New Friends from the USA

Kanto Gakuin has been inviting international exchange students to participate in our campus life for many, many years. One of our oldest partnerships is with Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon--another institution historically related to the American Baptist Churches, USA.

This year, we had 11 students from three different American universities (Linfield, University of Arkansas, and University of Minnesota) come to share the fall semester with us. These students study Japanese, learn about Japanese culture and religion, and get to make friends through a "buddy program."

This is a picture of this year's group, with some of their buddies. Let's pray that they have a great semester, full of new and enriching experiences.

Funny Lucky Charm

This caught my eye in a knick-knack store in Kyoto. It's the shape and size of a traditional o-mamori.

An o-mamori is a small (usually) fabric good luck amulet sold at temples and shrines in Japan. The name of the temple is usually written on one side, and the "wish" written on the other. Sometimes, o-mamori have a piece of paper in the middle for you to write a specific wish on. O-mamori are usually for safety, good luck in business, for passing a test, to ensure love in marriage, etc., and they're often attached to backpacks, cell phones or rear view mirrors.

But this caught my eye. First of all, it was not sold at a temple, but at a knick-knack store. Second it says, "Good luck in Soccer!" and, where the name of the shrine is usually written, it says, "Club Activity Shrine!"

This is obviously not a real shrine--it's just being marketed as a good luck charm by some businesspeople. A little confused by this, I asked one of my students, "Are you offended that this religious item is being copied by businesses so they can make money?" She laughed and said, "Of course not--it's just cool looking."

I thought, "Hmmm... Another good example of the difference between the Japanese notion of Shinto as a 'religion' and the western idea of Christianity as a 'religion.'" Can you imagine going to your neighborhood 7-Eleven and buying a single-serving "Holy Communion packet?" Think about that for a minute!

Beautiful Kyoto!

In early September, the Fellowship group took a three-day trip to Kyoto, the capitol of Japan back in the olden days. Look at this picture! This is the biggest group we've had at a Fellowship summer trip for about 5 years!

We tried something new this year--a suggestion from our dedicated planning team: to take an overnight bus back and forth to Kyoto. Wow--a SEVEN hour drive! Do you think anybody slept on the way down there? If your answer was "yes," you've obviously not worked with college students for a while...

We did the Kyoto thing--going around to get a taste of the rich history of this city, visiting a number of temples, shrines and gardens. But we also had a fun time doing everyday things--riding the buses, chatting in restaurants, relaxing in the public baths at the end of a long day. Lots of friendships were strengthened, a few new ones were made.

For more pictures of our trip, see http://www.davidsonjapan.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=593