Matsuri means festival. During many of these festivals they
use portable shrines and floats to, in essence, take the gods for a walk.
More Matsuri Pictures
Many things in Japan have a different look or aesthetic than in America.
This bright purple garbage truck that plays music as it moves around, for
example, would be typical of the bright colors often chosen for heavy equipment.
Sewer cover photo gallery: here
Legend has it that earthquakes are caused by a giant fish that
lives underground. Emergency evacuation routes in Tokyo are marked with
the fish symbol in the picture (click to enlarge). Twenty percent of the
world's earthquakes happen in Japan and it is not a matter of if another
disastrous one will happen but when.
Click on the following links for more pictures:
Christmas in Tokyo
Snow Picts
Origami
Christmas
Town
Daily Life
Miscellaneous
Lost in Ikebukuro Family
Sports
First Impressions
A typical day for Brian journal (sorry, no picts)
here.
The classroom website for Brian's trip to Nagasaki (made for my students but
some interesting pictures) here.
The Vander Haaks 
December, 2006
Our calling:
We have been blessed in the past 10 years to receive two very clear,
dramatic calls from the Lord. The first was to pack up our tents, leave our
family and friends, and move across country (from Washington State to Washington
D.C.) to serve as teachers at Washington Christian Academy. And then, just as
both places became cherished “homes” filled with people we love and
meaningful work, God reached into our lives and challenged us to
follow His call to labor in this Japanese vineyard.
Brian is the high school principal at Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ).
Bette is teaching art to grades 6-12 at CAJ.
Our children, Emily, Christopher and David are attending the school.
Our mission:
The stated mission of the Christian Academy in Japan is “to prepare students
to impact the world for Christ.” We are part of that critical calling by
training a new generation of leaders for His service. We are also supporting the efforts of other missionaries by accepting an active role as
covenant parents and providing a quality education for their children. In
addition, by living in Japan and being involved in our neighborhood and the
larger community, we are spreading the gospel and modeling its affirming
power in this exciting but challenging mission field.
Our partners:
We are partner missionaries with Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM).
CRWM is assisting us in many of the details of living overseas and is also helping us acquire prayer support and raise supplemental income to offset
living in the most expensive city in the world: Tokyo. If God leads you to
support us, you can use the form found at this
link. By using CRWM for financial assistance, you will have the benefit of
making a tax deductible contribution.
Contact us:
Email addresses:
Brian@vanderhaaks.com
Postal Addresses:
Summer and Mail Forwarding to Japan:
Brian Vander Haak
C/o Gertrude Statema
902 Judson #102
Lynden, WA, 98264
Japan:
Brian Vander Haak
C/o Christian Academy in Japan
1-2-14 Shinkawa Cho
Higashi Kurume Shi
Tokyo 203-0013
Japan
To support (form):
Christian Reformed World Missions
2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49502-8033