Last Friday, I went to the Hadaka Matsuri in Konomiya - just outside of Nagoya. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was probably the most insane thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I was already running on a little bit of adrenaline from finishing up a hard two weeks at language school. I was also feeling pretty pumped about finally being able to travel solo in Japan for the first time and actually understand what was happening around me! As soon as the train pulled into Konomiya Station, you could see this small town bursting at the seams (no pun intended) with spectators and groups of loin-cloth laden men marching and screaming down the street.

This was probably the most testosterone I have ever been around. This is also surprising to me in a place like Japan, where modesty and reservation are king, but I enjoyed seeing a different side of this culture than I had expected. I think that’s one of the joys and great challenges of living and serving in ministry in a different culture: willing to have your categories for people and their practices completely shattered or rearranged and trying to really understand and observe rather than sit either in the position of mockery or judgment. 

With that said, I don’t feel like going into the whole festival, the meaning of it, and all the fine details. If you want to read up more on it, be my guest.

The day’s weather couldn’t have been more perfect. I hobbled through the crazy crowds of people, occasionally discovering a foreigner’s face. Climbed on top of fences and squeezed into nooks on the sidelines to catch a better glance or take a better photo. I talked to complete stranger ojisans and laughed with them in my broken Japanese and heard about how they used to march in the festival when they were younger. I walked past the mesmerizing aroma of every type of mouth-watering Japanese street food you could ever want to eat. I watched as these thousands of almost-naked dudes shouted “Wasshoi” (heave, ho!), punched each other, laughed, cried, threw gallons upon gallons of water on each other, and shivered in the freezing cold covered in mud, blood and who knows what else. 

And yet, as crazy as things were, as different as this day was from anything else I’ve experienced thus far in Japan, it was kind of normal to me. Ok, not entirely normal, but I didn’t feel like a total stranger. In an interesting way that I haven’t quite processed yet, I felt at home. That’s not something I expected. And it’s probably the first time I’ve realized that I’ve ever felt that here.

Now, I’m sure it would be a different story if I was actually in the festival. Yeah, I think it would have been a nightmare if that happened. I’m not that used to Japan yet. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is I have really grown to love Japan, my friends, their customs, the language and ways of communicating (for the most part!), and constantly discovering new aspects to this culture. It’ll be a year in a couple of weeks, since we arrived here, and comparing how we feel now to what it was like when we first stepped off the plane is like night and day. So much has happened, and yet God has truly taken care of us and helped us take our baby steps here in a completely new way of life. Can’t wait to see what this next year holds and how much we’ll look back on our ‘baby’ selves and laugh and perhaps miss these times where every day is so much an adventure and an honest cry to God to help us in the midst of our weakness that we often feel so vividly.

However, if at this time next year, you see me in some photos in this exact same festival, please buy a plane ticket, knock on my door, cover your eyes, personally slap me and take me home. 

And bring an extra pair of pants. Please.

For the rest of the photos (beware, there’s lots o’ skin!), go here.

© photos by Jake Gee

We had an amazing weekend with our college students this past weekend. We camped in Native American Teepees in the woods in Inuyama. We hiked, cooked enormous and unhealthy amounts of grilled food together, talked a lot, went to the onsen (public bath house), roasted s’mores on the campfire inside our teepee, played catch, laughed a lot, ate some more, and went to Inuyama castle together. 

We are so grateful for these students who are becoming our dearest friends here in Nagoya. They are kind. They are incredibly thoughtful and respectful. They are so much fun to be around. We always feel welcome and ‘at home’ with them even when we can only understand part of what they’re talking about. 

I think that’s why I like it here. I feel free to mess up and it’s ok. Even when I play sports here I feel like the competition is present, but it’s not as aggressive as it is in America - it’s more about having fun together and including everyone. Even if you’re not athletic or screw up a ton. I don’t know, I guess I just feel like I have the space and opportunity to become more who I am meant to be in the midst of serving others and falling flat on my face each day. It feels so freeing despite the fact that all of my weaknesses are constantly visible and exposed to the world around me. Maybe I just have thicker skin now. Man, I hope so.

One of our goals here in Japan is to grow a thought-provoking, life-changing, and honest community rooted in God’s love for us among these colleges. We’re slowly starting to see that happen and we are so thankful for it  - so grateful to be participants in it as well. We’re learning so much.

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There are hundreds more photos if you’re interested.

All photos by Jake Gee.

© photos by Jake Gee

We spent a week up in dem mountains of North Carolina (Brevard to be exact) for our last required training for Mission to the World. Such a great and encouraging week. Loved getting to know these other missionaries while we were there (some are blurred out b/c they are involved with sensitive areas of the world).

Thank you for helping us get to our final training!

Please consider partnering with us to help us get to Nagoya, Japan! We are only at .4% of our TOTAL needed support! 

Remember, you can pledge to be a future supporter and just as long as you give your pledge amount and information to Mission to the World it still is factored into our total monthly support that we have received. Basically, you pledge your amount, it won’t go through until you designate it to, and the money you pledge is deducted from the total amount we need in order to leave for the field. We could leave tomorrow if we had 100% pledges - we do not need 100% actual support, but pledges in order to go!   

Please go to MTW’s online donation page (listed under our names or #12845) and our support page for more information on how you can partner with us!

Thank you so much,

    The Gee’s