Can Hardly Wait to Break those Resolutions!

We have been busy here in Tokyo. New Year's Day we went to an old Japanese village. Everything was indicative of the 17th century with rice thatched roof, bamboo rain gutters, tatami rooms, looms, fire pits in the middle of the house and a family garden! Makes us glad we live with central heat and hot water! Even got to watch a few minutes of a Noh play, complete with demons and heroines!

Old thatched roof house. Everyone was playing with stilts, paddles and balls and
tops spun with strings.

Inside, our friends warm their hands at the central fire pit.

Noh players- old man and demon. No speaking is involved, just some monks
on the floor with a drum and flute.

Another dog dressed for his outing! This is getting to be beyond funny. Who can dress their dog the best seems to be the fad of the moment.


One of our Japanese friends explained the cemetery set up here. If you purchase a plot (for the family= many generations), the cost is close to 100k. Many people still use plots that have been in their families for many generations. If you rent the plot, then you pay yearly or the ashes are moved to the "paupers corner". The long sticks by the family headstones are blessings written by the priests to insure a happy hereafter- for a charge of course. The monuments are clean, incense is burning and many even have fresh flowers. Like the Chinese, the Japanese have a great respect for their ancestors.

Beginning the 2nd we have been attending the Tokyo Mission zone conferences. We both speak as do the Mental health advisers, Elder and Sister Mead. The zone conferences are the highlight of our mission. We spend the day with the young enthusiastic missionaries and their amazing Mission Presidents and wives. What a joy to see their testimonies and the goodness of gospel living in their faces!

President and Sister Hill