Shopping!

    I will be the first to admit that I am not a shopper, at least when it comes to "girly" shopping of clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. Being long-legged with big feet, it's never been easy to find things my size. I am more of a thrifter than a big spender.  After de-cluttering our whole house, I am hesitant to add back to the clutter. But I do have one weakness. 

    And it's NOT video game stores. But alas...I am in the 1/7 minority -- everyone else LOVES video games. I do have an appreciation for them. After all, if it weren't for video games, I wouldn't be in Japan right now (it has fueled both the desire and the finances to come). So I nod and smile and browse the merchandise and stand in line (literally 50 people in line at the Pokemon store last time!) and practice my Japanese with the workers and ask about when the Rhythm Heaven keychain will be back in stock.

    It took 43 years before Lucas made it to his first official Nintendo store. For awhile, there was only one in America; it was in downtown Manhattan, and we finally made it there on our Long Island road trip two years ago. And then in the last ten days, we've been to Nintendo stores three different times. One was in Tokyo, one in Osaka last week, and then again in Osaka this week because we were "in the neighborhood" and there was a new Zelda controller that had just released that day. It's kind of crazy to go from being 12 hours away from the nearest Nintendo store to being 1 train stop away.

    Our first attempt at hitting the Osaka Nintendo store was not without complications. It wasn't the first times that Google Maps has led us to a destination, only to have us scratching our heads at which building and where to go in and which floor. The first door we tried at the Lucua building didn't open until 10, so we went up some stairs to try a different entrance. And then we took some stairs and an escalator and walked to another side of the building. This entrance was open, but the elevator was not operational yet. So we took to the escalators. To the 13th floor! I don't think I've ever taken that many escalators in a row before! 

    On the 13th floor were stores for Pokemon, Nintendo, and Capcom, all video-game related. The boys were most interested in Pokemon plushies and figures. Lucas has had a near lifelong love of Nintendo, and his livelihood is in reviewing and writing about Nintendo as the Editor of Nintendo Force magazine. And then Lucas has dipped his toes into book publishing, where he has had two books officially licensed by Capcom. So yes, the 13th floor was geared toward the Thomas family!

    From there, we walked to a nearby store with a limited time pop-up for merchandise for another video game collection called Earthbound. 

So after all of that, it was my turn for my favorite kind of shopping -- books! Also nearby was a Christian bookstore.  There are some countries where Christianity is a persecuted religion, and Christian bookstores would not be possible. In Japan, however, Christianity is allowed but is rare -- less than 1% of the population is Christian. Still, with such a large population, this is still over a million people. I was thrilled to buy some children's books in Japanese, including one of my favorites that I gave to all my bridesmaids -- You Are Special by Max Lucado. I also bought a display with The Lord's Prayer in Japanese as well as some gospel tracts that hopefully I can hand out to strangers or friends.  My favorite purchase, though, is a Japanese storybook Bible in both Japanese and English. I have the English version at home. I'm hoping to improve my Japanese reading with these books, and I was happy to support this Christian bookstore appropriately named Oasis.

    There are also tons of secondhand bookstores in Japan called Book Off, similar to our Half-Price books (my favorite in America). I've already been to three Book Off stores, and I've also found secondhand books at a store in the mall and even down our shotengai near our house. Back home, I always check the Half Price bookstores for Japanese books, and the collection is always minimal (a few books here and there). So to be in a bookstore with thousands of Japanese books -- it's a bit overwhelming! I hope to one day read full mangas and novels in Japanese, but for now, I mostly stick with kids books and bilingual books. 

Calvin's End-of-October Reflections

CALVIN, age 12

Tell us about your experience in Tokyo. 

It was fun our house was very small but we made it work and I got some free Pokemon cards because I pressed a bunch of gacha machine coin return buttons then used them on Pokemon cards which was about 6 dollars and one of them was a super rare one.

What was the Mustard Seed church like?

Good, I haven't listened to an actual sermon yet since Chance was crying and being difficult so I went in his class instead of hearing it but then after there was a 15 year party. 

What do you like about Japan?

I like most things like all the stores and the Nintendo stuff and a lot of the food is really yummy and there is a lot to do. I also like walking around and looking at stuff.

What is different about how they do things in Japan?

I haven't really noticed the driving on the other side of the road but the main thing is how many people have bikes instead of cars I thought you either had a car or you walked another thing is vending machines there are hundreds of them there is one ten feet in front of our house!

What do you miss from home?                                                                                                      I miss our church, the Middle school retreat, my bed, and good internet.

Carter's End-of-October Reflections

CARTER, age 14

What was the church in Yokohama like?

It was interesting that it was on the eighth floor. In Japan's big cities they build upward, so there might be a massive building with very different things on each floor. When the people shared the announcements and message, one person spoke a sentence in English and another translated it in Japanese. It made the overall service longer, but I prefer it over one person speaking an entire sermon in English for 20+ minutes and then someone taking 20+ more minutes to translate the whole message. It was small, but very friendly, and a good experience to have. 

Tell us about your experience in Tokyo. 

The most populous city in the world used to be lots of different cities, but when they all grew they crashed into each other. Some areas, like the street where our AirBNB was, are less busy, but in other places, hundreds of people cross the streets at crosswalks at the same time. I enjoyed going to the Pokemon Center and Cafe, and my brothers enjoyed pressing the coin return buttons on gacha machines.

What do you like about Japan?

I like that the food at the konbini (convenience stores) is 4 to 5 times cheaper than in gas stations in America. You can buy really good snacks for less than 500 yen (about 3 US dollars) and these convenience stores (the major ones being 7-eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson Station) are everywhere in major cities.

What do you miss from home?     

Mostly just my home church, my friends there, and the events that I am missing. I would come back to Japan though, because there's lots of fun to be had here too!