Typhoon Melor

I have now been through earthquakes and typhoons in Japan. Fortunately, none of them have caused any serious damage to me or those in my area. Typhoons are quite common in Japan, typically there are about 5 a year, but this was the first typhoon to come mainland in the last two years. When my mom asked me if people prepared for typhoons in Japan like we prepare for snowstorms in MN I had to agree that was pretty accurate. People made sure they had enough food and supplies at home, went home as early as they could, and listened for school cancelations in the morning.

It had been raining much of the week, but on Wednesday when I returned home the evening they said the typhoon was coming it had stopped and was quite calm. I went to bed and was woken up at 4am by the pounding rain and wind. I got up to go to the bathroom, make sure all my windows and doors were shut securely and went back to bed. When I woke up in the morning the sun was shining brightly and there was no sign of flooding water. It was still very windy though.

As I sat eating my breakfast it looked at though there was a child playing with a light switch dimming the lights up and down, up and down as the clouds swept by with great speed. I knew that the strong winds could cause many train delays so I headed out soon after I ate lunch to get to the Center for my 2pm class. I had checked first to see if we were going to have school, but the principal said that since the weather was fine we should try to come in and teach. For some people, like my VYM director who takes the subway, it was no problem.

But...for me when I reached the station I could tell there was going to be trouble. People were walking around talking on their cell phones saying, "there's no trains, there's no busses, there's no taxis!" . The inside of the station was filled with people talking to train staff about what to do. The train ticket gates were all blocked off and no one was going in. I too talked with a train staff who was directing people to another train line called the Keisei line. They had small maps printed for people with directions on how to walk there. They also had small white paper slips that are common to give to workers for any reason there is a train delay that they can give to their bosses at work as an excuse for their lateness.

I decided I had to take the 25 minute walk to the other station. On my way I snapped a picture with my cell phone of the long line of people waiting for a taxi. Usually the street is filled with taxis waiting for people. It was quite strange to see the bare street in stark contrast. When I arrived at the other station it too was totally packed with people. I had to wait in line to even walk down the stairs to the platform. Then I had to wait for three trains until I could finally get on one. Then from that train I transfered to the subway line and got to the Center. By the time I got there my usual train line was running, but I had no way to know how long it would take! For the JR train company alone there were over 3 million people like me who were delayed in Tokyo.

Most schools were canceled for the day and so many people were unable to get to work so it was a very quiet day. After the typhoon passes the Japanese say it is tyhpoon-ikka which means one typhoon pass. The more full meaning is that after the typhoon passes it sweeps away everything and leaves a clear bright blue sky. It truly was a beautiful day after the typhoon. Usually I am pretty clueless as to when we have a typhoon in Japan, I just think it is a rainstorm until someone tells me otherwise...but this time I couldn't really miss it!

Discover Tokyo Day 2009

Discover Tokyo Day is held every year in October to welcome the new missionaries to Tokyo. It gives them a chance to explore the Japanese culture through eating new foods, visiting new places, and seeing new things with Japanese people who can explain it to them. It is also a great chance for students from different churches and schools to mingle together as we break off into separate groups. This year there were four different groups; I was a green star and the only female. We had a great time. They listened to my suggestion to head out on the last of Tokyo's street cars still in service. There used to be 40 such street cars, but overtime they were replaced with more modern busses, trains or subways. We explored a famous shopping street called "obaachan Harajuku" which means that it resembles the famous shopping street Takeshita Dori in Harajuku. But, unlike Harajuku which is filled with teenagers finding interesting fashion items, this area is for older people. Some of the highlights were a red underwear store, senbei stands (Japanese rice crackers), a place you can buy keychains with your name written on it, a tatami store, and some old fashioned hat shops.

After wandering there and eating lunch we went to an old amusement park which is perfect for families with young children. It was fun for us too though. There was a small zoo, many rides, and a fishing pond. We chose to ride the ferris wheel and get a view of Tokyo from the sky. Then we headed back the direction we came and got off at a different stop along the street car to see a park famous for it's many cherry trees which blossom in the spring. It also had some waterfalls and a fountain.

It was strange this year to be familiar with basically all of the Japanese foods we sampled including daifuku, nori sembei, baby castella, and soba noodles. I have truly experienced soo much since coming to Tokyo two years ago. I still love going out though with the new missionaries to look with eyes that are new to everything for the first time. I took many pictures for the scavenger hunt of traditional Japanese things I wouldn't think to take pictures of anymore but which are really quite interesting and nice to have pictures of. I hope you enjoy looking at them!