Messages of other months can be read by clicking HERE.

Arrival in Japan (09/03/02)

Yokohama (09/03/05)

Paper Money (09/03/10)

No Shoes Inside (09/03/13)

Finding a Home (09/03/18)

Our Tokyo Apartment (09/03/21)

Getting Settled (09/03/26)

Positive Reception (09/03/29)

Arrival in Japan (09/03/02)

More than two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered by salt water, which is divided into five geographic areas called “oceans.” Although it is impossible to draw clear dividing lines between them, the English names of these bodies of water are: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic. To Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator who was the first navigator to circumnavigate the globe, the wide ocean before him seemed very calm following his crossing the stormy strait between the southernmost tip of mainland South America and Tierra del Fuego, so he called it “Pacific,” from the Latin word meaning “peaceful.” That is how the Pacific Ocean got its English name. My first experience on that ocean, however, was not peaceful. The two weeks I was on the Pacific Ocean from California to Japan were, physically, the most tumultuous time in my life. A Japanese student in seminary had informed me of the Japanese term for a morning greeting, so I was happy that we arrived in Japan at the time of day when that greeting would be appropriate. To the Japanese people I met, I said “Ohio.” It was not until my subsequent study of the Japanese language that I realized that “hayai” was a Japanese word meaning “early,” and “ohayo” was an abbreviated form of the more formal greeting (“ohayo gozaimasu”) which can be interpreted to mean either “It is early” or “You are early.” Just as most Americans do not think of the literal meaning of “Good morning,” when they say that greeting, so most Japanese do not consider the literal meaning of the greeting which is translated as “Good morning” in their language, even though it has a different literal meaning. (1210)

Yokohama (09/03/05)

It was a couple of hours after midnight, very early in the morning of November 12, 1951, that the freighter that carried my wife and me over the unpeaceful Pacific Ocean arrived in Yokohama Bay, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Tokyo. When the time arrived to disembark, passengers were welcomed by friends or relatives who had come to meet them, but we were disappointed that no one was there to greet us. I had contacted a former seminary classmate who had recently entered Japan as a missionary with his wife and three children and was living in Tokyo. I had informed him of the name of our freighter and the expected time of its arrival and he had agreed to meet us, but he was not there. On the way to the customs office, we stopped at a telegraph office and I tried to send a cablegram to the U. S., but was unable to do so because I had no Japanese money. At the customs office, I borrowed a telephone to call the friend I had expected to meet us. His wife informed me that he was on his way and he did arrive before long. It was in that office that I first saw an abacus (a “soroban,” in Japanese) being used. In fact, the telephone cord caused the abacus beads to get jumbled up and I had to apologize to the clerk. After the friend arrived, we went again to the telegraph office and he paid for the cablegram. Our next stop was the post office, where we mailed the 28 letters we had written while on the bumpy sea, responding to the many kindnesses and expressions of prayerful concern that we had received. (1211)

Paper Money (09/03/10)

From the port-city of Yokohama, we went by train to Tokyo. Along the way, results of wartime bombing were still very obvious. We were very happy to have a friendly guide to lead us and instruct us in this country where the language and everything else was foreign. On the way to the Japanese house our friend was renting, we stopped at the bank where he had an account. There, I was able to cash my check for $250. I was amazed when I was given over 89,000 yen for it, which, of course, did not fit into my billfold. At that time, the exchange rate was 350 yen = $1, and even as there are 100 cents in one dollar, there are 100 sen in one yen, but I have no memory of making use of coins, whether for cents or sen. I still have samples of the one-yen and ten-yen paper money used at that time and I remember my amazement when I viewed public telephone booths in the business area of Tokyo and was instructed how to use them. In the telephone booth there was a public telephone, but it could not be operated by using coins as later public telephones were. On a shelf under the telephone was a box in which paper money was placed. Paper money could be inserted into or taken from the box as needed and the user added the amount required for his telephone call to that box. The honesty of the caller was the one requirement for using the public telephone in that booth. I could not imagine such a process being successful in the United States at that time--or in Japan today. (If my recollection is mistaken, I hope readers of this message will inform me so a correction in a future message may be made.) (1212)

No Shoes Inside (09/03/13)

In November 1951, my wife and I arrived in Tokyo. We had come to Japan as representatives of a small, evangelical church in the state of Illinois, which had no connection with Japan, to share the Christian message of God’s love for all people. We did not know how we would be received by people, who a few years earlier had been fearful enemies. We did not know the Japanese language, nor were we acquainted with Japanese customs and life style. We did not know where we would live and work and how we would seek to accomplish our goal. Our only contact was a former seminary classmate in New York who had recently come to Japan as a missionary with his wife and three daughters and was temporarily living in a rented house in Tokyo. He graciously came to Yokohama to meet us and took us to his home, where we were able to stay for a few days. Characteristics of the traditional Japanese house that surprised us included: windows that are opened and closed horizontally, rooms that are divided by sliding doors made of paper and floors that are covered by rush mats on which shoes are not worn. We were required to take off our shoes at the entrance for shoes are not compatible with the straw mats which make up the floors of traditional Japanese homes. We noticed that homes where shoes are not worn inside are much cleaner, so following our almost five decades in Japan, we continue to follow the Japanese custom of not wearing shoes inside our house. On our front porch hangs a wooden ornament I purchased many years ago at a U. S. army base in the Philippines which reads: “ This is an American home run Japanese style. Please, take off your shoes and stay awhile.” (1213)

