We're Here

Hello! We have arrived safe and sound in Japan, and have spent the last two days learning a bit more about the culture, mainly by just jumping in. First, let's introduce the team.

Gary Cool (31); Finance minister, co-leader
Eva Cool (25); Team leader
Heather Morrissey (27); Team pastor
Alyssa King (20); Team reporter
Rebecca King (17); Food co-ordinator
Judson Rempel (18); Team photographer


The flight to Japan was long. We woke up at 6am to drive to Winnipeg and get on the plane by 11am. We flew to Minneapolis, spent 3 hours in the airport, then boarded the biggest plane I've ever seen for our flight to Tokyo. I was in the 54th row, and I was sitting right on top of the wing. There was a staircase up to first class - they were sitting on the level above us. A two story plane? I didn't even know that was possible. We were on a Boeing 747-400 if that means anything to you. Then we spent 3 hours in Tokyo's Narita airport (there are two airports in tokyo). It was beautiful and clean, colourful and the people all looked so polished - crisp uniforms and they all match. the security people even had white gloves.
Then we flew another 2 hours to Nagoya, and customs was interesting. They have cameras to check body temperature and a health quarantine for people they think may be sick.
The missionaries and some pastors and families from the churches we will be going to met us at the airport. We then drove another 1 and a half hours to Toyota. The roads here are very cool. There are walls on either side of the highways to block the sound because there are houses right beside the highway. The roads are spotless - they are completely smooth - no bumps or potholes - they all look like they were paved yesterday. And the highways are all toll roads, you need to pay to use them. It's very cool.
Everything is different here - even the bathrooms. You know you're in Japan when you have to stop to figure out the toilet. There are 5 different buttons. And the sink is on top of the tank, you don't use soap (you wash with water then use hand sanitizer), and the water you use to wash your hands fills the tank for the next time you flush.
And the toilet is in it's own room. The shower is in another room completely, which was also a very interesting experience.

We sat in a Japanese church service today, and some of us gave our testimonies. We had curry for lunch and it was delicious!

Sunday night all the youth from the area are invited to a okonomiyaki party (cabbage pancake and noodles - an Osaka specialty).
Today for lunch we had Mabodofu, a rice dish with beef and tofu, which made Eva sick :(
Everyone on our team seems to be doing fine, but we're still getting over our jet lag! We're having a lot of fun so far :)