Not the sport, the restaurant!

I know I just posted about today's LifeLine; but I realized our guest was a musician. Again. Lest you think all we do are programs about musicians, let me introduce last week's program!

Polo is a natural food restaurant that was just opening a few months about by (Mr.) Genki and (Mrs.) Akiko Kudou. Akiko got interested in natural foods when she worked at a restaurant that caters to people with allergies and other food concerns. And both she and Genki were hoping to find work that would give them Sunday off so they could attend church... "We really couldn't find anything that would let us take Sunday off, and the timing seemed right, so..." Away they went.

Not doing any advertising, but word of mouth keeps them plenty busy. We followed them to church and took the service and the fellowship time afterwards so viewers could see just what this "church thing" that is so important to the Kudous is all about!

No, we're not having a crisis of faith! LifeLine this week features J-pop singer/songwriter Jinnouchi Taizou. Jinnouchi-san is a recording artist who had several hits in his early career, as well as having penned a number of well-known jingles for TV commercials. He has just released his 11th album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his debut. (Hmmm... 20 year anniversaries are all the rage this year.)

This link will take you to a YouTube clip of the song that he's probably most well-known for.

But he is also a pastor! He was a young man going to seminary when his music got noticed. He dropped out to pursue a career with a major label. As a middle-aged man, he went back to finish seminary and has been pastoring a church since 2007.

"Where is God" is the top track of the new CD. Here is a link to a page selling the CD, which will also let you listen to bits of it.

I did a quick translation of the lyrics

Where is God? Where is God?

I pray He is near to you in that pain
Beside you in that dark loneliness

What is Love? What is Love?

If you would just notice it and hope for it
It is the Hand that wants to block the blow
It is the Hand that wants to reach out
It is the Hand that wants to embrace

I sing my song, looking up to the blue sky
I sing my song, riding the rustling winds
Maybe God is here
If only you would listen
If only you would listen

He still performs in smaller venues, and we were able to tape one of his concerts. He's a very engaging speaker as well, and his interview and testimony were a lot of fun. The viewers seemed to think so, too. Here's a bit from one email that came in through our web site after the broadcast this morning:

I saw this program for the first time today. Jinnouchi-san's talk was really interesting. From listening to Jinnouchi-san's music before I've thought I ought to try going to church sometime, but now having watched this program, I'm really interested in going!

Our followup people will get him pointed in the right direction! (^ ^)

"Dollar hits 14-year low against yen"
http://tinyurl.com/y9pn4cz


This is really hurting BJapan.

It turns out Aileen has an occasional gripe about me. I Know! Hard to imagine, but true nonetheless. One is that, in spite of being married to a photographer, she has precious few good photographs of her magnum opus. Er, opuses? Opii?

Guilty as charged. Sorry, kids -- your modeling sessions never happened.

But Mom's getting me in shape for when grandkids arrive and the other day set up a shoot with the Owen and Sarah Ames family, to take a few pictures of their newborn, Joshua Owen Ames. The Ames' are working on a new TEAM church planting effort, not too far away from where we live. This is the first step in a plan that will see several new church plants taking place in metro Tokyo. So they're dealing with two 'newborns' at the same time! Now you know what you can pray about this week.

Anyway, Joshua was a champ. Well, sort of. Nap time was right there on his schedule, but did he cooperate? Not really. Every time we took his blanket off, stuck a silly prop on him or tickled him with feathers, he woke up and started crying! And even though he knew we'd taken his diaper off, he still wet the blanket, and, um, er, (how to put this delicately?), soiled his Daddy.

But he was awfully cute. And Aileen and I had a lot of fun.

Not sure he did.

But you can judge for yourself -- his pics are here.