visitors

Earlier this week I had two Japanese visitors ring my doorbell! I enjoyed talking to them - I even got to say "My name is Pepper" in Japanese, then we switched to English! Even familiar situations have their Japanese twists here...It was a guy and GIRL and neither were wearing the traditional black pants, white shirt, and black tie so I didn't immediately know who they were as I would have in the states. I was actually completely clueless until they gave me a pamphlet as they were leaving that they were Jehovah's Witnesses!

A few days later the girl came back with another girl. We talked about a wide variety of things - including what is important in a successful marriage (they seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say about this since they are both single). I also found it interesting that they feel intimidated by American sailors...from my perspective it's completely the opposite, we feel intimidated by the Japanese! Of course we also talked about God and religion and they really put me on the spot several times (without meaning to...I think). Their questions were much more direct than I'm accustomed to in the states and they even asked for a specific scripture at one point. While my beliefs don't necessarily align with theirs, I really appreciated the honestly and sincerity that these girls showed and will add this to the list of unusual experiences here in Japan!