Catholic places we have visited in Japan

Because some of John's compatriots in the Catholic Men of the Chapel asked:
             (This is a work in progress. I will try to add links and photos and the real names of the churches as I find them.)

Our Lady of the Assumption, Misawa (Fr. Andre's church)
Sacred Heart Church, Towada
Seitai Hoshikai - Akita
Hakodate Catholic Churches
 -old church (and Lourdes grotto)
 - new church
Trappistine monastery in Hakodate
Furano church (Hokkaido)
Sendai cathedral
Tokyo cathedral (and Lourdes grotto)
Franciscan church in Roppongi
Narita catholic church
Kyoto cathedral
Niigata cathedral
Base churches:
Misawa AB
Iwakuni MCAS
Atsugi NAS
Nagasaki Urakami Cathedral
26 Martyrs Hill and Museum
Nyokodo--hut of Dr. Takashi Nagai
Seibu-no ______-- Franciscan monastery founded by St. Maximillian Kolbe
    (Kolbe museum, kindergarten, boys' school, Lourdes grotto, church with side chapel of St. Max)
Oura historic church and former Latin school - Nagasaki
Oura new church

Bonus! Korean churches
Osan shopping area church
Myeong-dong Cathedral (and crypt with relics of the Korean Martyrs)
Yongsan North chapel

Extra Bonus!!! Thailand!
Chiang Mai Cathedral

Double Extra Bonus!!! New Zealand!
Christchurch Cathedral [no longer in use due to 2011 earthquakes :-(]
            This is where Matthew threw up on John just as Midnight Mass was starting on Christmas Eve, so John and I went back to Mass in the wee hours of Christmas morning and found ourselves at a Traditional Latin Mass. Serendipity. :)

Wellington Church
Queenstown church

China - sort of
We did not have the freedom to leave our tour group in Beijing, but we did pass a large church while on the bus--we assume it is a government-approved church--and realized it was Catholic as we passed.

Seitai Hoshikai

This is the shrine of Our Lady of Akita, Japan. After our ignominious arrival, we went quickly to sleep with fans blowing to push back the humid night air.

In the morning, we awoke and found that the feast day schedule was the same as the Sunday schedule, so we had an extra half hour to get ready before morning prayer. Another unexpected blessing, allowing the kids a few extra minutes of sleep.

Guest house (left) and Church

Here's what we did during the day:

6:30 - morning prayer in the main chapel with the sisters
7:00 - Eucharistic Adoration
7:30 - Holy Mass
- breakfast following Holy Mass with the other pilgrims
- help clean up from breakfast
9:15 - outdoor walk in Carmel Woods and Joseph's Woods with the younger children
(shower time for Tommy and Patrick)
10:00 - morning discussion: Mary, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption; read from Tomie dePaola's Mary, the Mother of God
10:30 - art project: illuminated letters
12:00 - lunch with other pilgrims
1:00 - 3:00 nap time/quiet time/silent reading time
3:00 - Gift shop for most while Matthew slowly awakens from his nap with parental assistance
3:30 - Chaplet of the Divine Mercy in the Mary chapel (the Statue of Our Lady of Akita)
4:00 - Outdoor stations of the cross and walk on the outdoor paths
4:40- quick pack-up and load the van
5:00 - Rosary
5:30 - Evening prayer
6:00 - Dinner with other pilgrims and the sisters
7:00 - depart for Misawa

We spent a hot and humid, but peaceful Assumption day with the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

The sisters are gracious and joyful. They also cook wonderful meals. We had boiled eggs, bread and jam, and tea for breakfast. For lunch, there was spaghetti, which Katie and Joseph said was "totemo oishi kata naze nereba" (delicious because) it had white noodles and the sauce had hamburger in it. For dinner, there were fried chicken cutlets, salad, corn chowder, and rice. The watermelon after lunch and the ice cream after dinner were especially fine treats, considering the extreme heat and humidity of the day.

Stone marker at entrance to Stations of the Cross

The opportunities for prayer are many, whether in the main chapel, the Mary chapel, or walking outdoors. We enjoyed formal prayer, the adoration time, and time to pray silently.
There is a holy silence there, and it inspires one to interior prayer in a way that is difficult to explain. It got me thinking about the uses of silence in prayer. I may post more about that some other time.

