Tokyo

Well as some of you know we are in Japan right now. Yesterday a group of the guys I work with and I decided to take an adventure to Tokyo and see some sights. Let me just say that it didn't work out quite the way we planned. Now in most of the foreign ports I've been too, it was not that hard to find someone who spoke English. Not the case here in Japan. Either people here don't speak English, or they just didn't want to speak English to us. The first part of our adventure started on the base where we tried to figure out where to go and how much the train would cost. A very helpful Japanese worker here told us that we should go to Ropungi and that the train would cost 1000 yen there and another 1000 on the way back. For those of you who aren't familiar with the current Japanese exchange rate that's about $10 each way. So we walked to the train station where we asked an attendant how to get to Tokyo. Without saying a word he pushed a bunch of buttons on the touchscreen self serve pad and then instructed us to put money in. We than got a ticket for about $7. At this point we are ecstatic because it's cheaper than we expected. Little did we know...

Now my father informed me today that Japan's train system is supposed to be very efficient. I believe him, but I'd like to meet the person who said this because as we soon found out, it took about 4 or 5 trains to get to our destination and more and more money each time. When we finally got to Ropungi, the amazing district in Tokyo we were told about we quickly realized that this was not the tourist part of Tokyo. We tried desperately to find a Japanese restaurant, but were not to comfortable with the cleanliness of the places we found. Somehow we ended up in an Italian restaurant where we ended up paying way to much for a little tiny pizza.

So where am I going with this besides just complaining? While in this wonderful part of the city I experienced something that I would be hard pressed to find in the states. Racism against white people. Not even just white people, but Americans in general. We were not aware that there were certain places that we could not go into, or the signs that meant we were not welcome. For those of you that have never experienced this extremely uncomfortable feeling, I hope that you never do. It is a feeling of anger, disappointment, and for some reason shame. For a moment I thought, "what is wrong with me?" At the moment the anger and embarrassment was what really stood out. But looking back on it a day later, I now feel quilt. Guilt of all the times I've locked my car doors because an African American teenager was walking walking by my car. Guilt from all the times I've been uncomfortable because a Hispanic family was standing too close to me in Walmart and talking in a language that I didn't understand.

My experience in Tokyo was just the next phase of God's teaching me how sinful I really am. I have been lucky enough through a family in our Church and through a few of the guys I work with, to have been exposed to the Mexican culture. And come to find out there was actually a lot to learn. The value that Hispanic people have for their family is something we should all learn from. Or the fact that they will give their friends anything and everything they need, if they think it will help them out. Through this experience and the one I had in Tokyo, I started to doubt how I treated people of other races. I never considered myself a racist, and I still don't. But I am really doubting my following of the number one rule. Love one another. 1 John 3 comes to mind. God commanded me to love everyone. He commanded me to stand out in the crowd by loving everyone. Not to be selfish and hateful, but self-less and loving to all people. God never turned away anyone. Look at his treatment of the Samaritan woman in John 4:4-42. Jesus didn't care that other people might look down on the fact he was talking to her. He shared with her, the same message of salvation that he did with everyone else.

Chances are I'll never feel the racism that I felt in Japan anywhere in America. But it's not a feeling I will ever forget. To be honest, I can't really blame the Japanese people for being apprehensive about Americans. Imagine how you would feel if someone dropped two nuclear bombs in America and than tried to come and visit. Believe me I'm no pacifist, that would kind of make my job pointless, but it kind of makes you stop and think. I'd be interested to find out how some of you feel about this whole thing. Let me know.