one year here
Jonathan Wamble
Its Jonathan in Japan. We’re enjoying a warm fall afternoon here and I’m looking out of our apartment at the hills with trees that are still green. Our nights have been cold recently but days are warm and clear skies have given us beautiful views of Mt. Fuji covered with snow!
I haven’t written for so long so now there’s a lot to say. I’ll try to keep it short!
In my last entry I detailed the process of coming into the country in the middle of a pandemic. We were some of a few people who were allowed new visas before Japan again stopped issuing visas in December of 2020 and has maintained that strict policy until now.
After moving to Japan, we lived at a missions base in the town of Takatsuki right between Osaka and Kyoto on the Kansai plain. Its a place for agriculture and industry and many families. The YWAM building was built in the ’60’s and despite being huge was very run-down and needed repair. We stayed there through the fall and winter and enjoyed seeing the leaves change colors in our neighborhood and in the mountains around Kyoto — japan’s historic capital city.
The winter brought cold rains and wind that whipped through our windows. We used propane heaters and bundled up all day and slept with electric blankets at night — a california family in a harsh new land!
We saw that the Japanese people weren’t slowed by rain or cold and would do their early morning commutes with umbrellas, long jackets, ponchos, rain hats and the moms would pedal their kids to school in covered bike seats — one on the front and one on the back.
Invigorated by the Japanese tenacity (and trying to find my inner Coloradan) we went out in all weather to meet people and see sights and explore Kyoto.
We were relieved when the cold winds gave way to sun and the buds came to the trees. There were the plum blossoms first (not to be confused with cherry blossoms which I did often). Then in mid April the cherry blossoms were so numerous they spilled off the trees and covered sidewalks and the tops of cars. They were bright pink and almost white and made every walk to the train station or trip to the grocery store a little more magical.
There are many places to see the cherry blossoms in Kansai. The Philosopher’s walk in Kyoto is a winding cobblestone trail by a river lined on both sides by cherry trees. We watched the Japanese people look at the trees. We watched men with thousands of dollars of camera gear take photos of sights that are just as amazing whether foreign or local.
We also visited a mountain in the nearby prefecture (state) of Nara called Mt. Yoshino (Yoshinoyama) known for their cherry blossoms. We rented a car for a day and swept through curving roads into a village of wood-sided buildings.
The area wasn’t overly touristy and indeed we had probably come too early to see the peak bloom in higher elevations. But we did see hundreds of cherry trees lining hills both near and far across the valley. We had our array of film cameras ready (we gave Avi a cheap Ricoh point-and-shoot for her birthday) and fired off rolls of film as the sun was dipping behind the mountains. The sun made one more appearance as we drove out of the area and back-lit a bridge and narrow river with the mountains on either side. It was a special road trip.
Our sense of pressure to see the place we lived was borough on by a talk we had with the leadership of our YWAM base. Since moving to Japan, Stephanie and I had been feeling that our town of Takatsuki was nice but it wasn’t home. We weren’t ready to commit to a longterm lease for a house in the area. At the same time, we had been thinking what it would be like to start a YWAM base or church of our own somewhere in the country. We brought this idea before the leadership of the base.
After the leadership talked about it amongst themselves they decided that we should go to Tokyo as it is the main base in Japan and we could get more training. When we FaceTimed with the base leader in Tokyo we were shocked by his kind humility and how similar our families are. We both have talkative girls about the same age and little boys.
We were very sad to say goodbye to our Japanese neighbors with whom we had fun English classes (I taught) and Japanese classes (they taught). We’d made friends with a neighbor family near the base who helped us get Avi into a Kindergarten (called Yochien in Japan). Since school starts in early April, Avi spent about a week in the yochien before we left the Osaka area. Avi’s class was mostly play, organized song time and basically fun. It’s different than the academic kindergartens in America.
Despite leaving our neighbors and Avi’s school, we felt that we were ultimately making the right decision to leave Takatsuki. We had also found out in April that we were going to have another baby. Motivated by this and other factors, we decided to pack our suitcases for one more move.
