12/19 Monday: Tokyo > Seattle

Today we say "good-bye" to Japan, but we're leaving our hearts here.  Final pack-up and clean-up, then Rob S picked us up.  A quick stop at the Post Office (to return the remaining caroling songbooks/CDs we had been selling for Gary B along with the sales revenue), then a quick 30 min drive to Narita Airport by noon.  We checked in, this time with much less worry about stand-by due to many open seats.  Time for final shopping, a bite of lunch, change yen into dollars, security check, immigration, and out to the gate for our 3:40 PM flight.

Because the eastbound flight crosses the dateline, we arrived back in Seattle that same morning, at about 7:30 AM.  Wild.  Sylvia met us with the church van, and soon we were back to Bellevue, and saying "Good-bye" to each other.  Hope to get together again in January to share photos, memories, and more sushi - yum!

It's been a great trip, one of the best I've been on.  The team members were terrific, the musical part worked out well, the costumes fit well and were a big hit, Gilberts arranged a great schedule, the budget balanced out, and food and health were better than par for the course.  The best part was connecting with so many people, and providing the gift of hope and joy through music, and sharing the real meaning of Christmas.

12/18 Sunday: Chiba & Tokyo

Whoo-ingy!  The heater-less rooms in Hope House makes for a very cold morning.  Everyone slept pretty well under lots of blankets, but because the house is typically Japanese with no insulation and no furnace, the rooms are freezing.  We could all see our breath in the morning.  We got the kerosene space heater going in the 8' x 10' kitchen, kept the doors closed, and soon all 6 of us were in there warming up, and getting a bite of breakfast.

We changed into our costumes, and Rob Stoddard & family came around 10:15, and guided us a mile or so to Oyumino Chapel for the bi-lingual international worship service there. 

Rachel at the Oyumino Chapel

        Nice group of folks, including Shige and Luann Nakazawa and their 4 kids who've just returned to Japan after 10 years in Turkey as missionaries.  They are going to be part of Gilbert's team in Ishinomaki.  Sylvia and I knew Luann 12 years ago at our church in Tokyo, so it was fun to reconnect with her again and meet her family.

In the service, we told about our ministry then sang 2 songs, and asked them to sing along, too; they seemed to really enjoy it.  After the sermon, the pastor asked if we could come back up and sing another song.  Fun!

Afterwards we came back to Hope House, changed clothes, Olsons packed up, and we all left for lunch at a beef-bowl place with Nakazawas. 

  Then they took us to the train station, where we 6 all started off together.  After a couple stops, Keith and Celia changed trains to go to Haneda for their flight back to Sapporo, and we said farewell to our good friends.  

We remaining 4 took another sequence of trains over to Shinjuku, then walked over to the Metropolitan Towers, and went up to the 45th floor observation deck.  It was 5:30 by now, and the sun had set over Mt Fuji, but it was still nice to see the immense city stretching out in all directions.

25 million people live and work in this metropolis - wild!

From there, we took the JR to Shibuya.  Wow - lots of crowds, lights, and noise!  Saw the Hachiko statue, then swam across the big intersection to the world's busiest Starbucks!  Nice to be there (again for me), and enjoyed watching the river of people.  

Shibuya! You have to experience it to believe it.

On the 2nd floor of the Shibuya Starbucks

It had gotten to be 7 PM so we went around the corner to the 8th floor of the Seibu Department Store for a marvelous splurge on the best sushi meal we've ever had.  Actually, once we saw the menu, we were going to have to find another place because the prices were so high, but I talked to server, explaining our tight budget.  After talking to the chef, he offered us the lunch menu which was in our price range and even more suited to our appetites.  Incredible quality, very well prepared, and delightful nuances in each bite.  Yummy!

Not an exaggeration to say it was some of the best sushi in the world!

After the meal, we chatted through the trip, debriefing for a final time.  It was going on 9 PM now, so we headed back, taking local trains via the Rinkai Line and Shin Kiba which routes past Odaiba (didn't see it) and Tokyo Disneyland (did see it - yea!).  Rob was waiting for us at Honda station - bless his big heart - and drove us "home" to Hope House.  It was 11 PM, and we were tired but happy puppies, and all went to sleep right away in spite of the chilly rooms. 

12/17 Saturday: Sendai, then to Tokyo

It snowed overnight - just enough to make a winter wonderland, but not enough to slow traffic.  The sunrise was interesting, especially with an interesting "steam" coming off the beach.  

It's been great to be in Ishinomaki, and we're all kind of sad to leave.  Gilberts and Ann had to be up and gone by 7:30 for the weekly takidashi, so we said farewell to them - terrific people and outstanding missionaries.

We 7 packed all our stuff, cleaned the Guest House, and left around 10 AM for Sendai.  We stopped at the Subway near Mika's condo to get sandwiches for lunch and went to her place to eat.  Hidemasa didn't have a school project so he was able to join us - great guy.

