Futsal Tournament Champions

Bob's Birthday -

We celebrated Bob's birthday by going out to dinner at a local ramen shop and returned home for cake, ice cream and presents. Not sure how it happened, but for the past few years Bob seems to be getting younger while I am getting older. I was not a math mahor in college but something seems amiss with his math...

Bob's birthday dinner at a ramen shop

Cake, ice cream and presents - some how he keeps getting younger...

Valentines Day Hike -

We went on a Valentine's Day hike after church on Sunday, weaving our way to the love lock display and lookout. I cannot imaging the US having anything like this due to the liability. However, here in Japan it is fairly common to have a large tower or in this case a staircase in order to gain a 360 degree view of the surrounding cities.

Pond near hiking trail

Lookout tower on our hike

Cool itty bitty lichen on a tree that look like little red flowers

Futsal at Marist Brothers International School – Kobe

The KCS boys’ futsal team traveled to Kobe to play in the Marist Brothers International School tournament a couple weeks ago. Though the team was missing a couple of players due to illness, they played very well. In spite of only having one sub, they won their first two matches to earn a spot in the championship.

The fields were soaked as it rained most of the day so the AstroTurf was really slick making it difficult for the boys to stay on their feet. They won the championship match going undefeated to win the tournament. This is sort of like David vs. Goliath since our school is really small and Marist has an enrollment of about 300 students. This was a huge accomplishment for our team and they really did a great job.

I had never watched futsal until this tournament but I admit I enjoyed it a lot. It was sort of like soccer but much faster without off sides and the field is much smaller. 

Futsal tournament at Marist Brothers International School - Kobe

KCS vs. Marist Brothers at Marist - Kobe, Japan

KCS vs. Sons of the Light

We continue to feel so blessed and fortunate to be a part of this amazing school. Thank you for following our adventure. Whether you are partnering with us in prayer, financially or just following to see what new and crazy experiences we encounter, we appreciate knowing you are there and enjoy hearing your messages of encouragement.

In His service with gratitude,

K. Chadduck

Gyoza - Authentic Japanese Cooking

Authentic Japanese Cooking -

This is the second dish Hiromi and Mikako taught me how to make when we mt in December. I do not have many Japanese dishes in my cook book but ths is one of my favorite. Some of you may recognize these from the states where they are known as "pot stickers". I am not sure how they got that name other than they will stick to the bottom of hte pan if you do not put a little oil in the pan before you begin steaming them.

These gyoza, as they are called in Japan are one of my favorite foods. I liked them in the state where we bought them frozen from Costco but now that I can wrap my own and put extra ginger in them, they are the best! My whole family loves them and they are really pretty easy to make just like most good food, they take time to prepare.

Gyoza prepared and ready to cook

Can you hear them sizzling?

The table set by Steph -  food is all about the presentation. Oh how beautiful!

Temple –

We visited a temple over the News Year’s holiday. A fellow teacher at the school told us this time of year is great to tour the temples because they are decorated beautifully and filled with people. He noted any other time of year the grounds are usually empty and not nearly as beautiful. This particular temple is in our prefecture and we spent the evening as a family touring the grounds, taking in the cultural experience and eating dinner from street vendors.

You can see from the pictures there are many temples on the grounds and the landscape is beautiful. Really makes for some great discussions with the kids when we interact with the culture like this and note the differences from our own personal experiences in the states.

Outside a large temple entrance - Nara, Japan

Beautifully decorated temple for the New Year's celebration.

Traditional Japanese decoration made out of bamboo and a cabbage type flower.

One of many stair cases throughout the temple areas.

Buddhist priest worshiping at the temple.

Another temple entrance.

I am still not clear about the meaning of these statues or why they have caps. 

Sunday Afternoon Hike in the Sunshine -
Just a few pictures we took on a Sunday afternoon hike. Still strikes me funny how we can be so close to the city and in very little time be in the woods, traipsing through bamboo forests, meandering along streams enjoying the outdoors of Japan.

Leaf covered path along bamboo forests.

Small brook near hiking trails.