We had many people around as we loaded our suitcases into our rental car and headed off for a short trip to the coast. We spent some time enjoying the ocean before making our way to Japan’s massive capital.
We arrived in Tokyo by plane and were shocked by how quiet the huge airport was. Our base leader came personally to pick us up and drive us the 1.5 hours to the base. The building is situated in a quiet neighborhood and was built by another Christian ministry with the goal for training Christians to teach about Jesus. Its huge two story house with two kitchens, six large bedrooms that can hold 8+ people and several offices. Next door is the base director’s house where he lives with his family.
The staff welcomed us warmly. They’re down-to-earth, quirky and excited to see what God is doing in Japan.
A usual YWAM ministry focuses on training young missionaries to teach their communities about Jesus. Since there has been a lack of international travel and meeting new people has diminished, our base has scaled back their programs. Several people have been spending time in language school, meeting neighbors and spending time in prayer for our neighborhoods.
Because we have young kids we have been drawn to naturally meeting other families and living life with them. The main place we meet people is at parks. Since our kids must expend their infinite energy we spend time at various parks in the area.
In one park near our house we met a grandpa (Ojisan) who loves bringing snacks to the kids or picking something out of his garden for us. A couple days ago he gave us a huge white carrot nearly as long as my arm called a diakon. Its supposed to taste like radish but I haven’t figured out how to cook it yet. We call that park the “Dinosaur Park” since there’s a triceratops and t-rex to ride.
We met another lady at Dinosaur Park today who spoke good English and said they were looking for English teachers at a little school down the street. She suggested Avila could also attend there.
We spent many summer evenings at another big park in the shade of tall trees listening to the cicadas. We met another friend there who still talks to us and invited us to her house. We had coffee and sweets and talked in English and Japanese about life and parenting while the kids played. It was special. We’ve heard that its so rare to be invited to a Japanese person’s home and we were nervous and excited to be there.
We’re so happy for these little interactions. We are so obviously outsiders and constantly break cultural norms but feel privileged when our neighbors want to meet us and help us. Our Japanese learning sputters along and improves slowly. At times we understand much of what’s said and other times there’s nothing. At times we take serious time to study and other times things prevent us from taking lessons or studying Kanji.
Now that we’ve been here a full year, our language progress seems little but we are hopeful by how much we’ve been able to connect with people with our limited abilities. Our main hope in year two is to have consistent classes either online or in-person. I’ve met with online teachers who have improved my understanding and confidence. As we improve we also see how long the road is towards mastery.
Beyond language our next priority is having a baby. Baby Wamble is coming in about 1 week! We’re baffled. When Steph was pregnant with Avila, we were working at the school in Okinawa but had ample time to look at baby clothes and accessories, track the babies growth, read to the tummy. Now, with two piglets around we’re lucky if we remember when a new trimester starts.
Until last week we had hardly bought any baby items. You forget that a new baby needs more than a bed! We spent a few evenings shopping for baby clothes and accessories last week and now we feel as ready as one can be. Since we’ve been through baby days twice, we know a little of what to expect but I remember when Benji was born how much I had forgotten.
As the kids grow you forget how little they once were and how fragile they feel and how little their cry was. Now our kids seem like they’re made of rubber but you really have to fuss over babies — they need a lot!
We were excited to find a hospital that allows guests to visit after baby is delivered. Steph researched so many places and I spent time on the phone with one who said the dads and families can go in to visit the new baby. Unfortunately the hospital is about 1.25 hours away by train.
I know that some of you moms are thinking, “what if Steph goes into labor early?” The doctor has decided to schedule a C-section 2 weeks before baby Wamble’s due date to try to eliminate the risk of doing an emergency surgery. Both of our babies have been cesarian babies and the doc didn’t think we needed to try anything else.
As this entry has gotten long I think I’ll end it here. Thanks so much for reading and I’ll try my best to keep you updated after the delivery on the 19th. Bye!