This weekend take just a moment to consider the myriad of peoples who inhabit this globe of ours. They’re everywhere. The people in this picture are caught in the rush hour of a huge metropolis of over a million people. Some are rich, some are poor, some are what we call “middle class,” some are […]

On a recent visit to the Japan Railway Hakata Station I was walking by this ticket booth inside the station mall and thought of a scripture chorus our kids used to sing in (Japanese) Sunday school.  Singing the song very slowly at first, the children would hang on to each other and pretend they were a long train and […]

Think of the POWER of the Word of God!  “In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. The same was in the beginning with God. ALL THINGS were made by HIM; and without HIM was not anything made that was made. In HIM was life, and […]

Meet  Kuniko Honda, owner operator of the “Tabibitoya”  (The Sojourner) coffee shop right across the street from the train station in downtown Nagasaki. The shop is like a little “hole in the wall” it is so small, yet she has collected some 380 coffee cups from around Japan in the past 28 years. In her collection […]

In April, when the weather begins getting warmer, tall bamboo poles with colorful, carp-shaped, cloth streamers that look like air-socks attached to them are erected in the yards of Japanese families who have boys. These poles and streamers are called “Koi Nobori.” Their flying in the spring breezes for about a month precedes the celebration of Boys’ Day on […]

I’ve got a wedding scheduled tomorrow afternoon from 4:30 at Budou No Ki in Okagaki. Are you ready for this? 220 guests! That’s probably the one of the biggest weddings I’ve ever had the opportunity to perform here in Japan.  The guests attend the ceremony and afterwards are invited into a huge reception room to […]

These thoughts have been in my mind for several days now. I’d like to share them with you. Stay with me for a few minutes as you read the following: You may not know, but Japan is referred to as the country with “eight million gods” （八百万の神々） The expression in Japanese literally means “countless gods.” The influence of Buddhism […]

On the way to work this morning, I walked past . . . Gallery Nadeshiko （ギャラリー なでしこ） ⎯ This is the entryway of a gallery of Japanese art, pottery, jewelry and fashions in our neighborhood. After yesterday’s weather of biting cold and snow, the sky has cleared and we can see evidence that spring is near: a blossoming […]