I Love Japan!

I love Japan! It is one of the most beautiful, interesting, and enjoyable countries I have ever stayed in. All the food is incredible, from the cheapest frozen convenience store food to the outlandishly high standards of Kobe beef or fruit for over $100 a piece. The people are so kind and helpful. It's almost hilarious when we have asked for directions and even if they don't speak any English, they will keep talking to us slower in Japanese and pointing and eventually walking with us until we find the place, even if it's out of their way.

It's also wildly expensive if you're not careful. We thought we were being really frugal, but when we added the totals from two and a half days it was really surprising. However, we decided to take it as a creative constraint and an opportunity to innovate our lifestyle to use new ways to live simply and more adventurously. We might try hitchhiking to Tokyo from Osaka, possibly buying sturdy but inexpensive bikes on Craigslist and using them for transportation around Tokyo and maybe all the way to Sendai! Possibly do some urban camping too. It's an exciting situation when circumstances give you an opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and live a little more adventurously than usual.

One thing Japan has taught me is the simple beauty of enjoyment. They have the second highest life expectancy of any nation on earth and it's not hard to see why. Everywhere we go we often see people simply sitting and enjoying nature. So many of the sites have a real meditative quality to them. I'm often surprised at how quiet it is, even in a crowd of people. They eat the freshest foods, and love to walk and bike everywhere. The balance is also shifted the other way by how many people love to smoke and how high their suicide rate is, so it goes to show that the healthy aspects of their culture would be even higher if it wasn't for those two things. But as I've been here I've realized how hectic my life has been for a long time. I've often kept a good sense of the peace of God and an awareness of His presence in my life, but I long for so much more.

I know this is becoming almost cliché in our culture, but I do just want to simplify, get rid of all that is extra and unneeded and live for what's most important. People are so beautiful and worthy of being loved well. Music, stories and laughter are some of my favourite things. I also love to learn and have adventures. My favourite thing in the world is if I can help people encounter the love and kindness of God! Somehow my life can get filled up with all sorts of other things besides that, and I'm realizing it might be the time to become more intentional about getting back to the basics. Anyways, haha before this post turns into a novel I better end, but that is a little of where we are at now. Thankful for the present and excited for the future.

- David Hepting