Author: Sue Takamoto

We are living in Ishinomaki, Japan, and partnering with Be One and Asian Access... We are thankful to be working up in Tohoku in the region that was badly hit by the 2011 tsunami, and love the friendships we are making here.

Mosaic Children

Sue Takamoto4 Comments

I had the opportunity last weekend to visit Annie in college (Taylor University). She was singing in a Mosaic night, which was a dedicated event featuring multicultural music and traditions from the students attending. It was such a beautiful blend of dance, singing, instruments, and sentiment from cultures around the world! I was so moved!

Annie and 3 others who are TCKS in Japan (Third Culture Kids) sang a song that is traditionally sung in Japan at school graduations. I’ve attended enough that just hearing the melody can bring tears to my eyes! Her friend Grace was playing the piano and singing; unfortunately my seat did not allow me to capture her in the video. I thought you may enjoy this experience! The song is called 旅立ちの日, On the Day of Parting Lyrics: KOJIMA, Noboru 　Music: SAKAMOTO, Hiromi

Here are some of the lyrics/translation:

The familiar and nostalgic voices that flash across my mind
The times I shed bitter tears after meaningless quarrels with my friends
The times my friends and I understood each other and shared hugs of joy
All these things are gone now but I hold on to the memories
With courage strengthening my wings, carried off by the wind of hope
To this wide blue yonder, I entrust my dreams.

Now is the time for parting: let’s fly off, believing in the future
Believing in lively young energy
Into this wide blue yonder


God’s Wonderful Story – free English Bible workbook available

Sue Takamoto4 Comments

With good help from friends, I have completed writing an 18-unit English Bible workbook with some Japanese translation included. I’m hoping it can be a helpful resource for those who are teaching English to Japanese or other internationals.
Important notes:
You will need to download/print two documents. The first is an 80 page workbook with 18 units. (I’ve included the Table of Contents at the end so you can see the units that are included). The second document is the accompanying illustrations that go with each of the 18 stories/units.
Link to Document #1 (Workbook):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZiSlGqaJTElNm968l00vki8YwWt5quo-uj0Y3_9YLvQ/edit?usp=sharing

LInk to Document #2: Illustrations
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xOJzg5qnQLSkq1xthxY3fYH3D3TBY88O/view?usp=sharing

Note: As we use the book, I will continue to make small edits. I will put the date of the last edit on the second page. If you have already printed and then go to reprint, there might be slight variations.

Some additional notes on this workbook:

  • I have taken the simple bible stories and accompanying illustrations from some free online sources I found (I have credited them in the front of each document). Special thanks to Dee Wirz, who taught and inspired me and many others the power of using the Bible to teach Japanese.
  • The workbook is mostly bilingual (in Japanese) except for the english practices near the end.
  • There is a teaching guide on page 2.
  • I have found it best for the learners to have two separate documents, so that while they are reading/practicing the story in english (Document #1) they can be referring to the corresponding illustration (Document #2).
  • There are 18 stories included, that generally cover the following 4 biblical time periods: the creation story (stories 1-4); the birth and coming of Jesus (stories 5-8); examples of Jesus’ ministry and teaching (stories 9 – 12); and the death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit (stories 13-18).
  • You can of course adapt the number of stories that you use. For example, you may choose to do a 4-unit Christmas study, using stories 5-8; or a study leading up to Easter, using stories 13-18. The english practices in each unit do not necessarily build on each other, but rather give extra practice to english patterns that are used in that particular bible story.
  • Each story has enough practices for 2-3 lessons. You may do it in one lesson, but you will need to pick and choose your exercises carefully.
  • Some of the content/discussion questions may seem either redundant or too difficult. Skip any that you do not need.
  • I have found the Bible Project videos in Japanese to be helpful supplements.
  • Feel free to reach out to me (my email is in the textbook) with mistakes, edits, or suggestions for future editions or future workbooks. I’d love any constructive feedback.
  • Finally, let me now if you are using the book, and on what day(s). I pray each week for my own classes and would love to be praying for God’s work in your class.