We appreciate all of our friends, family and supporters who continue to bless us with care packages from home as well as kind words and prayers. At the risk of saying it too often...I hope you know how much we appreciate your support in its many forms. There is a direct link between our ability to be here and your financial support and prayers. We hope you know you ARE partnering with us in this great adventure. Thank you and God bless you for your generosity and faithful prayers.

In Christ,

K. Chadduck

Christmas in Japan

Kure, Japan the Yamato Museum –

The latter part of our short trip we went to Kure, the largest ship yard in Japan and walked the grounds of the Yamato Museum.  We were unable to enter the museum because it was a Japanese national holiday. But we were able to observe some of the submarines outside on the grounds and read about the Japanese naval achievements including the building of the Yamato and its history.

Yamato Museum - Kure, Japan

Submarine at the Yamato Museum

Matsuyama City -

We stayed in Matsuyama City and you could see Matsuyama Castle from out our hotel window. The castle was beautiful at night all lit up and glowing on the top of an island surrounded by a mote.

Matsuyama Castle - Ehime, Japan

Grounds surrounding Matsuyama Castle

Entrance to Matsuyama Castle - Ehime, Japan

The streets in town were all lit up with beautiful Christmas lights and ornate designs for the holidays. We enjoyed the Christmas music in the shops and holiday scenery a lot.

Christmas lights of Matsuyama, Japan

We road the Ferris wheel in the background perched upon the 10 story building. WOW what a view!

While in Matsuyama we toured the local shops surrounding the very popular Dogo Onsen. An onsen is a public bath house or hot springs and is very popular in Japan. There are gender specific bathing areas and the waters of the hot springs are often known for their healthful and healing properties. Most onsens have pretty strict rules and bathing suites are NOT part of the attire for visiting an onsen.

Our Dogo onsen experience...maybe someday

Dogo Onsen - Ehime, Japan

I have been invited many times to attend the onsens in our region but have not been able to get past the required attire - oh yeah - NOTHING! I continue to hear how this is one of the most amazing experiences in Japan and how when it is so cold and you just cannot get warm going to the onsen is wonderful.

I guess I just have to take their word for it because thus far I have not been able to bring myself to go. Many people have teased me and said oh yeah, like it must be a westerner thing and they think it is just too bad that I am missing out. Maybe one of these days I will get the courage to try it.

Christmas in Japan –

We had our first Christmas in Japan and thanks to Bob and my parents it had many of the same elements from the states. We skyped with my parents so they were able to see the kids open their presents and we were all able to wish one another Merry Christmas.

Christmas tree and a crackling tv screen?

We met with a few other missionary families and celebrated our savior’s birth with a wonderful potluck dinner and good fellowship. We are grateful for so many wonderful friends and family who have been so kind and generous to include us in their plans. Actually, we were really busy with Christmas activities during the month of December. KCS had a large Christmas program, Hope Chapel had Christmas caroling and we also had Christmas festivities at the Clark’s International Night.

Christmas day at the Sainio's with Mikako and Anniinia

We kept up a few of our family traditions by hanging a Merry Christmas sign on our front gate, stringing lights along our front flower bed and baking several kids of cookies and taking them to our neighbors. I even took a bag to the local post office workers who I interact with regularly. We were blessed by the opportunity to meet and talk with many neighbors as we delivered the treats. Many people were very surprised to get a gift and it was really fun to share a little bit of our family Christmas traditions.

Update Regarding Stephanie's Ankle Injury -
Thank you so much for your prayers and e-mails regarding Stephanie's biking injury. She is healed now and running again at full speed. It warmed my hear to see her take off across the open fields in Hiroshima running full speed without any pain or limping. I am still praising God for his mercies and that her Achilles is intact and she is able to run, dance and jump to her hearts content. This is a pretty recent picture of the injury. The top of the scar is filling in daily and is almost completely filled in as you can see.

So here is her ankle all healed and looking the best it has since the injury.

Once again, so much to share but too much for one entry.We are blessed to be a part of what God is doing at KCS, Hope Chapel and in Japan. Thank you for your words of encouragement, support and prayers. I am regularly overcome with emotion when I think of how God transplanted us here to KCS to invest in the lives of students for His greater purposes. To God be the glory, great things He has done for sure!