Drove half an hour to a nice church in south Sendai.  Got there around 12:30 to prep for a 2 PM concert.  We were all feeling a little "zoned-out", especially me - I realized I left my costume vest, pants, and shirt back at the Guest House.  Crazy, because I had prepared them that morning, and then promptly forgot to get them into the van.  Had another white shirt to wear, and my corduroy pants, so it didn't look too bad.

The concert was just us for an hour!  We weren't sure we could fill that much time, but it worked out well, and the people seemed to enjoy it.  We included the 12 Days of Christmas as an activity song, similar to the way we did it with the Kindergarten kids last Thursday - fun!  

The pastor's daughter (right) and friend.

Enjoying the post-concert refreshments

Added in the Christmas story from Luke, and Celia gave a testimony.  People sang along on songs they knew.  Found out nearly half the 80+ audience were first-timers.

Around 4 PM we were on the expressway south to Tokyo.  Fortunately the weather was good, and the road was bare and dry.  Stopped for a couple times en-route: supper, fuel, snacks, potty visits, etc.  Finally got to Hope House around 11 PM and all settled in quickly and off to sleep.

12/16 Friday: Onagawa Kids & Tomei SP

We were out at Onagawa today, and caroled for the school kids at the Onagawa Elementary School. A privilege in many ways and a lot of fun.  

Caroling for students at the Onagawa Elementary School

The local radio station interview

With Rob Lehne, the English teacher (back) and the radio station crew (right)

A little local radio station has been set up there for Onagawa, and they hopped over for a quick interview - more fun!  The town itself is really getting cleaned up and the basics of rebuilding are getting into place.  Heard the plan was to build a 5 meter high wall / road on the water front and all housing and essential services will be above the tsunami line.  Below that will be industry, fishing, etc.  Got some good photos.

The tsunami was above the gridded hill on the left.

On the right was where 2 buildings were with a car on top of each; note the power poles being replaced.

Heard at least one of these buildings will be left as a museum.

From there we went back to the big Aeon mall for a debrief with Gilberts at the food court.  Good time to chat through the trip and concerts, and it was all pretty positive.  Lorna asked the gals to help her do some final shopping for the big "takisashi" tomorrow, so Keith and Andy and I had a cup of coffee together.  At 5:45 we left to go north on the highway up to the Samaritan's Purse camp at Tomei.  Through a chance meeting with some SP workers, we had gotten an invitation to go up there for supper and to sing for them.  Many are international workers who come for weeks or months at a time.

Caroling for the Samaritans Purse staff and crew

Enjoying sounds and memories of Christmas

Invited some volunteers to wear the hats and join us.

What a privilege to connect with their staff and the crew - some 50 people.  We sang about 45 min and stuck around for their 15 min prayer time.  

Got back here around 9:45, and are getting ready to pack up, clean, and say "sayonara" tomorrow morning.  We head to Sendai for a 2 PM concert, then leave there around 4 PM to drive to Chiba.  Gonna be a late night.  We'll sing a couple songs in the morning service on Sunday and then be tourists in Tokyo for a bit of decompression and personal fun.  

It's snowed several times around here today, but nothing sticking too much on the roads.  Unless it dumps overnight - it's not supposed to - it shouldn't be too problematic to drive. 

Am feeling ready to come home - eager to be home! - but just finally getting past jet lag.  Plus the group is getting to sound pretty good now too.  Sigh….

12/15 Thursday: Ishinomaki Kids & Old Folks

        Long day, so this will be kinda short.  We had great time at the kindergarten and old-folks home.  The little kids aren't able to use their own school because of tsunami damage, so are sharing space with an undamaged school.  They were gap-jawed when we first met, but enjoyed the songs, and sang along well.  It was hard to say Good-bye.

Cheri and her new friend

        Between concerts, we stopped for lunch at a Cocos that has reopened - fun to be there in our costumes!

        The old-folks home was really interesting.  We sang 3 times here, beginning with the most active group, then the assisted-living group, and concluding with the extra needs folks.  They enjoyed the songs, and sang along too.  Seemed to know the English lyrics for some of the songs, especially Jingle Bells.  Talking with each group afterwards was a delight.

Keith and his new friend

        Before heading home, we spent a few minutes at the Be One house with the Huddlestons who are living there now.  It was my turn to cook tonight so made Mexican Haystacks - turned out pretty well.  Good talk with Gilberts tonight.  

12/14: Wednesday: Koganehama Coffee House

        Today Bev made crepes for bkfst - yummy - then we had a review rehearsal, and headed in.  Traffic wasn't too bad so stopped at the Aeon Mall for a bit of shopping and lunch, then to the Help Tohoku House for a coffee house style "concert" from 1 - 4 PM.  Basically we sang two 15 minute sets and chatted with the dozen or so folks who come regularly to this weekly gathering.  

Lorna and Bev chat with Sekki-san, the owner of the house being used for the coffee-shop.

Andy chatting with the coffee-house friends.

Keith connecting via his Japanese skills.

They liked the songs and the team did a good job of both singing and chatting.  The second set, since we were getting pretty well acquainted and since caroling is all about singing together, asked them to alternate singing a song after each one of ours.  They enjoyed doing that a lot - really connected well with their hearts, and connected them to each other as well.  Kind of magical moments.  The final song was Silent Night and we all sang that together.  One of the men and one lady wanted to stand and sing with us so we gave them the extra hat and bonnet, and they loved it.

