Praise be to God! We have landed in Japan, and all of our bags made it too. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for this day, sending financial support, and keeping us buoyed with encouraging messages. We flew through Detroit again this year, and it was a smooth flight. Our pilots even managed to get us to Tokyo three minutes early despite leaving Detroit forty minutes late. The plane we were to board arrived late from Paris, so our departure was delayed as they serviced the cabin, unloaded the arriving luggage, and loaded our departing luggage. Neither of us got much sleep on the flight, like previous trips, but it was a smooth and pleasant trip all the same. And to finish the flight, we were treated to a magnificent view of Mt. Fuji on our descent into Tokyo!
Once we arrived at Haneda, we made our way through customs and immigration. With our visas pre-approved, it was an easy process. They even issued us residence cards right there at the immigration gate! These cards look much like a US driver’s license, and carrying them means that we don’t have to have our passports on us all the time. Much more convenient! I also had the necessary paperwork stamped for the moving company so they would be ready to import our shipped belongings when it arrives.
After a quick snack at the airport 7-11, we got our tickets for the bus ride out to Tachikawa. It takes about 90 minutes, but it is way easier than lugging our many bags through train stations and one potentially crowded trains. Once the bus arrived in downtown Tachikawa, Nao Fukushima was waiting there to collect us and take us the rest of the way to the church building. Door to door, if I’ve figured it right, the whole trip took a little over 26 hours. Glad to have that part out of the way!
We unloaded the luggage into the entry hall of the church building, but then headed off straight away for a late dinner at Hama Sushi – our favorite place! Nao and Noriko are such humble people who practice hospitality in such thoughtful ways. It was very good to share table and catch up with them again in person.
With full bellies and tired bodies, we headed back to the building for the night. After moving the luggage up to the dorm on the third floor, we hit the sack and got about six good hours of sleep. Not bad! Jet lag can be unpredictable, so we felt like that was a success.
Wednesday was our first opportunity to head to the Tachikawa City Office and take care of all of the official business for moving to Japan. We spent the morning getting a number of things established. We registered our residence cards with Tachikawa (and they added the relevant info to the back) using the church address for now. Once we find an apartment, then we will go back and update our registration accordingly. Then we moved to another counter in order to register for health care. After that, we went to another desk where we signed up for the pension system and started the process for getting a MyNumber card.
Wednesday afternoon was spent at the JR Post Bank office setting up a checking account. This is the only bank that doesn’t require six month’s of prior residence in order to open a cash account. It turned out to be a fairly long process since the staff wasn’t very familiar with how to fill out the forms as a foreigner. In the end, they were super helpful and very patient. We now have a bank account!
On Thursday, we started the process for hunting apartments. Noriko had scheduled an appointment for us with a local real estate office and the four of us went together to meet with the representative. He was very kind and patient! I feel like he also took our unique circumstances in stride and really helped us navigate the process well. August is summer break here in Japan, so many families try to move during this time so that they don’t break up the school year for their kids. August also includes a week-long holiday around Obon, so most places take the week off, which throws another wrinkle into the equation. On top of that, the Tachikawa is in strong demand, so apartments of the type we are interested in seem to go really fast.
For potential renters, this is probably less-than-ideal news. For us, though, it is confirmation that we are in a good place for ministry. I am reminded that during Paul’s missionary journeys, he went where he was able, but he was always also wanting to head for Rome. That’s where the people are, so that’s where he wanted to be. We want to be like that, too! If Tachikawa is a place where people are landing, then we want to be well-positioned to be here and be a part of the community when they come.
The real estate agent helped us look through several listings and narrow down a handful of possibilities. We rode with him over to the area where two were close together. One of the apartments was available to tour, but the other was still occupied. So we went in the available one to look around, then drove over and walked around the exterior of the other. In the end, we gave the realtor our preferences and set some paperwork in motion. Time will tell if we are able to secure our preferred spot or not! Either way, it will be a few weeks until we will be able to move in.
Today (the next day), we are focusing on unpacking our luggage here at the dorm and settling in a bit more. I think jet lag is fading a bit, but I’m sure it will still catch us in the evenings for a few more days. Overall, we have had a pretty encouraging start. God is good!
~ Clay
Fowlers in Japan 