Japanese people are closed off to the gospel.
They have very shallow relationships with others.
They are easily offendable.
They won’t like you coming into their home.
Japan is a graveyard for missionaries.
These are just a few stereotypes I had heard coming into Japan. We are the first World Racers to ever come to this country, so I had no blogs to read about others’ experiences, no organizations to google information about, no set-up sheet online… nothing to convince me otherwise.
We arrived in Japan after a 6-hour long red-eye flight from Malaysia, slept on the airport floor for an hour or so while trying to adjust our bodies to the instantaneous 60-degree drop in temperature, and finally met Jeff, a man from New Zealand, with a William Dafoe-esque air about him, who would be our contact for the month. He led us onto the bus which would take us up the frigid mountainside to the ‘camp’ where our adventure would begin.
The group providing our training/cultural briefing for the month just-so-happens to be associated with Bethel Church in Redding, CA. This may seem like an odd detail to focus on, but for those of you who don’t know, it was actually a group from Bethel that came to my youth group senior year of high school to train the group of people heading to Kenya on a missions trip. I unfortunately was unable to attend the missions trip, but I was allowed to go to the training anyways. It was here, through this training with this group from Bethel, that the Lord recaptured my heart. I often point to this moment as the time when my faith became something I just grew up with, to a real and deep relationship with my Creator.
It’s so amazing that I was here now, in Japan, being trained again from people associated with Bethel Church. We were educated in a cultural briefing (complete with group-bath house experience), spiritual rejuvenation, ATL (Ask The Lord)/Treasure Hunt-style ministry, and an intensive introduction to the Japanese language. All this was to prepare us for living in the community through homestays of local families who were willing to invite us into their home.
Many teams were split up into various homes throughout the Osaka area of Japan. Our team learned that we would not be staying in families like the rest of our squad. We would actually be living with some non-Christian families (or as we like to call them, “pre-believers”). And as for Linley and me, we would be staying with not one, not two, but THREE different host families, moving week by week.
In Japan, inviting people to stay in your home is a big deal. A BIG deal. Like, they often don’t even extend that offer to their direct relatives. In our team’s case, these families have never hosted foreigners in their house before. For some of them, a 3-week commitment was too much, which is why Linley and I are splitting up our time. They have high expectations for cleanliness (dare I say, OCD?). Lead somewhat private lives, putting on a face of being well-off: spiritually, wealthy, healthy, wise. It can take many years to develop deep relationships. Needless to say, with everything I had learned, I was nervous to meet our first family. We were, after all, going to either confirm or deny all their stereotypes about Americans.
We were quickly welcomed into our first home by our host mom, Yuki. She is a wonderful woman of intelligence, humor, and hospitality. Her husband works a lot, but when he is home (mostly weekends) he is a wonderful father to their two kids, Ryo (11) and Maria (6). The three host families brought us to a sushi bar, where they ordered us plate after plate of sea urchin, squid, salmon, tuna, and tempura… you name it and they gave it to us. We returned home to find tea and cakes waiting for us on the table. In fact, we learned that our host mom had bought us slippers, towels, robes, shampoo, conditioner, soap, loofas, new bedspreads… all in preparation for our arrival. There was even lotion in our bedroom for after the shower – a luxury I have not seen in almost 5 months!
I was so wrong
Japanese people are as open to the gospel as anybody. Even though our host family are “pre-believers”, they have already let their guard down with us, asking us questions about our faith and sharing their life stories with us.
Japanese people have very deep, passionate relationships with each other, and once you build that connection, there’s nothing that can break it apart.
They understand you come from a different culture and are very patient and kind; helping you adjust to a new way of life.
They are more than happy to accommodate you, and want to make sure you are happy, comfortable, well fed, and they will almost NEVER accept help cleaning or cooking, no matter how many times you offer.
Japan is a place where missionaries can flourish, digging into a beautiful culture as you make deep connections that last a lifetime and point people toward Christ.
So far this month I’ve been absolutely blown away by the love, respect, and hospitality of my host families. For anybody to invite two 20-somethings into their house for a week (without charge!) is generous, but experiencing it from non-Christian, Japanese families is one of the most humbling and rewarding things I could have ever asked for. People showing hospitality – let’s be Christ to them. And let’s be Christ to those around us.
(photos courtesy of… not me)
