October 20, 2026
Hey Guys! 👋🏽 We cannot believe one week has gone by so fast! Since touching down on Wednesday, October 14th of last week, at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo, we have had a whirlwind of emotions as we learn to quickly adjust to life in Japan. 🤩
THE FLIGHT – Lets just say that traveling for 26 hours straight and going across about 14 time zones leaves you feeling a little upside down. However, we have to say the treatment we received on the Nippon Airways (Japanese airline) flight from Vancouver to Tokyo was TOP notch. Lastly, on this topic, for those wondering of customs. Just do as the countless number of youtube videos tell you to do and you will be OKAY! 👌🏽 The process is very smooth.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS – Arriving in Tokyo, one thing quickly became apparent to us both. Everything is so QUIET. Riding the train. Quiet. Walking the Street. Quiet. Busy Konbini? Quiet. Full Restaurant. Quiet. The amount of tranquility that can be found in the largest city in the world is truly mind boggling.
CULTURE SHOCK!? – After arriving and quickly navigating the extremely busy train system and making it to our small apartment in Takenotsuka (suburb of Tokyo) we felt a huge feeling of success and excitement. It finally began to sink in that we had made it to Japan. The next couple days would be a little harder than we imagined adjusting to the jet lag, figuring out how things work, and even something as simple as buying groceries turned into a full day affair. 🤪
TADAIMA ただいま– After a much needed day of rest, on Friday we were back on the train headed to Utsunomiya, Tochigi. Little did we know we were in for an action packed weekend thanks to our sweet friend – Yoko. (Storytime…. Reyna and Yoko met for the first time when Reyna did a similar trip but to Bolivia, some 12 years ago. Yoko, who is also one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan, was also in Bolivia at the same time. These two quickly hit it off and have been friends ever since. Yoko even attended our wedding in September of 2019 before heading back to her home country.) Arriving in Utsunomiya we were quickly greeted by Yoko and some of the friends from the Utsunomiya congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and before we knew it we were off to have the locally renowned cuisine of Gyoza and Ramen. OISHII!!! Later, we would arrive to where we would be staying for the weekend, the house of Aki and Kana. We cannot say enough of how much we felt instantly at home – There’s a beautiful Japanese expression, “tadaima,” which means “I’m home” and in response the other person will say “okaeri,” which means “Welcome home.” – We came as foreigners, visitors, tourists if you will, but felt as if we just simply came back home. We spent four unforgettable days with these friends. We shared in the ministry work in Japanese and Tagalog. Kieran gave a bible study in English to a man from Nepal. We were taught how to make local cuisine like yakisoba, miso soup, and Japanese curry. We literally ate and ate and ate and ATE! Who in the world said Japanese people eat less!? 😝
This is only a small taste of what we look forward to during the rest of our trip. ❤️ Now, we will begin sharing in our local Spanish congregation and continue to make Japan home for the rest of our stay!
Thanks for reading and following along. Till next time! Mata ne! 👋🏽
PS. – Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery below the “About Us” section on the main page. 📸
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