Because of some things that I’m dealing with on a personal spiritual level, I’m going to take a fast from the internet for the next 5 or 6 weeks.  So, that means I will not be posting anything new for some time.  Please continue to pray for me as I strive toward becoming the man God wants me to be.  Pray for my team, that we can develop a radical, Christ centered community within ourselves, and pray for the people of Japan and that they might come to know the wonderful grace that is only found in Jesus Christ.

Last night, here in Okazaki, there was an incredible thunder storm that dumped rain all night long.  Many of you know what happens when heavy rain goes on for that amount of time, flooding!  I just heard from a Japanese friend that 140,000 homes in Okazaki were told to evacuate.  One elderly lady even passed away.  I found a brief English news article.  Please pray for the people living in Aichi ken.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T327143.htm

There is no doubt that you have heard of Mt Fuji ( 富士山).  Its a world famous icon.  Fuji san (as many Japanese people call it) is on all kinds of products and is the stereotypical image of Japan.  Earlier this month, Andy, a bunch of Yamasa students, and I climbed Mt Fuji.  It was incredible.  We started climbing at 8pm and got to the top in time to see the sunrise.  It was a great experience and I was very glad I had the opportunity to do it.  I have plenty of pictures for you to look at.  Plus, here’s a link with information about Mt Fuji.

This weekend in Nagoya was the World Cosplay Summit.  I’m not totally sure what this means, I only really know that there were tons of people, from all over the world, dressed up as different Anime characters.  Click on this link to learn more about Cosplay.

I met up with Nick Parsons and his father-in-law Scott Greer.  We heading to Osu-Kannon station in Nagoya for this event.  When we got there were also learned there was a traditional festival going on at the same time.  Actually that festival was almost more of a big deal then the parade we came for.  Remember, I just said almost.  There Parade was interesting.  A bus pulled up with all the different characters that were participating in a tournament over the weekend. We saw all kinds of interesting people dressed up in some weird outfits.  Most notable were one guy dressed up in a maid outfit passing out flyers for a capsule hotel.  Another guy looked like Japan’s version of Napoleon Dynamite dress up in a Strawberry Shortcake outfit.  The second guy was really creepy.  So creepy that no one wanted a picture with him or even talked to him.  That’s saying something considering the environment we were in.  Below are a variety of pictures I took.  Some are of the traditional festival.  we showed up in time to catch some people playing some music and that was cool.  If you’re every in Nagoya, Japan make sure you go to Osu Kannon because its a cool little area.

I must apologize for my lack of blog posts lately. It’s not like there hasn’t been anything going on, it’s just mainly been the same kind of stuff over and over. Get up, go to school, do homework, eat, go to bed, maybe have a meeting here and there, etc.

So, this blog post has to do with two things. 1) a good use for the massive amounts of small change that you collect while living in Japan. 2) the popularity of Crocs in Japan.

Small Change

In Japan, a 100 yen coin basically equals 1 US Dollar.  So, that means in Japan you have coins for the US dollar equivalent of a 1 Dollar bill and a 5 Dollar bill.  The smallest bill you get in Japan is a 1,000 Yen bill.  That is roughly 10 US dollars.  What this means is that your pocket is constantly full of komakai okane (small change).  So, the Yen coins are 500, 100, 50, 10, 5, and 1 Yen coins.  I use the 500, 100, and 50 Yen coins all the time.  The 10’s, 5’s, and 1’s are used a little less.  10 Yen coins are great for vending machines (which are on every block here in Japan).  5 and 1 yen coins are practically useless because vending machines dont take them.  With that being said, you can really stack up a pile of small change.  Well, Andy and I figured out how to use our 10 Yen coins.  There are 3 vending machines a block away from our apartment with a wide variety of tasty drinks.  One night we decided to take all the 10 Yen coins in our apartment and buy drinks from the vending machines.  When it was all said and done, we bought 51 drinks!  All drinks cost at least 100 Yen and most were 150 Yen.  The pictures below show all the change we had and how many drinks we bought.

Rubber Shoes

For all of you that wear Crocs, hear me out.  I’m not trying to hate on you.  I have owned a pair of Crocs in the past.  They were comfortable and convenient to just throw on real quick.  I remember Crocs being popular by the beach and in Hospitals and on the AVP tour (pro beach volleyball).  Here in Japan, well at least Okazaki, Crocs are incredibly popular.  I have been amazed by how many people over here wear them!  I was at the mall with Mike one day studying at Starbucks for about 2 hours.  During that time, I saw 64 people come and go that were wearing Crocs.  What I remember in the states was that people would wear Crocs when they were in a really relaxed mood, heading out real quick, going to the beach, or something like that.  Here you’ll see girls all dressed up like crazy and then they’ll be wearing matching Crocs with a little bit of bling on them.  I’m not trying to make fun of it.  I’m just saying that its really interesting some of the differences here in Japan.  I guess in order to fit in I need to by some Crocs.  Mom, if my Crocs are still at home, can you send them please?

This is a video I found on YouTube that interviews a man who frequents hostess clubs in Tokyo, Japan. A hostess club is a bar where you pay a woman to come sit with you and pour your drinks and basically hang out with you for the night. It’s not a prostitution thing and they’re not strippers (but they do wear skimpy outfits). The Japanese guy in this video gets very honest with his reasons for going to the hostess club. I think this is some good insight into a part of the culture of Japan.

Here are a few more videos from the program we use at Yamasa. I love this stuff! it cracks me up. By the way, Mike Ackerman and I saw one of the characters this past weekend. We saw Mike Miller in Nagoya. In the videos, Mike Miller is the white American.

Yes, I honestly believe that people every where need Jesus. A fellow missionary sent me a link to an article that gives just one reason why I think people here in Japan should hear about Jesus and have an opportunity to make a decision to follow Him. Here’s the link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4170649.ece

In May we had a Golden Week BBQ with our Japanese friends. This month we had and American style BBQ. I don’t mean to brag, but it was a big hit! There were 27 people. 10 Americans (including the Defazio’s) and 17 Japanese people. Since it was American style we grilled up some burgers. I don’t think I have ever made that many hamburger patties for one event. I lost count of how many burgers we actually made, but all of them we gone! I made the patties, Andy grilled them, Caitlin cut the veggies and made Pasta salad. Kacie brought race themed plates and napkins from the States and a veggie tray (with homemade dip). Erin made up some potato salad. Reina and her friends brought the grills and helped make it happen. It was a great day and the stress of getting it all together paid off. Thanks to everyone that helped. Thanks to Andy for taking pictures.

At Yamasa, they have us watch videos from time to time so that we can get a feel for some situations in life when we might use what we have been taught. These videos are really old and kind of cheesy. Jay found them on YouTube and I thought it would be fun to post them. That way you can all get a little taste of what our language school program is like.