In Christ,

K. Chadduck

Hiroshima, Miyajima Island and Matsuyama

Ride on the Shinkansen -

We did some traveling over Christmas vacation to Hiroshima, Miyajima and Matsuyama to visit historic landmarks and take in a few of the top Japanese tourist sights. We took our first ride on the Shinkansen or bullet train out of Osaka and really enjoyed the experience.

First ride on the Shinkansen traveling at 150 - 200 mph

We could not believe how quiet and smooth the ride was even though we were traveling at speeds of 150 – 200 mph.  The inside of the cars look and feel a lot like an airplane without the uncomfortable takeoff and landing. You could barely feel it glide to a stop and it seemed to start as effortlessly. There was not much of a view from the train because you are frequently traveling through tunnels and the track is partially enclosed for noise reduction through the cities. It is a fun trip, very comfortable ride and great way to travel a long distance in a short amount of time.

Picture with the world famous bullet train

Picture of the front car of the Shinkansen

We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel with futons and tatami mat floor. I thought some of you might enjoying seeing the table and layout of a Japanese hotel.

Someone pretending to be asleep

A little Japanese TV anyone?

Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Peace Park -

We toured the Hiroshima Victims Memorial, Peace Park and other historic landmarks within Hiroshima city. We knew this visit would be somber and I am really glad we went. We all learned a lot touring the memorial and Peace Park and it had a profound impact on us all. 

Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall Peace Park  Hiroshima, Japan

Memorial Cenotaph in Peace Park with  the Peace Flame and A-bomb Dome in the background

Picture in Peace Park with A-bomb Dome in the back ground 

A-bomb Dome before and after

Closeup of the A-bomb Dome

The A-bomb Dome is a World Heritage Site and is the most famous landmark in Hiroshima. It was originally built as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall in 1915. The dome was 328 feet from what would become ground zero on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 am. As you can see from the pictures, most of the building was destroyed in the blast.

Hiroshima is now rebuilt and Peace Park is beautiful. There is an awareness and commitment not to repeat history. The day we were there high school students were in the park near the memorial collecting signatures to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide. They were planning to send the signed petitions to the United Nations. A very memorable trip and one well worth making.

Miyajima Island -

Miyajima is a small island less than an hour’s ferry ride outside of Hiroshima. It is most famous for its giant orange torii gate which appears to be floating on the ocean at high tide. Miyajima is ranked among one of the three top views in all of Japan and is closely associated with its main shrine Itsukushima, which like the giant torii, is built over water.

Miyajima O-torri Gate

Low tide in front of O-torri Gate in Miyajima, Japan

Five story pagoda on Miyajima Island

We had a great time on this island hiking the ocean beach, petting the tiny deer, perusing the small gift shops and sampling a variety street food. There were many beautiful buildings and it was a really nice combination of beauty and culture.

Famous O-torri floating Gate on Miyajima Island at high tide

There was a sign at the entrance to the park warning tourists about the deer eating paper and being generally pesky. I was taking a picture of the torri in the water and a deer came up beside me and grabbed my park map. I was not willing to give it up that easy and yelled, “Hey, dumb deer, give me that!” My family thought this was hilarious and teased me about my half eaten map the rest of the day. The dear happily ate the other half and we joked about whether or not it would give him a stomach ache.

Dumb deer ate my park map!

The deer ate the most useful portion of the map leaving me with only the legend.

 Miyajima Island was my favorite place to visit on this particular trip. We had a great time as a family exploring the islands and interacting with Japanese culture. I have a lot more to write but will save the rest of our trip and Christmas in Japan for next week. 

Thank you as always, to our friends, family and supporters both near and far. We really appreciate you and enjoying hearing how you are doing via e-mail and letters.    

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and we wish you a wonderful, Christ centered 2016.

