A blog about Sunday

We started the day with a Japanese church service, complete with Japanese worship and scripture readings. The sermon, given by Pastor Taizo, focused on how we should learn from the parable about the wedding feast (I believe it's somewhere in Matthew). Basically, the message was that we should be willing to serve in God's kingdom regardless of how it would affect our daily lives. We were able to listen to the sermon with headphones, through which an American missionary translated the sermon into English for us. Taizo's style is similar to Grace's Dave Rod; very blunt and thought-provoking!
I already typed up a bit about the festival, so let me skip to the awe-inducing department store we visited later that day: First of all, the ground floor was one GIANT grocery store. Even compared to American groceries, it was on the large side. Compared to your average Japanese market, this store was a mall all in its own. The whole reason we went to the grocery store is to...well, buy groceries.

But that dosn't mean we did a little exploring.

The next floor was all clothes and hair accessories..and, actually, just hair. It sold wigs that, in the words of Bri, felt "suspiciously real".  0.0
And then, there was the kimono department.
(I wanted to post pictures here, but my computer is still refusing to upload ><)
Anyways, this magnificent little part of Japan was tucked in the back of the store. They had stunning formal kimono, including the elegant furisode. The closest American equivalant I can think of would be a cross between a prom and wedding dress. A girl can go out and buy a furisode to celebrate Adult Day, a special holiday in mid-January that commemorates young people becoming of age. In Japan, you're considered an adult at 20 and can then vote, buy cigarettes, drink, etc. The bright colors, flashy patterns, and loooong dangling sleeves of the furisode traditionally signal that the wearer is a young woman elligable for marriage. Today, they are worn to very formal occasions only. Some women can only rent out a furisode due to their enormous costs. One of the furisdoe I found cost around $1000! Though, I'm still trying to figure out if that's just the kimono itself, or all of its trappings.(Kimono underwear is actually very complex.) We did, in fact, find a 30-piece ensamble being advertised. We tried figuring out just what those 30 pieces could be and only made it to 7.

Obviously I couldn't buy one of these gorgeous outfits, but Bri and I did get to play a little bit of dress up before leaving the store! :D You can see us going native on the BEK Facebook page. 
The third floor of the department store is a giant floor-wide arcade; but that's the only stuff I know about it. We didn't have a chance to go that far up. Maybe later....

I want to blog more, but it's getting late, and we have to be up early tomorrow for our first day of BEK!

Please pray for me and my vocal cords. I'm supposed to lead worship, but my voice is already starting to fail after today's worship boot-camp. I hope it comes back soon :(