Trim Team Japan: "kouyo" Autumn Leaves Viewing and "tanshin funin"

One thing I greatly admire about the Japanese people is their appreciation of nature. When they begin to understand and get acquainted with the God of the Bible, the Creator of the world and everything in it, it seems to really impact them profoundly. Despite extremely busy schedules, the Japanese often create special time to enjoy nature time throughout the year. In the spring, they do cherry blossom viewing with parties under the blossoming trees. In the fall, they do special outings that allow them to view the leaves changing colors. Many historical buildings are surrounded by cherry trees or red maples. Some years ago we discovered a Buddhist temple high on a mountain overlooking the city of Kyoto where the autumn leaves are gorgeous. The leaves haven't been quite as pretty this year, some say, due to the many typhoons we had in summer and early fall. But, we decided to make an outing with some new friends, the Kato family, to go and see the leaves. 3 of their 4 kids came along and we had such a good time. Here is a picture of the 5 of them, minus their 7th grade son. Mr. Kato's company practices a common Japanese style of business where "tanshin funin" goes along with the job. This is when the company transfers the employee to a branch in another location and he is expected to leave his family behind. In his case (better than some), they provide him with an apartment, utilities, and transportation to return home to visit his family for about 5 days every month. He also has the use of a company car when needed. Mr. Kato is very devoted to his wife and kids and when he's home for those few days, he wants to include them in anything he does. It has given us a great opportunity to show hospitality and love to their whole family. They've been to our house several times for dinner. This month we were able to spend most of a day on a fun outing together. How did we meet them? Their 6-year-old son joined an English class at our church. One time while home, his dad was the one to come to class with him. He is also interested in English and visited English Cafe. During one visit to our home, we expressed how unusual it is to find a Japanese couple who like to socialize together rather than in their separate groups (Dad with work friends, Mom with other moms). We expressed how much we've missed not having another couple to spend time with. It made me smile to hear Mr. K reiterate that idea when we were driving home from our outing. After looking at our wedding photos one night, they mentioned how they've never really had pictures taken of them as a couple, not even at their wedding. So while we were out viewing the leaves, we made sure to get lots of photos of them together. We really enjoy spending time with their whole family. Their 3 boys and 1 daughter bring back lots of memories of our own children when they were growing up. Pray that we can continue to develop a wonderful friendship with the Kato family.

Mr. and Mrs. Kato

Kokoa, Daiki, and Haku

The whole gang of us (plus one man with a dog who photo bombed the photo, front and center, because his wife was taking the picture!) Note: Mr. Kato insisted on carrying MY prominent pink bag for ME as we climbed up and down the steep paths.