Tokyo contrasts

Whoa, here is the thing about new discoveries. Some anxiety. How would we deal with the crush of people and noise on a city of 36 million? Then, we arrive in Tokyo and find ourselves in a two story house 1/2 a block behind a main traffic artery. We sleep in the same kind of quiet and dark as we enjoy in Kaslo, relief and amazement. The next day we discover the contrast of busy and quiet, right down in the heart of the city's high rises where we zip up to the 50th floor of the city hall to get a high peak view. 1block behind several monolithic hotels again were familiar 2 storey houses with creative little dressed up entrances, one even like a little bears cave.

For the evening we dive into the throbbing crowds of Shinjuko the 10 and twenty stories of neon that Tokyo is noted for. 

To get to Golden Gai we deek out the masses into a quiet lantern lit alley lined with trees and a magical bridge right behind all that neon.

Through a dark narrow path we once more join the flow of tourists and locals in Golden Gai the old brothel area. Through the crowded narrow "snakes and ladders" of bars I find doors for people just my size .....

.....while Dan ducks to make it up the ladder-like stairs. 

In a second storey bar we sit in a 16x 5 wood and soccer poster panelled room complete with kitchen, bar, soccer trophies, guitars, many bottles and still room for 12 cozy patrons. Contrast after contrast. Here we sit not able to read a thing but end up drinking Sake with two young backpackers from Wells, BC and eventually a whole crew of young Japanese hippies and business men. Sweet moment. We entered this little treehouse as cold strangers but left laughing and warmed by the cozy companionship.

Our Japanese Home

What a surprise Tokyo has been! Spirited into the city by a very caring group of people from Dan's school we fell into bed exhausted but full of new sights sounds and delicious raw tuna, squid, seaweed, salad and a variety of soups and greens. Sweet dreams...just way too short!

Our apartment is spacious and beautiful in a Japanese"light" way. Light filtered through paper window coverings, literally light furniture and no clutter..everything fits into built in cupboards. Our lovely hosts helped carry our  suitcases, which were not light, up to the second story. Very grateful!

We dropped through the rabbit hole into Tokyo's warren of alleyways, off the main highways. On early morning walks we have discovered a quiet world in this huge city.

Unlike North American big cities where you walk the big drags to see the glitzy stuff (which I'm sure we'll soon find here too) we've discovered a sweet people sized walking and biking world of peek-a-boo delights, bars, gardens, houses, restaurants.

Taking over as principal of Bunka Suginami Canadian International School

Yesterday was my first day at work. It was a real pleasure to actually be here after these months of preparation.

We arrived late after getting sidetracked in the subway...We were pleasantly surprised to see adds for our school at the subway; me along with our bilingual secretary Kumiko:

There was a formal welcome at the gate with the President of the Board, the Japanese school's principal and various other officials. It was a bit overwhelming to meet the many people I will be working with but they were all invariably kind, polite and helpful as we navigated around the school for our first visit. 

We had a tour of the school. This is a vibrant school of 1200 girls. Our office and our classes are set up in one wing of the school, in the newly constructed area with the latest in terms of earthquake preparedness technology. We have a nice office, several classrooms and a conference room at our disposal.

We also have access to the rest of e school which includes 6!! Gyms, a foods room better equipped than most restaurants, a fashion design room, two traditional martial arts rooms, a dance studio as well as a room uniquely devoted to training the girls in the art of the Japanese tea ceremony.

We are extremely impressed with sense of importance the history and traditions in Japan play in all of their daily lives, including at school.

We said goodbye to Maggie and Karl today, our offshore BC ministry of Ed consultants who got the paperwork all set up for the new schoo. I am now the first principal of this school.

What an honour and an opportunity.

Our new contact in Tokyo

Yesterday was our last visit with Sarah before she drives our car back to Kaslo.

Here is our address in Tokyo:

We actually leave on Tuesday; yippee!

4-42-32
Izumi, Tokyo, Japan

C/o Bunkagakuen
Hon an-ryo
168-0063

Shelley's Creston Farewell

Delight in knowing the incredible spirit of people around the whole of Kootenay Lake and elsewhere has given me energy to re-invent myself as a minister numerous times, over 30 years.  A little review to re-mind myself  that 'Godness' and the 'Kin-Dom have been evident in all this time of ministry.

🐑 Saskatchewan, Shell Lake, Chitek Lake, Glaslyn... Hours of violet evening skies, so much to learn 

about First Nations and early farmers lives. The sense of belonging to a place was deep.

🐑 St.Andrew's Wesley and merging Northrup Frye's ideas of the relationship of mythology and the bible with fairy tales

🐑 Fairview Baptist Peace Radicals in Vancouver...incredible fireside chats, and the first huge peace march

🐑 Langley United team ministry with Wes Bray alias Santa Claus.....tender and hilarious worship together toward healing, and the little girl who was late for church because it was so hard to get her doll's dress on backwards, like me, the woman minister.

🐑 World Council of Churches in Vancouver helping at the Well, a relief station for women. My first traumatic wasp sting, forever grateful to the doctor at White Rock United for realizing the danger and saving my life.

🐑  Kooyenay Slocan Pastoral Charge....where I travelled to Procter, Kaslo, New Denver and Silverton  across the mountains, met and married Dan, and where our hearts wrapped around two little girls. A very dear community soon incorporated both sets of our parents. Full time parenting eventually led to early childhood support and literacy work. Hospice and restorative justice work in Kaslo broadened my contacts north along  kootenay lake. I did a story for the Procter story-telling festival about Rev. Kinney (1910- 30's )who travelled by boat to minister around Kootenay Lake, and it seemed seemed like historical encouragement to carry on the travelling ministry.