Table of Contents:

Story #Page DescriptionPage #
Table of Contents & Author Note1
Teaching Guide2
1God Makes All Things  (Gen. 1:3,6-7,9-11,14-16,20,24-27,31; 2:2)3
2The First Man and Woman  (Genesis 2:5-25)7
3Adam and Eve Disobey God  (Genesis 3:1-7)11
4Leaving the Garden of Eden  (Genesis 3:8-24)15
5God Chooses the Mother of His Son (Luke 1:26-38)19
6God the Son Comes to Live on the Earth (Luke 2:1-20)23
7Important Men Come to See Jesus (Matthew 2:1-8)27
8Joseph and Mary Take Jesus to Egypt (Matthew 2:8-15)31
9Jesus Chooses His Disciples (Matthew 2:19-23; Mark 1:16-18; Luke 6:12-16)34
10God’s Greatest Joy (Matthew 6:24-34)38
11The Wind and Waves Obey Jesus (Mark 4:35-41)42
12Jesus Heals a Man Who Cannot Walk (Luke 5:17-26)48
13Jesus is Arrested and Killed (Mark 14:32-42, 43-46, 55, 63, 15:16-19)52
14Jesus is put into a Grave (Matthew 27:45-66)58
15Jesus Comes out of the Grave (Matthew 28:1-15)63
16The Last Instructions from Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 24:36-39; 50-53)67
17Jesus Goes Back to Heaven  (Acts 1:1-13)71
18Jesus Sends the Holy Spirit  (Acts 2:1-13)75
Final Words79

Tutu Cute

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So we are having a lot of fun with our baby chicks! They were one week old when we got these Nagoya Cochins (apparently they are a famous breed from the Nagoya region – well known for the tasty meat and for their nice brown eggs. We are interested in the eggs…) We now have names and can tell all eight apart, although as they grow some of their previous indicators are changing. With a combination of names contributed from our whole family, let us introduce to you: Mochi, Rosie, Ethel, Nancy, Lacy, Lilac, Nugget (yes, really!), and Sasha. We are keeping them inside under a red light for six weeks, so you just gotta have some fun. Without further ado, here are some of our favorite photos of our girls!

the gift of lament

Sue Takamoto1 Comment

I have not written a true blog entry here for numerous years, as I’ve ended up posting most stories or events of note on Facebook. But something this week has made me want to chronicle as we have marked ten years of the 3.11 triple disasters. There are so many stories and faces and feelings whirling in my head; it is a gift to be able to separate and share just a few of them with you my reader friends.

24 hour team prayer… carving out time with Annie and a friend late night on Wednesday, then starting Thursday morning with an hour of prayer. Psalms and prayers and heart cries. I couldn’t get through everyone on my heart in my time slots.
Our local schools had decided to close down for the day; we followed suit with Nozomi Project.
The morning visiting numerous friends. The photo below is with our friends – standing where their home used to be. It is now a walkway built on top of a barricade to lessen the impact of future tsunamis. (They gave me permission to use this photo). She shared about watching with horror from the second floor of their home right by the ocean as houses floated past and got snagged by this bridge. The earthquake had actually called the land around the bridge to sink 12 inches. She could not help; she could only watch.

Delivering more cookies – the neighbors around us, friends nearby who had lost a mother, a daughter-in-law, a father. To them it seems that ten years is not a relief but rather contained an added stressor of having to watch the constant news play back images of that day. Chances to give love in the form of hugs, and cookies made by friends across Japan who could not come but wanted to share their hearts and prayers. These were truly such beautiful, beautiful gifts.

K. and I stopped a bit randomly at the home of a neighbor a few blocks away. She came outside and was so happy to have friends just BE with her. Tired of watching the news, she wanted us to hear her story of ten years ago. Oh, how she suffered! Trying to escape with her neighbor who fell into a manhole when they couldn’t see what was in the road. They hung onto fishing nets until they could get to a safe building. Her son rescuing a mom friend and her son who were left stuck on a pole by tsunami waters. Her house tossed virtually on its side. Wearing the same wet clothes for ten days, no warm food or fresh water.

