Karaoke to the tenth degree

Karaoke, Saki, Friends, and bad voices. It was a great night.

And just incase you were wondering I rocked a solo to Fergalicious 

Tokyo National Museum and

We went the Tokyo National Museum today. I fell in love with the Samurai armor. I tried to out it on and got tackled. Just kidding but if that silly glass wasn't there i definitely would have tried.

Japanese Temples

These are everywhere. They are very beautiful. Oh and you can pay money to use the escalator, we walked.  

The Crossing

 We had our first english service this Sunday and it went extremely well.  I was definitely prepared thanks to Jeff and Katrina making me run through my message with them (over and over).  I heard some good stuff from the people who were able to make it out this time.  We have 3 more to do and I'm looking forward to continuing this conversation.

Night on the town.

We had our fun-nest most touristy day yet.  

Sights we saw things we did

1. Tokyo Tower

Designed just like the Eiffel Tower expect more modern looking and it says Tokyo on it.

2. Zoji Temple

One of the largest Temples in Tokyo, it was intense

3. Imperial Palace 

Think of it as the White House of Japan

4. Sushi Bar

Good sushi better saki

5. English pub in Japan 

There were real Brits in there with real British accents.  

6. Pork Kabob

Not sure what one of the things we ate was. It took about 30 chews just to get it to go down my throat.  It was definitely a local spot though.  There was a line out the door with no other tourists in sight.  We got to eat next to a bunch of people on crates outside.  The table was just big enough to fit our beers and meats. We met some new friends on our adventure this night. Some Tokyo business men.  The guy next to me we dubbed the Japanese Mark Twain.  Very nice guys.  They taught us a new word "kungpai,"  it means "cheers."

Definitely a night to remember, which we do, for the most part. 

Paint Thugs

After 4 days and many many hours of painting we have finally finished.  We spent a lot of our days recently painting a large warehouse for Greatest Gift Ministries, a non-profit that is run through the church.  Since I'm on the topic let me tell you a bit about this unique ministry.  The ministry is modeled after Operation Christmas Child by Samaritans Purse, which builds gift boxes for young boys and girls and sends them to less fortunate kids in other parts of the world.  Darren the founder of the ministry personally delivers the boxes to the countries they are built for.  The difference of his ministry is that his teams are made up of believers and non-believers.  Many missions trips are mostly for Christians but Darren presents a challenge to nonbelievers to go to these places and experience it for themselves.  This is huge for the Japanese nationals that go on these trips.  They do not see extreme poverty every day so it is hardly a real problem to them.  Yet once they see it for themselves it opens their eyes up to the world and it also places them in a very sensitive spiritual state.  Darren has been able to disciple people that have gone on prior trips.  We also got a great opportunity to meet with a couple girls that went on past trips to Cambodia and the Philippines. We had a great conversation about living a life of service. Now back to the painting we did. We did a stinking lot of it. The end.

June Showers

Right when I got out of the shower Jeff notified that the most intense rain my friend has ever seen in Japan was coming down.  I proceeded to look for myself at this monstrous rain.  Jeff was right and an impulse kicked in. I threw off my towel and threw on some shorts and ran outside.  I knocked on Katrina's window and her and Jeff ran out to meet me in the middle of the park.  Rain thunder and lighting poured down around us.  One of the most freeing moments of my life.  Its up there with the night skinny dip (doug Ian you know what I'm talking about).  We were running in the street as cars drove past and awkward stares by the Japanese motorists.  We were next to a business with the door open and noticed the employees laughing  at us.  I motioned to them to join us but they passed on the opportunity.  A few minutes later I saw one of them run out and enjoy the moment.  For some reason I sensed a bit of liberation for him, a small break from a typical Japanese work day.  Today was a great day.

Train-folk

Talk about an awkward sandwich.  There are some moments in life that you just can't pass up.  Take this one for example: Japanese punk on my right, gamer on my left. It was an intense game.  

"Warning"

So i find myself walking by many cautionary signs.  Many like the one you see here.  To me this sign looks like something you definitely want to read.  This concerns me because of the fact that my linguistic understanding of the Japanese language is nonexistent.  I will do my best to go by the pictures.  Lord help me if there are none.

Jui Jitsu.

Jeff and I had our first day of jui jitsu last night.  The entire lesson was taught in Japanese and there was only 1 other American there.  All in all it was a great first session.  We will be training about three times a week while we are here.  This is a high quality dojo.  The national champion trains here, but he is in Brazil right now for the world championships.  Who knows maybe by the end of the trip I'll be the next champ (not likely, but I'm still going to have fun).  

ps. I have never been more sore in my entire life.

workout

I went on my first run today in Japan. It was definitely stimulating.  Every corner there was some thing new to look at for the first time.  Tiredness never crossed my mind.  It was all image.  I'll take my camera next time I go out.  

Oh and in case you were wondering, I wore pink short shorts and a green tank top. haha I'm not sure Japan was ready ready for it, I got some weird looks. 

Time to start my day, I woke up at 4am Japan time and I feel great.

Konnichiwa

One of the easiest flights of my life.  I ate lunch, then read for a bit, then slept, then woke up to eat again, and then slept some more, and then woke up and I was about to land in 30 minutes. Yea it was nice.  I really have to thank God for these great travel genes.  I just switch into hibernation mode whenever I travel.  I'm made for this stuff.  

Tokyo is so amazing. It is such a huge city, keep a look out for new photos once I make it into town.  It's about 12am Tokyo time right now. I had my first meal in Japan, which oddly enough was Indian food.  And dang good Indian food at that.  The owners are from Nepal and they pride themselves for making the best Indian food.  It was quite amazing, I ate four different types of nan (sooo good).  I'm starting to learn some Japanese words.  I tried to ask for more water and failed, but I'll do better next time.  

I will be sleeping in tomorrow and then hitting the town.  I'll try and get some good shots of the district I'm in for ya'll. 

I also made some new friends.  Dieki, Yumi, and Yuki (probably spelt wrong) they live here in Japan and seem really nice.  Yuki likes Lincoln Park, haha.  Im looking forward to getting to know them more. 

stay posted more to come as my adventure continues.