We 7 plus an extra man and lady who enjoyed singing with us.

        Had contacted Saito-san, the businessman friend we met last June, and he said he'd stop by.  He did for a moment but had a colleage in the car so had to keep going.  He said he'd come back, but didn't make it in time, so I arranged to meet him at this office/warehouse.  We chatted a bit, I gave him some Seattle chocolates and book as well as a copy of the song book we're using which has the lyrics in Nihongo, as well as the Christmas story from Luke in both English and Japanese.  His wife wasn't there, but his son was, and evidently the son is being groomed to take over the biz soon.  It was a good connection.  And the unexpected surprise is that one of the guys in the coffee house time was one of his drivers!  They were both surprised to see each other there when Saito-san stopped by.

        I'm trying to get the blog posted, but it takes time, and the days are pretty full, and the evenings get blurry.  Tomorrow, we're heading in for a kindergarten "concert" in the morning, then another old-folks home in the afternoon.  I'm on deck to make Mexican Haystacks for supper.  Lorna has a packet of taco seasoning she's going to let me use, and we'll have to hunt for some Dortito-style chips at the mall.

        Time for bed.  I'm sleeping pretty well, but waking up around 5:30 or 6 AM.  The weather has been clear and sunny, but temps are low - down to the 30's most evenings.  The sunrises have been amazing - comes up right out of the ocean.  No wonder this is the land of the rising sun.  

12/13 Tuesday: Koganehama Ladies Tea & Samaritan's Purse work

        Rather unique concert today: a Ladies Tea in the afternoon requested just the women to sing.  Plus we were asked to bring some cookies (which we bought at an international store yesterday) and cake (which Lorna made last night.  The guys weren't needed, so we left around 7:00 AM to spend the day working for Samaritan's Purse (see below).

        We've been ramping up to this for a couple days now, because changing from SATB to just SA (or thanks to Cheri's low alto, even SAT) takes some reworking of the music.  And not all of our songs work well without the guys parts.  But with 5 strong female vocalists, it all came together, including a sing-a-long lyric sheet.   Off they went around 11:00 AM toward Ishinomaki,  stopping en-route for a ramen lunch ("really good!").  

Lorna, Cheri, and Mika

Celia and Rachel

       They arrived in town around 1:00 PM, and went to the Help Tohoku House in the Koganehama neighborhood (a block from where we were on Saturday for the "takidashi" event.  This house was damaged in the tsunami, but repaired and made available by the owner for MTW relief work. Lorna was asked to help decorate the interior in a "country style" but hasn't had much time or resources to get further than some nice curtains.  The gals changed into their costumes, then helped finish up the refreshments.

       Ten ladies showed up for the tea, which seems small, but it's really all about building relationships, and that happened pretty well.  These are all women who have suffered incredible loss and are trying to rebuild their lives.  The gals sang well, the lyric sheets worked well, and the cookies were delightful.  Lorna was pleased and the impact was strong.

       Meanwhile, we guys worked hard all day at a house being renovated by Samaritan's Purse.  SP has agreed to clean and renovate 300 houses in the area - a gigantic task.  Each house needs all the debris removed, all walls and flooring soaked by the tsunami removed, all mud and crud removed from the crawl spaces.  All this is preparation for disinfectant spray and bleach to remove toxic bacteria and mold, then carpenters come and rebuild floors, walls, and the rest to normal standard of livability.

       Our job list today had 3 parts: 1) finish cleaning the floor joists, 2) remove an bathroom sink & counter, and 3) pull up and remove the last 6' x 6' area of floor and clean those joists too.  I thought we'd have it all done by lunch time, because the whole floor area was only 15' x'30'.  Took all day.  The sub-floor was pressboard, and removing the remaining sub-floor staples was relatively easy work, but removing the adhesive bound globs was crazy hard and needed hammer and chisel. 

Keith with the result of 30 minutes effort - it was hard work.

       The house we worked on belongs to Mrs. Ogata who has been living on the undamaged second floor - many people with low to moderate damage have chosen to do this.  She talked a little about her experience during the tsunami, and how she saw her neighbor's house ripped off it's foundation and float away with the family still inside.  She said that house and those people have not been found.  Unimaginable.  

The tsunami came over this 4-meter high sea wall...

...and destroyed the neighborhood which is now mostly clear of debris.

Keith found this family photo album in the remaining rubble.

       During lunch break we walked 100 meters through now vacant lots and some remaining debris to the sea wall.  Very sobering to think the tsunami rose over where we were standing and gushed a flood of damage and destruction inland to all the neighborhoods for miles and miles along the beach, and then sucked a lot of it back over the wall out to sea.  Awful.  

       BTW, our SP coordinator was Jordan Foxwell, a great guy who was a little middle-schooler when I knew him in Tokyo.  Fun to meet him again, now a college grad and helping here.

Jordan Foxwell, Mark, and Andy