Remembering and telling is so hard but so important. We prayed and we hugged and she received our cookies.

More visits and cookies to other neighbors, the vegetable lady; several families who we knew from Nozomi; a friend of our youngest son who hasn’t left his house for many months. Eric and other teammates going out across town, and to different towns, to remember with people. Going to the site where our friend A-san lost his wife.

Maybe just letting them know that they aren’t alone. Being present.

Eric and Joey led a small gathering for those who wanted to be together at 2:46 when the siren would wail in remembrance of the 18,500 lives that were lost that day. I loved the simple old hymn that we sung. What a good reminder of his presence.

While we were out visiting, two friends made a big pot of tonjiru (pork soup). We didn’t have an official meal time planned, but it was good to have hot steaming soup available to put into sagging or empty or sad hands of anyone who came to be with us that day.

That evening, close to 40 of us gathered at 6:30 for a final time of prayer, worship, and bringing our hearts to God. It was rather informal, but it was one of my favorite times of worship in a long time. We gathered in small groups and prayed together. I loved it that two of our neighbor friends from Indonesia came to this service. One of our dear friends had recently lost her husband; she could cry and we could pray and those tears were mixed with tears from others who were also grieving loss, whether new or old.

The gift of lament. We could not do this every day (it is so exhausting!) but such a gift to do this together.

Eric & Sue Takamoto

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We are now living in the U.S., where Eric is serving with the Emmaus Team as a chaplain for international workers serving with SIM. Sue is at home, loving the chance to continue hanging out with Japanese friends as she teaches an English bible class in our home, and hosts frequent parties.

Until 2023, we were serving in Ishinomaki, Japan with Asian Access. We had been living in Japan for over twenty years, and moved up to Tohoku the year following the 2011 disaster. We have four amazing kids who bring us daily joy. We have been partnering with Be One for the last twelve years to bring help and hope to our community here. With the gifts and partnership of many people, Sue and members of our team started the Nozomi Project, a social enterprise making accessories and jewelry from broken pottery that was left in the wake of the tsunami. Last year, we had to close the project down, but we’re excited about two members spinning off on their own! We will update you when they are selling in the U.S.

We don’t update this site regularly, so if you’d like to be in touch with us, receive our newsletters, or donate to our work, please email us for more information: setakamoto@asianaccess.org etakamoto@asianaccess.org

More/final beauty and brokenness

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Five years have passed since that day that rocked Japan and the world. This is my last beauty and brokenness entry this year. I’m going to close with two photos that are representative of this day, and how beauty and brokenness are commingled here where we live.The past two days have been filled with listening, crying, praying, worshipping. I have heard new stories of 3/11 experiences; I have listened again to some repeat ones. It is a strange thing to live in a town that is filled with so much sorrow; where everyone you meet has experienced major loss and trauma. Each story is so important.
Photo 1, beauty and brokenness:
IMG_4888
This first picture is the daughter of M., one of my good mom friends. (She gave me permission to share!). She brought her two girls by our gathering place this morning to talk, and it was great to have a wonderful bag of homemade cookies to give them, representing love and prayers sent from across Japan. While her girls played in one room, M. came in the kitchen where two of us were making soup. She began sharing her story from five years ago… She and her small daughter fled to a mountain top and survived on small packets of tofu for three days; her parents barely survived the tsunami as it flooded their home. (They survived because the neighbors behind them threw down a top made out of sheets from a second floor window). Her sister was due with a baby, and had to be helicoptered to Senda to give birth. Five days later, she delivered her baby, but her husband still wasn’t found. She sent him a picture on her cellphone of their new baby, hoping he would somehow see it. His body was found some days later. M.’s story is so mixed with joy and sorrow it is hard to process it all. Still. But today it was an honor to be there for her and her girls; to listen and cry and remember. To give them a tangible gift representative of love from around the world.
Photo 2:
IMG_4889
For our Be One team, we struggle to find the most appropriate way to show love and respond to people’s ongoing pain and struggles. We choose pretty simple and informal styles in which we can adjust and respond to the needs that we see. We closed the past 24 hours this evening with a gathering of worship and sharing. We asked any of our local friends to share things that they’ve learned the past five years. As we passed around the mike, we heard many touching stories. One of our older local friends started to share but couldn’t finish – the pain was still so raw. And then our friend Joey closed by sharing from Psalm 23 and ending with two simple things: 1) God isn’t done here yet – greater things are still to come in this city! and 2) We are “one” as a community – we stand together through the valleys, the pain, and the joy. It is good to have such a place to belong!
As we closed and stood in a large circle, holding hands, I felt so thankful (and quite weepy!) for the privilege of being in this place that is so intermingled with pain but priceless friendships. I am so incredibly thankful that in the middle of such brokenness there are wonderful communities like the one we experience where hope is being born.