K. Chadduck

Kabocha muffins

Clark’s International Night Thanksgiving Celebration –

We celebrated Thanksgiving a second time this year at the Clark’s International night December 5^th with many friends and students. We had a potluck style dinner and enjoyed many wonderful traditional American dishes including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes,various pies as well as some new dishes like kabocha (Japanese pumpkin). This squash reminds me of sweet potatoes but even better. This may be my new favorite squash. I love it!

A great time was had by all  great time playing games, singing Christmas carols and hearing a brief message on the baby Jesus come to earth to save us. Mitsuki and Momo joined us for the celebration and stayed the night with our family. Always a fun time of laughter and games when they come for a visit.  

Decorating the Christmas tree

Friendly game of spoons

Christmas group photo

Reiko’s Birthday Puzzle Completed –

I told you about the great puzzle and frame Reiko gave Stephanie for her birthday recently. Here is a picture of them in Reiko’s bakery with the puzzle completed and framed. We really enjoy visiting her on our way to and from school and seeing her on Saturday when we buy bread from her bakery.

Completed  birthday puzzle from Reiko.

Roster Oven and Kabocha Muffins –

I am so grateful for this wonderful kitchen appliance and my newly found ability to bake! I usually bake a lot in the fall and did not realize how much I was missing the sweet smells of muffins, cookies and casseroles coming from my kitchen. I have been baking kabocha muffins, banana muffins and chicken, broccoli, rice casserole. I am one happy mama in my kitchen again with my roaster oven.

Who knew you could bake and roast in this wonderful portable oven.

The kabocha muffins are wonderful but take much more work than they would in the states. Pumpkin is outrageously expensive here and virtually impossible to find. Like $52.00 dollars for three cans if you try to buy it through the online Costco site. So, being determined to make pumpkin muffins, I bought a whole kabocha from Costco for 298 yen or roughly $3.00, cut, cleaned and baked my own in order to have kabocha puree to make muffins. They turned out great and though my family continues to encourage me to cook Japanese dishes, I think they were happy to see some familiar fall sweets in our kitchen again.

Kabocha - Japanese pumpkin

Much smaller and sweeter than our American pumpkin

Roasting to make puree for muffins

Banana holiday muffins

Update Regarding Stephanie’s biking injury –

Thank you so much for your prayers and e-mails of encouragement regarding Stephanie’s biking injury. She is now off her crutches and all stitches are out. She is walking slowly and we are still making weekly trips to the ER for followup care. Please continue to pray for no infection and a full recovery. She still has some discomfort and the injury sight is still healing slowly. We appreciate all your love, concern and prayers very much.

Stephanie won third price in the Bethany photo contest –

I wanted to share some fun and exciting news with you. Bethany International Ministries (BIM), our missionary sending organization in the states hosted a photo contest for missionaries abroad. They had three categories in the contest - people, scenery and ministry. Stephanie has been our photographer extraordinaire since arriving in Japan taking pictures of everyday things with a unique and fresh perspective. She has captured some amazing pictures and we submitted several to the BIM photo contest. The staff narrowed the entries down to a few in each category then staff, students and missionary families voted for their favorites.

Turns out Stephanie won third place in the scenery category for her photo "Forests of Japan". She will be receiving a $25 Amazon gift card for her third place prize. We are proud of her knack for taking everyday pictures and pointing out their amazing beauty. Congratulations Stephanie and thank you for pointing our the beauty around us every day!

Our Elf on the shelf Jane showed up -

Turns out Jane, our Elf on the shelf found us half way round the world and has been showing up in various places since December 11th. Well that is when we noticed her hiding in our little Christmas tree anyway. Since then she has helped her self to our Christmas cookie sprinkles and one half of a cherry candy cane. Alex is not thrilled to have her here and has threatened he will throw her out his window if she goes into his bedroom. 

Jane sampled our cookie sprinkles a couple of days ago

We had a couple of conversations that she knows our family would not tolerate the mischievous, naughty things we see other Elves doing at other people's houses. We guess that is why she has kept her misbehaving to a minimum at our house...

Many thanks for your faithful prayers and support. We are grateful to be here serving and investing in our community. May this season give us pause to remember the real reason we celebrate and what a gift we have been given in the birth of Jesus Christ.

God bless you all,

K. Chadduck