🐑 Two years in China with our little girls and a new cultural learnings about tenderness and care through death and dying.

🐑 Communities in Faith Pastoral Charge of the United Church... Living in Nelson meant going further afield to work in ministry. I started in Rossland then helped put together the relationship between Salmo, Fruitvale, Trail and Rossland. Women's retreats, great music, and service projects were part of the fun with partners, Kent Israel, student Keith Simmonds, and Louise Skibsted.

🐑 Back to  Kaslo with Dan as principal of the school gave me time to work on various housing projects, help Mom and Dad move, and be around for Mom and Dad before Dad died. We journeyed to New Hampshire to be part of Frank Miles life before he died which was part of the grace of that time. 

🐑 Trinity United Church...involved living 5 days a week in Creston while being part of a vibrant church community there. Food pours out of that place as steady as the Kootenay River flows and many people call "community support work and activism" a lifestyle - fine mentors all. I wish for them a continually evolving sense of ministry and thank them for a joyful end to my paid accountable ministry. 

Thanks dear family and church team for helping with all the moves.

Now for me the 'Godness' experience of life enriched by my history in the United Church and Quaker meeting takes me to .......

🐑 Japan.....

Surprise celebrations continued all weekend!

Many thanks to all of the kids and staff at JVH. After I posted the last post of my last day at JVH I was invited to a surprise assembly where all the students came in their ties and celebrated the work I had done at JVH.

The primary classes sang a children's song they learned in Japanese. The intermediate students sang "We will miss you" to the tune of "We will rock you". A group of secondary students sang Happy Birthday in Japanese to add to the long list of languages we already sing in: English, French, Spanish, Chinese and German. Click here to listen.

Many thanks to PAC for their wonderful gifts of a REAL tasteful tie as well as a beautiful painting of JVH  by John Cooper. Thank you parents!

I will really miss the natural beauty around the school. A parting shot of visitors at our school.

Saturday evening was another wonderful celebration for staff sparked by Jill Holland's brilliant planning. She took over the Bluebelle restaurant and decorated every nook and corner with a Japanese theme: paper cranes hanging from the ceiling (thank you intermediate students!), kimonos on the wall and candles on the tables. It was a sumptuous evening of tapas snacks, laughter, some great roasting and toasting of Dan as well as great music to dance to (thank you Gary, Sonja, Trish and Patrick!).

Sunday was a lovely potluck goodbye at Argenta meeting, then back for a community farewell at the Bluebell where I sold all of my tacky ties and raised $280 for the JVH playground and the Food Hub.

We are truly grateful for the support and caring shown to us by this community.

Now... We are REALLY off to Japan.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Hi This is an introductory blog for Dan Miles and Shelley Stickel-Miles at:

http://under-thesame-moon.blogspot.com.   

Please visit us at this blog and if you go to the bottom you can easily and quickly send us a message.

How did we end up in Japan?

Well...
Somehow we didn't manage to get out a family letter this
year but news is catching up with us and we wanted to share
with you some of the big changes that are coming in
our lives
Putting
this in context (and sharing the view from our home as a
grounding)...

have totally enjoyed my 7 years here working in Kaslo and at
JVH. Through my travels throughout the province and my
work with the Ministry and at conferences I have had the
opportunity to celebrate the work done for kids. The
JVH/Jewett family of schools has developed quite a name for
itself.
Shelley
and I love Kaslo. We love the beauty, the peace and quiet.
We love the mountains, the trails and all of the outdoor activities. We love our home and our friends.
Last
month Shelley said that she was ready to retire from her
work in Creston in order to be together again.
So....
As you may have gathered by
now I, Dan, am someone who is fed by change and challenge. ( he partly means moving, whereas some of us can comprehend change even in one place) 

An amazing opportunity came out of the blue last Monday. After
a very quick one week of interviews both with the Ministry
of Education staff and the Japanese consortium, I have
signed a contract with Bunka
Suginami Canadian International School of Tokyo to become
the principal of the first offshore BC secondary school in
Japan. This is a school in Japan that will be teaching
BC curriculum in English to Japanese students who will
then graduate with a BC degree as well as a Japanese degree.
This model already exists in China and Cairo where there are
at least 30 other schools... But this will be the first
in Japan!
I asked who
my supervisor was and the woman from the Ministry of Ed
paused and said... Well no one; it's your school! I am
totally excited about being in at the very beginning of a
school that is projected to grow to 800 plus students in the
first 3 years! They are already talking about me working
with schools in other cities to help them set up programs.
My MInistry of Education contact also supervises the
school in Cairo. She talked to me about going there at some
point to help transition the new admin there... Amazing
opportunities of growth and creating programs from the
ground up. I am thrilled!
This is also a good time for Shelley to
take on new challenges and though she will not be employed
at the school she will be exploring lots of volunteering
opportunities in Tokyo and at the school. She also plans to
come back to Kaslo regularly to spend time with her 81 year
old mother.
I will be retiring on Feb. 28 from this
district.
So we have lots to do between now and then. We
plan to keep our house and we look forward to returning to
truly retire in Kaslo when this stint is
done.
Japan....??
From a village of 880 to a city of 26 million!!!!!! Who
knows where life's twists take you. Come visit us
in our small 2 bedroom Tokyo apartment!
Isn't life fascinating and always
surprising!

Did the Grouse Grind on our way.

Said goodbye to friends and family and Vancouver cherry trees.

Said goodbye to Lovely Sarah who drove us and looked across the ocean in the direction of Japan. 

Thanks to Gillian and Richard for a staging area and sweet goodbyes.