Two New Photo Folders: 'Grapes' and 'Rice'

It's harvest time in our valley in the Japanese Alps. When the sun is shining on the grapevines below, the smell of ripening grapes comes even up to my third floor bedroom.

And when riding our bikes though the local fields, it's overpowering-- with the golden fields of ripening rice set against the green mountains having the same effect on our eyes.

I've captured these images all summer with my cell phone camera, fixed 'em up a bit, and posted them on Picasa where you can view them-- two albums, Grapes and Rice. I've added details about our area and how, while cycling, we've watched the cycling of the seasons. Enjoy!

Blogging 101: Chapter One-- Learning... Where It's 'Not'

I was asked by several people how I made this blog, so we travel back to when the saga began...

I started when I wanted a website to communicate with my family and friends and for our mission project. I'd made a simple website years ago and learned a bit of computer code to do it, but I'd forgotten most of it. So I prepared for what looked like a long arduous journey by amassing a slew of links in my browser on website creation, and a huge folder on my computer of articles, DIY books, and software. I read. I browsed the Web. I downloaded. I asked experts.

A mentor told me that using programs like Microsoft FrontPage would make a 'bloated, useless' site, so I started learning HTML and CSS (if you don't know, don't ask...) and how to use creation and editing and FTP programs (again, please don't ask). I installed software and started to learn to build a site 'from the ground up'-- and created several versions of my envisioned website.

It was all very good and I still want to do all that some day (don't ask when), but after some time (don't ask how long) I decided to just put something up-- anything. That's when I decided to look into those weird sounding 'blog' things.

I'd become a bit tired of slogging through HTMP, CSS and FTP terminology, so learning yet more made me hesitate, but I was surprised at how simple it was.

Next post: I finally try those 'blog' things

Blogging 101: Chapter Two-- Those Weird 'Blog' Thingies

Breakthrough-- After struggling for a long time to learn all the ins and outs of building, securing, uploading and maintaining my own site, I decided to look into blogging. I read a couple reviews and jumped in. I was surprised to have, not just one, but one blog on Blogger and one on Wordpress-- in less than an hour.

And they looked good. I realized-- duh!- blogs are just websites dedicated to automatically doing what I wanted to do-- to write on line.

I was doubtful. How could anything so easy be good?

I dove into Blogger.com first-- mainly because I'd recently begun using Gmail and liked it-- as well as Google's Picasa for editing and posting my photos on line. They are all part of Google, so I didn't even have to register-- just sign in.

I checked the list of templates, found one that I liked, previewed it and pressed 'save'-- simple, automatic. Next, I found that posting (writing an entry) was as easy as writing an email-- including adding photos and links-- it looked good. Finally I explored the tabbed 'dashboard' control center, and found it easy to understand. And for whatever I couldn't understand, I was able to locate plenty of help pages- including step-by-step tutorials.

Besides changing the template, fonts or colors, 'elements' can be added to customize the page. For example, I added a way for folks to get my updates by email (The small text link that I have on the left of my blog) and a link to allow folks to get my newest updates via a 'feed' to their, in my case, Yahoo home page or news reader (icon at left).

At last I had a fully functioning site and shared it with friends-- who promptly asked me to tell them how...

Next blog: Some Tips to get started

Blogging 101: Chapter Three-- Ready, Set, Blog

Before you go to the site you have chosen-- for example, Blogger, which I described in the previous post, I suggest that you decide on your blog's name and a short line or 'blurb', describing your blog's purpose. Perhaps you should decide and even write something for your profile-- should you want to have one-- about yourself, your family or your group.

You should also decide how much personal information you want to post, remembering that what you write could be used to find out more personal information. See blogs and privacy.
Also, when you set it up the site, you can determine who can view it, or even password protect it.

You might want to think what digital photos you may use-- as part of your profile or your first posts-- and put them in a 'for my blog' folder. You can even add links to your online photo albums to any photo or story you post . (Like this)

Now, jump in and your blog should be ready to start filling with your news and links in minutes.

To keep people coming to your online journal-- which is the idea, right?-- post as often as possible, and keep the posts small-- bite sized-- and don't forget to spell-check-- that's built in also.

[note: BTW- Please point out any errors on my blog in 'comments' ; )Thanks!]