Beauty & Brokenness 3/8/16

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(Day 4: my “beauty and brokenness” perspective to illustrate the state of things in Ishinomaki five years after the disaster. One photo of something beautiful around me, and another of something that represents what is still broken or resulting from the earthquake and tsunami that hit here. I feel thankful to have the privilege of living here and bring able to share the state of life here.)

My beautiful entry for today… there are inlets and rivers and canals surrounding us.  This is what made the tsunami so incredibly damaging in our city — the water just travelled inland through a myriad of channels.  But these bodies of water are so beautiful, especially with the bridges and the boats and the buoys and all that makes this a fishing city.

IMG_3365 3My brokenness entry:

IMG_4795This was my iPhone app yesterday when a 4.7 quake jostled us – a frequent occurrence.  We all pause whatever we are doing, look around, and wait.  When it seems clear that it isn’t going to be a really “big” one, we continue with what we are doing.  But each rumble is a reminder of the loss of five years ago.  PTSD runs rampant here.  One quake a few weeks ago brought instant tears of fear to one of the friends I was with.  One of the women i work with said last week, “It is hard that there are so many earthquakes recently.  They just remind us even more of how terrible things were five years ago, and everyone wonders if it is going to happen again.”

Beauty and Brokenness

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I decided this next week or so to daily share my own “beauty and brokenness” perspective through photos on Facebook that help illustrate the state of things in Ishinomaki five years after the disaster. One photo of something beautiful around me, and another photo of something that represents what is still broken or resulting from the earthquake and tsunami that hit here. I feel thankful to have the privilege of living here and bring able to share the state of life here.  Here are the photos and summaries of the first three days…

Day 1, 3/5/16 Beauty, and Brokenness

Day 2, 3/6/16

Beauty: Perhaps because of the strong sea winds, the clouds and sky are so beautiful in Ishinomaki!  Brokenness:  This is the back of our kids’ nearby elementary school; the blue line represents the height of the tsunami waters. These blue signs are everywhere around our town, perhaps making sure people don’t forget the danger that exists living in this coastal town. Probably an important reminder, but it means everyone everyday must see these signs and remember…

Beauty:  This is our neighbors’ home, the Aizawas. (Our home is the yellow one in the background). Their garden had been a place to cheer my heart since before we moved in. No matter what season, it is well-maintained and even in the frozenness of winter there is something blooming! They told us that five years ago this garden became a parking lot for trucks and cars that got dragged this far in by the tsunami waters. So many have chosen to find ways to plant and grown new life where there had been terrible destruction. They are my heroes.  Brokenness:  This is a small piece of the parking lot on the other side of our home. Every time it rains, more broken pottery is brought to the surface, a vivid reminder still five years later of so much that has been broken.

Leap Day Time Capsule

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My friend  Tim Miles (I’ve never met him but still consider him a friend!) wrote a blog a few weeks ago challenging us to do something creative and unforgettable on Leap Day.  It sort of bugged me because I have been in the deficit in terms of emotional energy the past month or so, feeling incapable of coming up with anything creative besides a dinner plan each night.  But I at least TRIED to brainstorm.

