Next week (September 15) in Japan the nation will celebrate a national holiday. “Keirou no Hi,” or “Respect for The Aged Day” is a day when the elderly are wished a long life and thanked for their past contributions to Japanese society. Cities, towns and villages all over the nation will have celebrations honoring their aged citizens. […]

I can’t introduce you to these young Japanese men, because they were too deep into their own private worlds to ask their names when I took these pictures this week in Tokyo. I went to visit my son, Mark, for a couple days and he took me around the BIG city. Yes, that’s right ⎯ BIG ⎯  about 12 […]

Meet Katsuhiko Shibuta, 23, employee for this Idemitsu gasoline station in Koga City, on the island of Kyushu, Japan. In order to conserve space, these kind of pumps descend from the ceiling with the pull of a thick cord instead of a pump island. Pumps of this kind in Japan will be phased out from next year.  No need to write […]

What a sight! Almost indescribable! The fragrance, the perfection of innumerable petals of pure white against the azure blue sky, countless bees busying themselves flying from blossom to blossom to gather pollen and the freshness of spring breezes ⎯ heaven on earth to millions of Japanese people who will gather under blooming cherry trees this […]

Well, lovers, tomorrow is the day! Don’t forget to speak or send a special greeting to the ones you love! In Japan, Valentines Day is perhaps one of the biggest days of the year for chocolate merchants. Chocolate  Valentine  displays have been in stores since just after Christmas here in Japan. I make it a point […]

Meet Nozomu Tamari, 72, of Munakata City, Japan. He has been practicing the ancient art of Japanese archery for the past 25 years. At Munakata’s Hashougu Shrine, Tamari-san takes aim in a late-afternoon practice session of what is now called “an art,” but was used in the everyday lives of the Samurai in ancient Japan to protect against an […]

Passing through a bookstore at the Anchorage International Airport last month, I saw the book “god is not Great ⎯ How Religion Poisons Everything” by Christopher Hitchens. It was shelved to the left of that which is right, “Heaven Is Real ⎯ Lessons on Earthly Joy from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper and […]

Adam & Eve . . . “then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”  There is a big fig tree at the foot of the hill near our house here in Japan. Every time I drive by it I’m […]

Rice paddies in the higher altitudes of Kyushu have been flooded and planted with rice seedlings this month in Japan, just before the annual rainy season begins in early June. Last week while driving home from the eastern part of the island, we saw this lady taking a break from her work of planting rice […]

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⎯ John 3:8 NKJV Wind is the ultimate expression of freedom and liberty. We have been set FREE from sin! Christians are God’s strategically placed windsocks […]