Day 6

Prayer Request: That we would see the majesty of God and the wonders of Christ through all of creation.

Today we headed out to rural Japan (Specifically, Karuizawa, and after about 3 days we will go to Matsumoto). We woke up at TEAM Center, packed for our trip, met up with our guide, Kelly, and headed out on a Shinkansen (the “bullet train” able to go 200mph). Our group was able to get seats next to each other on the train, even though we weren’t able to get reserved tickets, and we still had some extra space for our luggage. Leaving Tokyo we were able to see the city suddenly end and rice fields just start popping up. When we got to the train station we picked up a nice little bento (Japanese style packed lunch) and drove to our lodgings with the missionary managers of the lodgings, Larry and Carolyn.

Kamameshi Bento

The place we are staying at, KRC (Karuizawa Retreat Center), is owned by TEAM and used to be the Tokugawa Shogunate hunting grounds (we found this very ironic as that shogunate hunted and killed many Christians, and now their hunting grounds are owned by a Christian organization).

Tokugawa Shogunate Land Marker

NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai or Japanese Broadcasting Corporation) did a special on Karuizawa, and even included the local missionaries. Check out the video for more information on Karuizawa. The story about KRC starts around 8:06.

After we arrived at the retreat center and got settled in, we had a meeting to discuss the itinerary. Then we all got in K-cars (tiny little cars with tiny little engines), went shopping for food for the next 3 days, and dropped our food off in our cabin. We met up with our group, and another missionary currently residing in the camp, to see Sunset Point where, if it was a very clear day, you could see Mt. Fuji. Although we could not see Mt. Fuji, we were able to see some of the mountains around here, including Mt. Asama (which we will get to a little bit more on day 8).

Mt. Asama

From there we saw a statue of an Indian writer and went down a nearby path to see an old Japanese graveyard.

Shinto Graves Dating Back to the 1800s

We walked back onto the main road and found a Shinto shrine that had a really old, hollow tree.

Can you see the heart?

The Shinshoku at the shrine (the literal translation of this word is “god’s employee”, and refers to the men who keep the Shinto rituals and maintain the shrine) happened to attend some of the English classes that the other missionary we brought, had taught. He became a Shinshoku because his uncle’s father-in-law is the heir and head priest to the shrine, and only has a daughter who does not have any children. This means the responsibility of maintaining the shrine would be inherited by his uncle’s family, and they decided that this nephew would be the one to take over the shrine. On our way back, we stopped by a spring-fed Wasabi farm near the shrine, and Rett had some fun figuring out how the spring-fed pools worked.

Pools That Feed Into the Wasabi

When we returned to our cabins, the KRC managers had some barbecue chicken and other food for us. We got to talk about how things were doing around the center and the potential that was here. After a long day, we finally headed to bed.

Some Karuizawa & KRC History:

Karuizawa is a resort town founded by Canadian missionary Alexander Shaw in the summer of 1886. It has a rich history of missionaries who came to get away from the heat and have rest and be encouraged in their mission work. The town quickly became prestigious when the current emperor wooed his wife here, and now Kauizawa is seen as a luxurious resort area. The town has a lot of European influence from famous architects (Vories), writers, and musicians (John Lennon, who attended church here after meeting with the KRC missionaries). And, it also gained fame as the location of the emperor’s hide-out during WWII and when it hosted the curling events in the Winter Olympics.

Although a lot of the surrounding areas have luxurious summer homes and expensive European hotels/shops, the KRC cabins were originally built by individual missionaries before TEAM bought them, and are in great need of repair. They have renovated many of the cabins (some had to be entirely rebuilt), but do not have enough funding for all of them at this time. The location itself, however, is great for missions, both as a contact point and through the historic churches in Karuizawa (The Shaw Memorial Church; Union Church; and the St. Paul Catholic Church – more on those tomorrow).

Mountain Range Visible from Sunset Point