I thought about the crazy idea of wisking Eric away today by bullet train, going down to Tokyo for lunch, and coming back before the kids came back from school, but – nay, not likely. I wasn’t sure we were ready for a $400 lunch…Strike one!

So my back up plan was to call the nicest restaurant in town with the torches lit out front to get reservations for lunch. We’ve been wanting to go for a year – leap day would be perfect!  Alas, they are no longer serving lunch.  Strike two!

So, instead, we had a fun lunch at a cow tongue restaurant (yes, you read it right – it truly is one of our favorites), and then got 30 minute massages.  I was ok with this not-super-creative Leap Day date because of the idea I had come up with the day before — to create a family Leap Year Time Capsule!  This would satisfy my creative inklings and maybe, just maybe, be ok for Tim Miles too.

So tonight at dinner we talked about it.  I have to say – it took awhile to get everyone enthused.  As our friend Jeweliann said, who was eating with us – it’s a lot funner when you get to OPEN the box, than when you are first making it.  But eventually everyone was IN.

Our oldest did some online research for ideas of things that we could put inside. We gathered our items together (see photo below), including:  a newsletter and family card; pictures of our friend Megan who got married, our friends Cam and Ayami who had a baby, our family schedule from the fridge, the kids’ school lunch menu, Owen’s christmas list (it was still hanging on the fridge); a token from the trolly Eric and Owen rode last year in Philadelphia, an airplane boarding pass, the bulletin from my dad’s funeral, half of Annie’s only sand dollar, a Costco receipt, sea glass that we got off the ocean floor in Kauai last summer, Olivia’s old school name tag, and a (new) pair of underwear that were a funny gift to Eric from the Nozomi staff…

IMG_4689

We also typed out a list of answers to questions like:  What music are we listening to this year? Whats been our favorite tv shows/movies?  highlights of the past year? saddest thing of the last year? closest friends right now? favorite foods? (they inevitably bring up the peanut butter noodle stir-fry dish I made TWO years ago, ONCE, that goes down as worst meal EVER, so we had to create the worse food category, even though, let me say again, it was TWO years ago!); predictions of what they will want to be doing or good at in four years; what we’ve been learning from/about God; who of our single friends will be married; what pets we will have. We had some silly answers, and some more serious ones.

When the ground dries up from today’s rain, we are planning to bury our time capsule in our yard, with everything double ziploced inside a tin can.  In four years, we will dig it out, read it, and add to it… and hope it’s a ritual that continues for many leap days to come.  We’ve decided that if we move, we will take our capsule with us and bury it in our new location… Hopefully we won’t forget where we buried it.

Have you ever done a time capsule?  Before we bury ours, are there any other items you suggest we include?  Happy Leap Day, everyone.

 

 

It happened in the library

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I have managed to (mostly) complete my January hustle – to organize and label our kids’ books all together in a more prominent place — the living room.

Until recently I had hoped that having books placed in different rooms in the house would encourage our children to read in those various locations.  But we have been disappointed that our kids still don’t all really enjoy reading, and due to their main education being in Japanese they are behind in their English reading levels.

So we pulled out a deep Ikea bookshelf perpendicular to the wall, and used both sides to create a simple library that now serves as a separator between our open living and dining rooms. I’ve pulled all of our kids books to one prominent location, and bought a cushy beanbag chair and lamp to go there.  I made very simple color-coded categories that I used to label and tag them: early readers, story books, history, science, animals, Japanese, bible stories, chapter books. I have a basket in front of the bookshelf in which I’m placing weekly favorites, as a way of pulling out books to catch their attention.

It’s been great to see the kids at various times of each day just “hanging out” with the books.  Even our oldest has had fun revisiting some of the books that had been read to him when he was younger. Books are just so awesome!

IMG_4429

Over the weekend our friend Jordan was telling us about an NPR show he had listened to that talked about the importance of available books in a home determining the academic success of children.  We’ve always loved books, and so I hope that this first-month-of-the-year hustle will help kick our kids up to new levels of discovery.