Culture Class

Back to Kichijoji on Saturday for Culture Class, for the new American missionaries who don't want to make any terrible social faux pas! This time we traveled by train, for the first time since arriving in Japan. It's actually cheaper and quicker for us to go by car, but the two new sisters in our district were going and we decided we might as well take the plunge and go with them. Sister Bybee had looked up the route on her iPad and then taken a screen shot, so she was our fearless leader. She actually does seem pretty fearless and she's up for anything. We really enjoy being around her and all the sisters and elders.

We left from Higashifussa Station and changed trains no less than four times -- each station was bigger and busier than the previous one, getting closer to Tokyo proper.

Sister Powell, Sister Bybee, and Elder Adamson on the platform. Notice the experienced, seasoned senior missionary is the terrified one!

And on the train.....

Here's Sister Bybee (how cute is her hair bow?) leading us out of the station at Kichijoji.

To get to the Honbu, we walk through Sun Road, a busy area of shops and restaurants

 and stopped here for lunch. This teriyaki chicken dish came with a lovely fresh salad of shredded lettuce and cabbage, miso soup with seaweed and tofu cubes (like croutons), and a big bowl of rice. All for 630 yen, or about $5.52. It was very good!

And Bruce took his very first selfie -- not bad!

We finished lunch and headed over to the stake center adjacent to the mission office, where the culture class was to be held. It was taught by a Japanese man who is not a member of the Church, Kiichi Sagarawa. He teaches English at a Japanese high school. He lived in Maryland for three years and taught Japanese language and culture there, and he'd like to go back to teach in the States. 

Kiichi said there are three phases we should expect to go through as we adjust to the culture change: 1) honeymoon; 2) rejection; 3) acceptance. Bruce and I are definitely still in the honeymoon phase where everything is just so fascinating. And I honestly don't think we'll go through a rejection phase at all -- because we have the luxury of simply going on base if we ever feel overwhelmed and need the familiarity of the English language and American practices.

Just a note, when we had been here just a few days and helped with the Seminary Super Activity, I was helping a couple of the students clean up in the kitchen. The sink didn't have a garbage disposal, but had a metal basket beneath the rubber sink strainer to catch food and crud. The girls hadn't realized that and had put a lot of food gunk down there, thinking it was a disposal. They got pretty squeamish and were grossed out at having to clean out that little basket. We have a similar setup in our kitchen, and I was very willing to do the dirty work. As I did so, I joked with them a little, telling them they needed to get off the base and experience Japan. One of them said, "No, I'm very comfortable with my American life on the base!"  And I get it. While I certainly don't want us to spend our entire mission in the American sub-culture that the military provides..... there are times that I really appreciate that it's there! 

Kiichi shared with us some general characteristics of Japanese people and some interesting customs. For instance, chopsticks should not be used for anything other than putting food in your mouth. They certainly shouldn't be used for pointing to someone or moving dishes around the table. And they should not be stuck into a bowl of rice and left sticking straight up -- this is only done at a funeral! 

Don't "dirty the rice" by pouring soy sauce over it, rather, dip the rice with your chopsticks into a small bowl of soy sauce (this requires more skill with chopsticks than some of us have.....) 

When eating noodles, such as soba or ramen, it's okay to slurp loudly -- in fact, they say it improves the flavor! 

Japanese people don't talk on the train, to each other or on the cell phones. They use their phones to read, text, or listen to music (using earbuds), but not to talk. We did talk to each other on the train, but quietly.

Don't eat while walking on the streets, riding the trains, or in public places. This rule is somewhat relaxed if you're eating an ice cream cone, but that's about it. :-)  If you buy something at a food stand, you either eat it at the stand or take it home to eat later.

You all know that Japanese people don't wear shoes in the home. Sometimes a host will provide slippers, sometimes you'll just be in your stocking feet. But barefoot is not okay, so if I'm not wearing hose, I should wear little footie socks or have some with me to slip on.

Don't tip in Japan, tipping is not expected and may be considered insulting.

Key: observe how the Japanese people do things -- watch what the people around you are doing and follow their example. Makes sense!

Culture class was a reunion of sorts for Sisters Bybee and Powell with missionaries they were with in the MTC. So they had fun visiting and catching up. Then we headed back to the Kichijoji train station, again with Sister Bybee in the lead.

Three train changes later, we were back in Fussa! I can't say that I could now make this trip unaided, but I can learn how to access the schedule online and follow the route -- that's progress!

Sisters Bybee and Powell were making plans for their evening -- where they would go "housing" (tracting) and who they might contact -- as Bruce and I yawned. We're very thankful we are not expected to keep the strenuous schedule that the young missionaries follow!