Now I want to go back to the Wordpress Blog that I started. I have another project that I think would fit better on Wordpress, as they offer website-like pages in addition to the standard blogging format. I'll tell you how it goes and give you a link when it's ready! Happy blogging!

Pressure, Boredom, Fear Prompt ‘Refusers’

“Educators are wary about acknowledging this growing phenomenon”... “When school refusers turn 15, principals normally award them graduation certificates regardless of whether they complete their studies. And once children have fallen off the traditional education path, they are left to navigate new territory in the job world”... “That's if they can work at all. Education professor Katsuyuki Hiroki said many refusers become reclusive as adults and can't leave their bedrooms. Hiroki said 1 million adults suffer from this affliction...”

Excerpts from an article By Jessi Hempel writing from Japan for the San Jose Mercury News

Japanese “Refusers” a Major Issue- by Bruce

A couple of months ago, unexpectedly, an office worker asked me to lunch at her cafeteria. I hardly knew this person, yet soon she was pouring out her heart about her personal life and difficulties.

She first, confidently, told of her many accomplishments at work and of her plans for the future. She then explained that some areas of her personal life had become dysfunctional-- and some of her dissatisfactions and disappointments.

Finally, her greatest frustration-- Her teenage son had become alienated at school and had refused to return. An apparently bright boy, he'd become frustrated, sullen-- hardly leaving his room and, when he did, arguing with his mother.

'What should I do? He's a good boy, smart, but he refuses to try to go back to school.'

After acknowledging how difficult it can be to communicate with teenagers, I sympathized with her son who, like many thousands of other Japanese students, have dropped out due to the school and social pressures.

I asked about her son's interests and abilities, then suggested she give him love, acceptance and encouragement to excel-- perhaps in some area in which he feels capable-- offering a way to gain confidence in himself and for his future. I encouraged her to relax more, to not try so hard-- to make him feel accepted.

Later, I visited again to take an article on love, forgiveness, bitterness, life's trials and others. These were what she was most excited about on my most recent visit.

'Those helped me so much', she said happily, 'And my son-- I encouraged him and he's responded so much. He apologized for how he's been talking to me and things are going so much better now. May we go to your home to meet your family?'

Since this encouraging development, I feel motivated to support efforts to develop and present material-- drama and songs, for example--that will address common school problems-- like bullying-- and to develop positive attitudes like acceptance and concern for the weak and those in need-- needed counter balances in a world often focused on personal success and measured by personal power and possessions.

That's Naomi with our 'in-house' drummer and expectant daddy, Tomo-- his wife, Mandy, is due to have their first next month

Wedding in the Park

Angela, the beautiful bride in the photo at left, asked me,

“Would you stand in for my father at my wedding?”

I was honored. I knew Bruce Storm as a friend and missionary co-worker until he passed away 12 years ago at only 42 years-old-- when cancer interrupted his preparations for a mission to Vietnam.

The bride and groom, Kebo and Angela, met in Thailand where Kebo had gone from Japan as a volunteer following the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Angela was already serving there as a missionary.

During the ceremony, Kebo and Angela exchanged vows of love and commitment to each other-- as well as confirming their desire to continue to dedicate their lives to Jesus in service to Him and others.

The simple outdoor ceremony in a large mountaintop park included our Alps Missionary community, Kebo's Japanese family-- including his missionary parents and friends.

Congratulations!

Tokyo Trip and Record Heat

Here are some photos with detailed captions from my five-day visit to Tokyo-- just click on the photos.

We spent a lot of the time escaping the heat-- yet I chose the hottest day (40.9C/105.6F-- and humid!) -- a record for that location-- for a afternoon sight-seeing adventure with Andrew.

Naomi is staying on for a couple more weeks to do some shows and adding her vocals to some more recordings. She already recorded for an ad company, but we're most excited by a chance she may have to contribute to a CD being created with original Christian music in Japanese.

An update to the above: I've since learned that 40.9C/105.6F was not a local record , but a new national highest temperature ever-- breaking one set in 1933. Two locations share the new record-- one where we were and the other in Gifu prefecture.

I also learned that on the street-- and my feet confirmed this-- it was 43C/ 109.4F. This isn't that high where it's relatively dry, but with high humidity it was cooking!

Visit Endtime News on the Family International site for more on how current events portend the future.

