An Afternoon in Omiya

It's shortly before 9 PM. We returned a little bit ago from a daytrip to Omiya (pronouced Oh-me-ya), where we met with Rick and Becky Enterline, along with a Japanese woman, Mana, who is part of their church.

To get to Omiya, we could go either by bus or by train. We decided to go by train because of the difference in cost. Omiya is approximately 31 kilometers (20 miles) from Tokyo station, the city's central train depot. Where we are staying is approximately the same distance, maybe a bit farther, from the Tokyo station. Now then, traveling to Omiya by bus from where we are costs 2750 yen (approx. $23.40) per adult and takes 90 minutes. Traveling by train can cost anywhere from 500 to 1300 yen less and takes about the same amount of time. After just two stops on the train, an announcement was made that everyone would have to deboard and return to the station. It was raining very hard this morning (actually, it has been raining hard all day) and something mechanical went wrong with the train. Fortunately, Dale had befriended a young lady, a Christian, from S. Korea, who spoke very good English and who guided us to where we needed to go. We were very grateful for her help.

Transportation is one of the problems a foreigner faces in Japan. You simply must be humble enough to ask for help. There are plenty of signs with plenty of information, but mostly in Japanese with only a little English thrown in here and there. In addition, as you may be able to tell by the example of Omiya, public transportation is not cheap. Nor is travelling by car for that matter. On the interstates within the Tokyo area, there are tolls of 750 yen (approx. $6.30) every few kilometers.

Our meeting with the Enterlines and Mana went very well. I will share more about this tomorrow when I am not so tired. I am definitely wiped out; nevertheless, I will share for now that Rick and Becky are very excited about the possibilities of this undertaking. With tears in his eyes, Rick asked me to tell our church family "thank you" for sending us and for taking such an interest in the country where God has called them to serve.