Gate at the entrance to the Mary Garden

We also found the family time really fruitful. I especially enjoyed the discussion about Mary. Each could participate; each learned something. The older boys didn't have to answer every question, but they did need to answer some. And everyone illuminated a letter. And everyone put serious thought into it. They were working quietly for over an hour. John and Matthew worked together, and even Matthew stayed with us at the table for most of the time. John and I felt we both needed a lot more time: that our letters were very unfinished. I now see the reason why the monks of old spent so many hours illuminating pages. And I appreciate again the meditative silence that this activity inspired.

Illuminations
(l-r, t-b: Judy, Tommy, Patrick, Katie, John & Matthew, Joseph)

Their explanations afterwards were also illuminating--children reveal much about their faith in their art.

Please keep the sisters at Akita, the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist, in your prayers. They are a marvelous witness of Catholic Christianity in this Buddhist/Shinto country.

Statue in the Mary Garden

Chapter 15

In which we prove that we are truly "baka gaijing " (stupid foreigners) and the Japanese prove, once again, that they are among the most gracious people in the world.

Most Japanese people travel by train or bus because the public transportation is reliable, speedy, and comfortable. It is also expensive. Which is why we decided to drive the family to Akita for the Feast of the Assumption. We have a road atlas of our own, and I had made a special trip to ITT, the travel office on base, for a map of the Akita area. It showed the Shrine of Our Lady of Akita, so I figured we were all set.

We left a little later than planned, but only about 15 minutes late, a minor miracle in this family. I felt confident that we would arrive at the promised 8:30 p.m. I know the sisters go to bed early because they rise at 5:30 for 6:00 morning prayer. And the lights out time is 10:00 p.m. in the guest house. No problem.
So I thought.
It is not as easy as I believed to find Seitai Hoshikai. In the dark. When I had only been there once before. And I was busy talking in the car that time and didn't pay close attention to the roads. And we didn't have any minutes on our cell phone. Which didn't really matter since I had forgotten to print out the page with the phone number on it anyway.
Note to self: ITT maps are not detailed enough. (and a few other things...)

In spite of a longer-than-planned dinner break at the Morioka Mall (something about the deep teenage need for a Jimi Hendrix poster to be hung on the wall of the guest house--I think you had to be part of Patrick's Confirmation class for this to make any sense at all.), we took the exit for Akita at approximately 8:20 p.m. Perfectly timed. Then we headed toward the road we thought we should take. We stopped to double check the map. It looks like if we keep going toward the right....

None of us expected to still be driving around on darkened country roads on the outskirts of Akita at 9:30 p.m. Which is when we stopped the second time for directions. Brave Patrick accompanied me into Lawsons (a quick shop) to try to help me interpret Japanese. I was praying mental Hail Marys like mad. The clerk spoke some English AND he knew the place we were looking for. Hooray!!

He took one look at our nearly useless map and pulled out the phone book. He called the sisters. Sr. Clara, the English-speaking sister who I contacted to make our reservations, phoned back in a few minutes.

Within 15 minutes, Sr. Clara and the sister who can drive the car, along with their dog, Megu, were in the Lawsons parking lot and led us to their home. She did not chide us for our lateness or lostness. Like a very patient mother, she only said, "We were a little worried about you. I am happy you are safely here."

We were deeply embarrassed at our lateness and the trouble we caused. But everyone who helped us was so gracious. It was as if helping lost foreigners who speak only about 5 words of Japanese (much credit is due to Patrick, who speaks many more than 5) was their most important job. Two different clerks looked at maps, one found a phone number, made telephone calls for us, and to top it all off, when we had to wait outside on a sultry night, the Lawsons clerk brought us 3 bottles of cold Pocari Sweat, a Gatorade-like lemon-limey drink.

He told me he was a Protestant Christian, which was why he knew about the statue and Maria garden. He was an answer to prayer, I think. Someone who knew where we needed to go and was willing to expend the extra effort to help.

Deo gratias

Great news! We are going to Akita for the Solemnity of the Assumption. I am very excited about taking the family on a pilgrimage to celebrate the day.

Patrick and I have each been on retreat at Akita, but no one else has been able to get there. I really wanted Tommy to visit, and now that he has these extra weeks with us, we are able to take him. Also, it will be our first family retreat. Now John and I get to plan the day.

I am grateful to God for this blessing and to the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist, who are able to accommodate us in their guest house.

If anyone has any prayer requests, please email them to us. We will be happy to take them to the sisters.