Reflections on my First Week in Japan, With a Touch of Religion

   I hope everyone enjoyed not having to read my blog during my brief hiatus. Well, I'm back to bother you all again. It is Sunday evening after an interesting, restful, and spontaneous weekend. First off, let me tell you about the rest of my week. Before I started class in level two Japanese, I took a lot of walks outside on Monday and Tuesday...and I have not posted the pictures yet...so here they are:

This is the road outside JCMU.


This is a view of the beach from a roadside park just between Hikone and Maibara (the next town over)

<---- Another view of the mountains across the lake

Obligatory picture of waves--->

<-----It was really windy this morning and these poor ducks were just riding the waves.

Here is a rock that is considered holy or attached to a diety (forgive the Wikipedia explanation)--->


The town you see here is Maibara and the Mountain behind it is Mount Ibuki--->

<---Another look at Maibara


<---The Crows here are evil


When I first saw this island, I thought it was a barge or something. It is in fact an island, and one can take a boat out to it...




















   These walks were very pleasant and while it was chilly, the air felt very good. After a tiring week of academic stuff, I was glad to unwind with some friends on Friday night, relax by myself and do homework on Saturday, and then on Sunday go to my first Japanese worship service here in Japan. According to most surveys, only less than 1% of Japanese people openly proclaims Christianity as their main religion. However, as someone who grew up in healthy-sized churches (some small, some huge), I was not prepared for the small, intimate service of seven believers in the small 20-seat chapel. It is an Anglican church, so some of the rituals I was not used to. However, it felt good to be welcomed into a family of believers who, even if there was a slight language barrier, all believed that Jesus Christ died for our sins. After the service, there was a community meal, which was delicious, and I got to practice a lot of Japanese (they might not have been able to understand me...but hopefully I didn't accidentally insult anyone!). I had walked to church because it snowed this morning and biking in snow is not fun. However, someone offered me a ride back to JCMU, which was wonderful.

   Once I was safely in my dorm, I did some homework until it was time for dinner. Then, I made my first nice meal here (when I say nice, I mean something from an actual recipe book and not something I just threw together)!

 
 
Braised Salmon with spinach, miso soup, rice, and a pastry bought at Club Harie
 
 
   It was nice to eat home-cooked food that had some planning behind it. I hope you all are enjoying whatever Midwestern weather plagues you now. Today, it did snow here quite a bit...but I have a feeling that most of it will melt by sometime tomorrow. Well, I shall head towards sleep now...but have a wonderful day and I promise that from now on, I will try to post more regularly! :)




















 
Location: Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

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