Isaac Knopp

Ginza really is at the heart of Tokyo and in many ways the heart of Japan.  Lying right next to what used to be the main center of business, commerce and exchange; it was the entertainment district with the world famous kabuki theatre where Japanese traditional plays are still preformed.  It is largely the same as it was back then.  Recently, the area around Tokyo Station is under reconstruction. The reconstruction of Tokyo station is iconic of the cities desire to forge an area defined by historical and modern life. If you were to follow a businessman around you would find that he still nightly crosses the train line to find high fine dining, entertainment and shopping in the Ginza area.

the line was around the block for the Ipad release

          Last week I took a look around Ginza before going to Tokyo Grace City Church and was amazed at how lively it was. These pictures do not capture the bustle of the streets. The main streets are closed to traffic on Sundays.

 I admit after having lived in Japan for this long I am rarely am deeply and genuinely surprised in daily life. But after having this experience I could not help but think that I wanted to tell everyone about this significant area. Clearly if we have a longing to see God`s Kingdom go forward in Japan this area needs to be in the forefront of our minds.

The last English Bible class was surprisingly normal. But I guess this is really the strength of it. Teaching this class for the last almost two years has been a great blessing. I have learned so much about Japanese culture and predominate ways of thinking. It has also been fun and taught me a lot about doing evangelistic Bible Studies.

              My students are very gracious and eager to learn. One of the so clearly broke the stereotype that is sometime associated with non-believers by coming to only the bible time. He would skip the class and just join for the bible time.

              After the Class we all went out to lunch together at a wonderful Italian restaurant. It was very suave. Most of my students fit into the have money category. They paid for my meal and treated me to a great lunch. As is always the case the teacher learns more than the students. Since I really poured my heart into it too, finishing the class was really significant for me. Looking back over it God really blessed me a lot and helped me out through many things and in many ways.

Japan really is beautiful! This years sakura(cherry blossoms) really proved that fact. The smell of sakura which is a soft sweet smell was drifting on the current of the air throughout my entire area. I took a walk and did an ethnographic survey with my camera. I took pictures of everyone who was out. People of every age were out. Family brought their grandparents in wheelchairs out to view the fresh blossoms.

Young kids were a common feature. But the most distinctive thing was definitely the atmosphere of levity. Instead, of the heavy hustle and bustle of daily life; I ran into a man who had taken the day off to spend time with his family. Everyone seemed to be enjoying these few moments of freedom to themselves.

God is building his church

We were all surprised and delighted that we are running out of room in our chapel. This is a wonderful problem to have! Our church is a multisite church. The location that I am at has grown incredibly rapidly. Last sunday after I finished teaching sunday school I walked into the worship room to find no chairs at all. There was only standing room. There was around 100 people at the worship service. There are also a lot of healthy signs; good fellowship growing relationships; open repentance of sin; and around a 20% non-Christian worship attendance each sunday! Praise God!

I had the great opportunity to speak at a elementary school in the neighboring area. This was great because we have a Church plant that we Just started in that area around a year ago. I was able to speak in front of 600 students in Japanese. Yes, I did get nervious! But the Lord really helped me through it. I was by far the most loved of the vistors that day. after we did our presentation in front of the group we went to individual class rooms. I was mobbed the entire way by second graders. All of them yelling their names similtaniously pleading that I would remember them. I was wisked along and taken to the first class room where I answered all  kinds of questions about America and Christmas and who I was and why I came to Japan. It was really an overwhelming experience. I then went to another class where we played the game train wreck, and sang christmas Carols.The last room was by far the best because of one little girl who took it Upon herself to whisper to me all the class secrets as we were eating lunch.

The experience taught me just how much it is important to know as well as be known. I still have this feeling of ten children holding each of my hands walking down the halls in a veritable mass amazed at how much these children were excited to be around me because I was someone they could know.

Here are some pictures from the frist two weeks back in Japan. We had a Big Buffet where church memebers prepared food for our friends at Chiba University.

short term team from Delaware