Gondola to an Alpine Meadow and Hike to a Peak

We survived, as you can see, our one day camping trip. Andrew and I along with his friend Lena and her mom, Lelani, drove into the mountains, camped the night and left early (the kids made sure of that) to climb one of the- thankfully not too high-- mountains that form a chain of peaks know as Yatsugatake, with Akadake (2,899 meters above sea level) as the main peak.

Our peak, Kitayokodake, was 2,480 meters (8,136 ft). We had very good weather and the black flies from our campsite had left enough flesh on our legs to make it up and down.

The views, plants, butterflies, and mountain panoramas were beautiful! I'm posting the pictures so that, after everyone forgets how their legs felt at the bottom, we can look at them and plan another trip.

A further note on the black flies mentioned above:

I was used to 'No-see-ums' in North America, but these had a more painful bite and caused swelling and bleeding, even if we didn't scratch.

So I wasn't overly surprised to see this article in the news today:

A plague of black flies has prompted authorities in Spain to issue warnings to cover up and avoid riverside areas in the early morning and dusk. The fly is only two to three millimeters long-- much smaller and harder to spot than most mosquitoes-- but its voracious blood-sucking bite sent more than 2,000 people to hospital last year in just one area of Spain. In Switzerland an attacking swarm reportedly killed a calf.

(taken from a report by Dale Fuchs, The Guardian)

Obon? I wondered too.

Obon-- August 13th to 16th-- is when, along with New Year's Day, the extended family gathers. Obon is a kind of spiritual family reunion or memorial day in Japan.

Although not a national holiday, most employees have it off, and some people manage a week or ten days. This is also school summer holidays, so everything-- from transportation to holiday areas-- is packed.

Obon is observed somewhat differently from family to family and area to area-- fireworks, boat parades, lantern floats-- but some things are consistent. You can count on seeing at least some men and women out in yukatas (colorful cotton summer version of the kimono) who are themselves out to view fireworks, a parade or traditional drumming, to participate in traditional dancing or to visit a festivals, temple or family gravesite.

In 2004, my family was invited to a bon odori (bon dance) [photos]

It is usually held in a park or schoolyard in the evening, when it is cooler. Neighbors gather and share refreshments before the bon odori.

The neighborhood ladies practiced the dances in the weeks leading up to Obon, but they encouraged everyone to join in and follow the simple steps and motions as they moved in a wide ring to the beat of a drum and recorded odori music. Hand gestures, including a fan, show actions or forms such as harvesting rice, a river, a boat, a butterfly or a flower.

I started taking pictures with my PDA (hence the low quality-- sorry) but I was quickly herded into the circle by a couple of ladies... it was fun!

The main activity of Obon is to pay respect to your ancestors-- usually by visiting the family tomb, or at home altars or temples. The opening observances can include lighting lanterns, firecrackers or fireworks or presenting decorative offerings of food.

In Nagano, birch bark is commonly burnt-- 'Mukaebi' meaning, 'welcoming fire'. Then, at the end of Obon, when the visiting spirits return, birch bark is again burnt -- this is 'Okuribi' meaning, 'send off fire'.

Another well-known end for Obon is the placing of floating lanterns into rivers, lakes or the sea to guide the spirits back into their world.

Holiday Hitching Japanese Style

Andrew (10) and I took advantage of our being free from school for about three weeks to visit our friends in Fukuoka (see pics here). We used our (now) tried and proven method of travel- hitchhiking at toll-road service areas with signs.

The 'thumb' method isn't really understood by Japanese motorists, but by positioning ourselves near the restaurants and restrooms with signs explaining what we're doing and where we're going, we get plenty of interest -- especially as 外国人 geijin (outside country people). A few folks picked us up for free English lessons, but most seemed to be motivated by a blend of various degrees of curiosity and kindness.

We had beautiful weather nearly the entire week that we were gone-- though we had to wait out the typhoon that grazed Fukuoka the night before we left to come back. Even a late night wait on the way down meant I could put my feet up and enjoy the full moon while Andrew dozed beside me.

A big THANK YOU to all the folks we met along the way and to the families with whom we stayed and played-- the Fukuoka Firecracker Home and Crystal and family-- also Funatsu-san, Aiko, Pamela, and their families-- Claudia, Megumi, and others . We love and miss you (that's why we visited!) and will look forward to seeing you again.