Finding a Home (09/03/18)

When visiting or living in a foreign country, the living conditions are very influential in determining whether or not one is happy there. When my wife and I arrived in Tokyo in 1951, the only foreign languages we had studied in high school and college were Spanish and French. Japanese was not being taught at that time and we would not have been interested in studying it even if it had been. We had planned to attend a popular Japanese language school in Tokyo, but we were informed that the new class in that school beginning in January was already full, so it was suggested that we enroll in a language school in Kyoto instead. Of course, in this case, we would have to find a place to live in Kyoto, the traditional, cultural center of the country rather than in Tokyo, the business, political capital. Fortunately before we decided to go to Kyoto, we were notified that, due to the large number of applications, the Tokyo school was going to expand and rent rooms in a downtown church for its new classes. So our problem was finding an appropriate living place in Tokyo. We were impressed with the public transportation system, which included both elevated trains and subways. We contacted agencies that introduced us to a variety of rooms or houses for rent. In all of the places we considered, there were both positive and negative factors to be considered including size, rent, location, atmosphere, public transportation, communication with owners, etc. We never regretted the choice we made to rent the second floor of a traditional Japanese house near the Denenchofu station in Ota ward, whose owners lived on the first floor. The man and his wife were both Christians. He was a mathematics professor at a university and his wife was the sister of the wife of the former prime minister. (1214)

Our Tokyo Apartment (09/03/21)

The second-floor apartment that we decided to rent included a large room with tatami mats on the floor with a traditional alcove at one end. Although in Japanese tradition, the alcove is considered an especially important place where beautiful art is displayed, we used ours as a kind of closet in which to hang our clothes on the bamboo pole, which the landlord kindly cut and attached for us. There were two smaller rooms divided by a sliding door. In one of them, we placed the collapsible 3/4-size double bed we had brought from the U. S. In the other room, there was a table and four chairs. That was our “ living room,” where we ate our meals, studied, relaxed, read books and listened to the radio station that broadcast in English for the occupation forces. On bright days, we could see Mt. Fuji in the distance from the sliding window of that room. We were also able to use the small kerosene heater we had brought with us to warm up the room on cold days. At the top of the stairway to the second floor, there was a small sink having a water faucet and a drain. Next to that sink, we were able to put both the small refrigerator and the three-burner kerosene stove we had brought with us, so that space at the head of the stairway became our kitchen. There was another very small room at the head of a separate stairway, which our landlord said would be available for a live-in maid in case we desired to employ one. On the first floor, a Japanese mother and her adult son from the U. S. also rented a room. Since both of them could speak both Japanese and English, they were very helpful. There was also an American couple (a serviceman and his wife) living in another room on the first floor. (1215)

Getting Settled (09/03/26)

To get settled in a foreign country, whose language and customs one does not know, can be a very complicated and stressful experience. My wife and I are very thankful that our getting settled in Tokyo was accomplished with very few irritating problems. Public transportation in Tokyo was very convenient and reliable. It took about 5 minutes for us to walk from our apartment to the Denenchofu train station. There, we boarded a train that could take us to downtown Tokyo (in about 45 minutes) or to a train loop around the city. There were many historic sites, shopping areas, department stores, schools, etc. we could visit. We always carried a small English-Japanese, Japanese-English dictionary and a map of the city with us and made use of them along with hand gestures to communicate. On Sunday, our landlord led us to the church he and his wife regularly attended. The pastor of that church spoke English. In fact, he had served as pastor of a Japanese church in San Francisco for 12 years. After the worship service, a couple of male students asked me to teach an English Bible Class in the church on Sunday evenings. Although I was not ready to commit myself on the spur of the moment, I replied that I would seriously consider it since I would find it meaningful to teach the English Bible to others while studying the Japanese language myself. Then, my wife and I also joined other English-speakers in attending the Sunday afternoon services of the Tokyo Union Church, so it became our custom on Sundays to worship in Japanese on Sunday mornings at the Japanese church, in English at the Union Church on Sunday afternoons and on Sunday evenings, I taught an English Bible Class at the Japanese church. (1216)

Positive Reception (09/03/29)

After the disastrous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 until the bloody victories of American forces on Okinawa and the Philippines and the dropping of atomic bombs on two Japanese cities in the summer of 1945, the war between Japan and the United States of America engendered strong feelings of anger and hatred in the hearts of the general public in both nations. So, when my wife and I arrived in Japan in November 1951, we were concerned about how the Japanese people would respond to our presence. We were amazed at the warm reception we and the American occupation forces received. When we walked along the street, went shopping in the stores or utilized public transportation, we were obviously recognized as Americans, but we did not feel unwelcomed. Rather, in many situations, we felt respected. We understood that the experiences of the occupation personnel were similar. Japan had lost the war that many Japanese believed was a holy war they were expected to win. The emperor renounced his divinity and provided a fine example of submitting to the military authorities. We did not feel that our connection with the former enemy hindered our relationships with the Japanese people and are grateful. (1217)