Loving the nations: Loving Japan

It’s been more than a month since I last wrote. It’s been a harrowing month, right down to last week when I was supposed to be on holiday in the beautiful hot spring area around Nagoya, and fell ill from over-extending myself in the lead up to this conference-cum-personal retreat trip.

Japan is a beautiful place to go to for reflection. The last time I was there was more than 30 years ago, and that was to Tokyo on business. This time it was to Nagoya, and this trip left a deep impression on me, for the way of life of the Japanese people, starting with the taxi driver who took us from Nagoya Station to the hotel. We were told all the drivers would know Hotel Nagoya Kanko, just a short drive from this main interchange. But our driver was befuddled and had to make a few calls before he could connect that what we wanted was Kanko, not Kenko, the way my co-traveller had pronounced it. And for all his lack of English, he could laugh heartily and tell us to pronounce it the way it should be, and not as in kangaroo!

Our experiences with the people throughout our one week sojourn were all pleasant – not one nasty one in sight. All perfectly civil, service-minded, I would say almost with a ervant mindset, and so clean in their ways. Indeed, I found myself picking up after me in our hotel room the way I never do at home – such is the influence of good, clean surroundings.

3 people I met, who still remained strangers after my brief encounter with them, caused me to begin to feel a bit of the profound love that the Lord has for the Japanese people as I looked on their faces. 2 of them were senior (as in elderly) volunteers at Seto city, a small prefecture outside Nagoya in Aichi province which had hosted the World Expo in 2005, and one had just joined them few months back. Each of them had character on their faces, and they were just beautiful, each in their own unique way, proudly wearing their volunteer uniform and cap.

And then there was the elderly lady who served us our kaiseki dinner in our room at Gero. That night she was in her kimono. Next morning she was back to remove our futon and serve us our breakfast in her western-styled uniform replete with apron and all, with her hair in pigtails tied with tiny red ribbons. Absolutely adorable!

I do not understand why my heart goes out to the Japanese people when our ancestors in Sing/Mal suffered so much at their hands during the Japanese occupation from their torturous ways. Perhaps because they have turned pacifist, and have learned how to bring joy and delight to others. I am particularly struck too by how they have maintained their cultured ways through it all. Our host at dinner one night at a dofu restaurant showed us how fast we Chinese gobble down our food in stark contrast to him who took time to savour the courses in between sips of his sake. Next night, another of our hosts amplified on that when he said that the Japanese “eat with their eyes” which means they take time to take in the artfully presented food items laid out before them before they start eating. It causes you to slow down your meal, and in the process, your pace of life. That’s good for the soul.

So between what the Japanese lifestyle can teach us in terms of civic-mindedness (you should see the way they go about recycling), cleanliness, service to others, an ability to laugh at incidents, slowing down to enjoy the pleasures of life, appreciating various art forms (witness their gardens), and the charm of their people itself, hubby and I have decided that Japan is a place we want to return to again and again.

But beyond sheer enjoyment for ourselves, I wonder what it takes to share with them the deep love that Christ has for them as a people, that love I so shallowly and fleetingly felt as I looked on at the 3 volunteers, amongst others. Is it a sign that the labour of all the missionaries and warriors who have been called to pray for Japan all these decades is beginning to bear fruit that today’s newspapers reported about Buddhism trying to make itself trendy through a fashion show on contemporary monk robes because the leaders there felt that they were losing their grip on the population?

God loves Japan, this much I know,  with a deep abiding love.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19)