By far, I have the easiest job here in Japan. My kids are in Japanese school full-time. My husband works full time at a Japanese company, where even his computer keyboard is in Japanese. I am a housewife, a noble title and an important job. But I cannot lie, being here in Japan the weather is nice and our house is smaller which means less to clean (despite not having a dishwasher or American dryer and having to sort every piece of trash neatly and cleanly into different bags). Also, I have few commitments outside of my basic duties at home. But that is not why I came to Japan. We came here to expand outside of our family circle, to know our neighbors, to learn the language. We want to learn the culture and experience Japan, serve in the church. I want to enrich my children, teach them and support them. I want to create an atmosphere of love and comfort in our home, form an environment in our house that will be a haven of rest where they can recharge, because I know being in Japan is stressful for my family. But that is going to take some effort. Then there is this discontented 22-month-old sitting next to me, whom God sent for the sole purpose of teaching me love is patient, love is kind. As I write this, she is pulling on my shirt and saying over and over “more, more, more” [bread] and pushing keys on the keyboard.
In Japan you see a lot more people out and about. We walk or bike everywhere, and most Japanese people do also. I walk the kids to school and pass fellow mothers coming and going, getting to know their faces and which class their children are in. I pick up Avalyn at the park after school with the other mothers, and I am able to talk to one mother who speaks English and helps me. She has been a life saver, like the first day of school when I didn’t know I was supposed to pick Avalyn up from the park and she helped get her home or that she needed an outside hat for school and gave me her extra one. The kids play at the park and ride their bikes up and down our street, getting to know people along the way. They came into the house to tell me I had to meet “the lady who speaks English” who I learned is from New York and lives across from us. We walk to the store and and greet everyone along the way “Ohayou Gozaimasu” or “Konnichiwa”, London saying “waaa”. Grandmas and grandpas stop to talk to the kids in Japanese. Avalyn was able to have a conversation with a grandma, telling her how old she is and that she is American. We have been connected to Japanese people her in our city from our contacts in Michigan, one of those friends and her mother helped me get school supplies and saved the day by giving us a rice cooker. Also, the other day we met an American family living in our city. The Newkirks, [newkirksinjapan.com], who also have four children. Their oldest daughter is in 2nd grade and is the only other American child at Avalyn’s school. They came to Japan two years ago and are missionaries who are living here indefinitely. It was amazing to connect with them, especially in this city with few foreigners.
I cannot believe we have been here in Japan for almost a month. We are experiencing Japan in such a rich way, down a road that is probably a little more tough then other foreigners because of our family size and the kids ages. But because of that, we are directly in the mix of the Japanese culture and daily life is a crash course in patience and understanding. We are people meeting people and God is right in the middle of it.
❤️❤️❤️