The end of the day

Trains and subways form a massive web in and around Tokyo, creating the most utilized mass transportation system in the city, if not the entire world. Millions of train trips per day move the people of Tokyo to home, work and play.

This evening, while riding the train for about 15 minutes during rush hour, notices kept popping up inside the compartments, above the train doors. In several languages including English, the alert gave the name of a particular station, information that the station was closed in both directions, and the reason why: passenger injury. 

It was explained to me that "passenger injury," specifically, means suicides.

Suicide by jumping in front of a speeding train as it enters the station is a preferred way to end it all for the shamed or depressed in the world's largest city.

It happened three times, at three different train stations, during our 15-minute train ride. For three sets of family and friends, life will never be the same again.

Tokyo

I'm in Tokyo now! I got here this afternoon and ran into my friend on the train. What luck that we ended up on the same train!

Japan is a very interesting place with an unfortunate history. My dad is not fond of Japan, having lived here a year, in 1954-55, as a draftee of the U.S. army. 

My Chinese friends are not fond of Japan (to put it mildly), due to Japan's WWII atrocities and occupation of China. Nanjing alone saw the slaughter of 300,000 of its citizens within six weeks (starting December 13, 1937) at the hands of Japanese troops. I tell my Chinese friends that the ones who did the atrocities are probably no longer with us, but they still don't like Japan. They say Japanese are taught to hate Chinese and look down up on them. I try to encourage a positive view of Japan and throw around words like "forgiveness," but the wounds are very deep and I cannot change their minds. 

Therefore, I have no one excited that I am in Japan but me!

I like Japan's environment, because it is quiet and clean. When it rains, it doesn't create mud, it just looks cleaner. Unbelievable. 

Tokyo is modern, efficient, and interesting. Seems so odd to me that it is one of the least evangelized nations in the world. 

UPDATE:

Here's what my dad has to say about his time in Japan --

"In your blog, you mentioned that I was not fond of Japan. I really did not see much of it. I had one 3-day pass while I was stationed there at Misawa, and three other guys and I went by train to Aomori and Hirosaki (two towns near the northern end of the island Honshu, the same island you are on). We had planned to spend all our time in Aomori, but a blizzard was blowing there and we never saw anything of the town except for the train station. We decided to try Hirosaki, which was south and west of Aomori.  It took a long time to communicate with the Hirosaki station master that we needed a taxi to take us to a hotel, but we finally got to a hotel and holed up, because the same blizzard was still blowing. So, we didn't see much of either city. My main memories of Japan are snow and ice and hard cold winds and living in a tent. And earthquakes, frequent earthquakes."

Happy Easter

When someone says there are many paths to God (as I heard someone say this week), it makes me feel sad … and for those who may not be aware, it is unscriptural. In the Bible, John 14:6 records Jesus as saying: 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father except by me.'

If you could get to heaven by burning incense; visiting a temple/church/impoverished foreign village; memorizing verses; prostrating yourself on a long journey to Lhasa; admiring nature' or any of the other things that some other religions promote as the way to God, then Jesus would have certainly told us to do those easy things and be on our way! If there are lots of ways to God, by all means take the easy route! But he never told us to take the easy route. There is not one. Jesus died as a sacrifice, to pay the price of our salvation. And though he did it willingly, it hurt him deeply. For us to discredit that by looking for an easy way out, or by telling him we found another way to achieve the goal by ourselves, it is an insult to Jesus who deserves so much more from us. Really, why would he bother to die a brutal death (a blood sacrifice) if there is some other way that would reconcile us to God?

God is the one who created heaven, and he gets to make the rules for what it is, who gets in, and how. He decided that the door to heaven is through Jesus. All our deep thoughts and alternative paths that point to anything else amount to foolishness. We humans don't get to make up the rules.

And Easter seems an excellent time to say so.

If anyone wants to know more about how to become a Christian, Romans chapter 10 in the Bible can help you get started. I realize that most people who read my blog already know this information, but, you know, just in case, it seems worth saying.

