I ask, "What if I start a new plan with you guys and get a new phone number?" Same process, and he says, "18,000 yen." But this time I figure I'm definitely getting the "foreigner discount" and so I say that I'd like to cancel my account. Go figure, he doesn't flinch, starts punching some buttons on his keyboard, and says, "Ok, that'll be 11,000 yen." Fee after fee after fee, and somehow when you add em all up, I still get the "foreigner discount." I couldn't believe it.
Anyway, so go immediately to one of their competitors... J-Phone and ask how much for a new account. 4000 yen. And that's with a phone that takes pictures, takes video clips, does email, surfs the web, slices, dices, and has a built in George Foreman grill. Slight exaggeration, but it's an awesome phone. And so, begins my feud with NTT DoCoMo. Now, I'm absolutely certain that I've been getting the foreigner discount at DoCoMo. I shake my fist at you DoCoMo!

For the passed week or so, I've been thinking about a small, little incident that's been bugging me. In the last few days of my vacation in the states, I went to the Richmond Costco with Kyle and Steve. I went to get some food gifts to give to people out here on my return. I buy the stuff, and of course, right there, is the hot dog/pizza/chicken bake stand. I decide to go get a hot dog. $1.50. $1.62 when you add in the tax. This is very important for the sake of the story.
I grab the hot dog, and give the cashier two bucks, a dime, and two pennies. $2.12. Somehow, the cashier doesn't see the two pennies and punches in $2.10 into the cash register. I see this and point it out... to which she decides to do the math in her head. She gives me a quarter, a dime, and a nickel. 40 cents. I didn't really think about it all to much (all I was thinking about was how much kraut I was gonna pile on the dog)... but it kinda felt wrong. So I say that I feel like I'm supposed to get more change. Here goes the dialog:
Hideyo: Umm, I don't think you gave me enough change.
Cashier: No... you gave me two bucks, a dime, and two pennies.
Hideyo: Yeah... ?
Cashier: So, you get 40 cents back. Don't question me, I know my math.
At this point I was kind of shocked that the cashier would give me so much attitude about such a minor thing. But again, all I could think about was how big the dog was gonna look after all the condiments are piled on... and so, I said "Ok," shrugged my shoulders and hurried off to fill up my drink and pile on the kraut.
Once I got into the car though, I started thinking about it. I think I did the computation at least 20 times... checking, double checking, triple checking. Of course everytime, I came up with the same answer. 50 cents change. This was when I started to get peeved. Not only did I get short changed, but I got punked for thinking that I got short changed. The 10 cents didn't bother me too much. The attitude, and trying to make me feel stupid bothered me.
But then, this was the Richmond Costco. What did I expect? A smile and someone saying "Thank you... have a nice day"? Ahh it felt good to back at home... sort of.

Finally... time to think and blog about my trip. You see, I came back on the night of October 7th. I had two classes to teach the next day, the 8th.
So anyway, instead of writing a big long blog detailing my trip (something only a few people would even bother to read), I'll do a top 10 list. I've already posted four pictures from my trip on my webpage. There's a few more to come. So if you want visuals to the top 10 list, they're there.
10. Going to Berkeley AACF large group... and Vietnam Village soon after.
9. Seeing Third Day in concert at Great America Joyfest.
8. Stuffing an In-N-Out 3X3 and half a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts down my throat on the ride back from Joyfest.
7. Cruising around the church in the JS 410.
6. Hitting 200+ baseballs in about 20 minutes with Kyle.
5. Playing Virtua Tennis until 3 AM with Ben Tao... fighting my jet lag with Vanilla Cokes.
4. Beating Steve in NCAA Football 2003 with a sack/fumble recovery for a touchdown in the closing seconds of the 4th quarter (the score was tied prior to the awesome defensive play).
3. Big BBQ bash at Jason/Danny/Cal's house.
2. Church youth group complete with a fabulous rib dinner by Peter.
1. Speaking non-stop English.
Nothing really extraordinary aside from the concert. I mean, numbers 5 and 4 involve video games. But that's exactly what I was hoping for! Nothing extraordinary. Just the familiar. The old routine stuff.

Yesterday was brutal. Flew out of SFO at 11:45 AM on October 6. Arrived at Narita/Tokyo, waited there for about 5 hours (it was supposed to be 4 but there was a delay), and flew out to Chitose/Sapporo. Took a train from there to Shiraoi where I left my car. Arrived at Shiraoi at about 11 PM (this is October 7 now). Then drove to my apartment in Date. I finally arrive on my bed at 12:45 AM. That car ride was a little dangerous. I can remember only one time when I was driving and more tired than I was last night. A couple years ago I was driving the day camp ended. I was driving out from the Santa Cruz mountains and realized that I was swerving from one side of the lane to the other. Realizing that I was too tired to drive, I got off the freeway, pulled over to the shoulder of the closest road, and slept for a couple of hours.
I didn't do anything like that last night, but once I arrived in my "parking lot," I picked up two bags (I left one in the car to pick up in the morning because it was too big and heavy), walked up the two flights of stairs, opened the door, dropped my bags, and plopped on my bed. I stunk. My breath was nasty. My clothes were dirty. No shower. No teethbrushing. No changing clothes.
I don't know what woke me up at 8:30 in the morning. It could have been a bunch of things. Jet lag, the sun peeking through the curtains, my own stench.
Anyway, I'll do a blog highlighting my vacation home later. I don't have the time right now. But in the meantime, here's a picture I took in Virginia when I was with Ben Tao. I thought it was funny. He thought it was funny. But I'm having a hard time finding another person who thinks it's funny. Are we just a bunch of weirdos?

It's now officially Friday. So I have all of today, all of tomorrow, and that's it. That'll be my vacation in the states. I had a list of things I want to do. I made it a couple of weeks before I came. I've now realized that for me to do all those things, I need an additional 2 weeks. Just to get into the rhythm again, to get in sync with the pace here took a lot more time than I thought it would. So, my apologies to all those I accidentally "blew off." Those who did see me would probably attest to the fact that I was pretty out of it during the majority of my time here. I just wasn't all that assertive. Most of it was just getting caught up in the whirlwind of things going on, and having little idea of what was going on.
Just makes me wonder what it's gonna be like when I come back for good. I'm getting a glimpse of it right now, and it's just completely strange. Already, I have a feeling that it'll be hard to get back into the rhythm and groove when I go back to Japan. I mean I love spending my time hanging out with people, spending time with them. And if that's how I spend most of my time in Japan it'd be absolutely awesome. But it's not. Half to a majority of my time is spent on English classes and Bible studies or preparing for them. Things that have a regularity, a rhythm.
I have a few interesting stories I'd like to share from my vacation so far, but it's getting mighty late, and considering the time i have here, I should go to bed soon. Thank you to all i've seen and talked to so far. And hope to catch up with a few more of you guys!