Japanese put a lot of care into the names they pick for children.  Matt has seen friends spend hours poring over prospective names, considering the possible meanings, and for many, the possible fortunes attached to these names.  Matt and Misty have a close friend who feels that her name has been adversely affected because she [...]

Currently our family is on stateside assignment in America after a nearly four-year-long first term.  Our first term was largely spent learning the Japanese language and culture and sharing Christ with Japanese we met along the way.  Two years into our first term we met Chi-san.  Chi-san and her husband visited our home at various times [...]

Respect-for-the-Aged Day is observed annually in September.  While the Japanese worship of deceased relatives is essentially idolatry, their respect for all aged living relatives and neighbors has its origins elsewhere and is generally a commendable custom.  Japan has a very layered social structure which is reflected linguistically as well.  Depending on the age or position [...]

Utsunomiya is a beautiful city. Some days we go out and walk through our city and pray for the people to be saved. Recently as we were walking along the river that runs through our city and we noticed several very big carp, at least two feet long, swimming up stream.  Sometimes we feel like [...]

Recently B and P (ISC workers) decided to add to their strategy for helping Miss M go deeper with scripture. They were studying the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert. There are three clear statements made by Jesus in that narrative. They are important concepts in understanding who God is. “Man does not [...]

The other day we were driving through the countryside outside the city and noticed that the farmers have begun to harvest their rice.  After the harvesting comes the burning of the chaff left in the rice paddies.  As I watched the smoke rise from several rice paddies our city, Utsunomiya, I thought of John the [...]