On a personal note: I have had some crazy stomach bug or food poisoning all weekend, and had to cancel all my numerous weekend activities -- including the Easter ones. Monday morning my time (Easter Sunday evening for those of you in the U.S., around 8 p.m.), I 'll be flying to Japan where I will stay until late Friday. I would appreciate your prayers for the stomach bug to go away, for travel safety (especially on airplanes, but road and rail safety too) and for no earthquakes while I am in Japan this week (They had a relatively small one this past Friday. The whole Pacific Rim of Fire is really active right now with earthquakes popping up every day at one place or another.) I've been through a few earthquakes before, and if I never experience another one, I'm totally okay with that. Thanks so much!

Tokyo

Who knew Japanese people could be so much fun?! Three dogs, all dressed up, are being pushed through the crowded streets of Tokyo in a baby buggy. So cute!

I took this photo in Tokyo in January 2012. Yes, it was winter and they needed clothes to stay warm. :-)

Stepped out of the kingdom for a week...

Sorry for the hiatus, but I was in the land of the rising son for eight days. Yep, I was in Japan. I've been wanting to go there forever, but I knew it was outrageously expensive, so I was waiting for someone to send me there instead. My wish finally came true. I was sent there.

My dad lived in Misawa, Japan for a year back in the 50s and doesn't have fond memories of that cold country. Even though I too went in winter, I found the Japan of 2012 to be rather hot, especially in comparison to China. In Japan everything is heated. Over-heated. Even some toilet seats are heated. That's just over the top. Yet nice.

With Chinese New Year coming up in less than one week, I don't have time to delve into Japan in great detail right now. So I'll just hit upon some highlights.

• It is clean.
• Looks like most things were built 20-30 years ago (yet they are very clean).
• Bathrooms are so clean you could set your purse on the floor and probably not get germs on it. Enough about cleanliness.
• I didn't see much poverty. I saw some homeless men in the parks though.
• It is über-stylish in Japan. 
• In Tokyo, everyone wears black and grey, with textures like tweed and suede, as in business suits and such. It looks awesome. (I wore blue jeans and tennis shoes, and still was in great pain after walking through Tokyo for days on end. I would have liked to have been more stylish, but we have to be practical when we get to a certain age, right?)
• Highways are not landscaped as they are in China. For example, in Shanghai even the overpasses have rows of colorful flowers decorating the sides of them. Tokyo was more austere looking in terms of landscaping.
• Tokyo may be the largest city in the world, but it is not the most crowded. I found the lack of people alarming after being in the over-populated Middle Kingdom for so long.
• Outrageously expensive. A KFC chicken burger cost me US$6 in Tokyo. In China it is only something like $2 for the same thing.
• Excellent Mexican food in Tokyo at El Torito.
• Krispy Kreme is everywhere in Tokyo. The original donut costs $2 each.
• It cost me $6.50 for a tall soy latte at Starbucks in Japan. In China the same thing costs $4.44. In America it is probably way cheaper. 
• The toilets in Japan are all plugged in to electrical outlets (I guess that accounts for heating the seats). They have arms on the side of the toilet with lots of buttons on them, almost none of which are translated into English. One toilet had 23 different buttons to push. I was scared to push any of them, as I was afraid of sounding off an alarm. Then I noticed that one button was translated into English, the flush button. Okay, not another word about bathrooms.
• People in Japan are polite and don't push and shove on public transportation. 
• The level of English in Japan is pretty low compared to other countries like China.
• Japan has snow-capped volcanoes. I woke up one morning in Tokyo and saw Mt. Fuji from my hotel window. It wasn't there the day before. Well, I couldn't see it the day before anyway, due to clouds. I'm pretty sure it was there though.

Well, that's my recap. I was greeted back to the Middle Kingdom by a happy Pekingese who did flips and licked my nose. Life is good.