Japanese Concept of Christianity

Japan's Christian population is about 1%. There is not a very good understanding of Christianity among the Japanese. Of course the same is true for most non-Christian Westerners (although unlike Japanese non-Christians, most Western non-Christians believe they understand what Christ is all about, but that's not my point).
My point is: Japan expresses its horribly wrong conception of Christianity in very different ways than the West does, in a distinctly Japanese way: cute.

A picture from a gift shop in Seki, a small traditional town I visited this week
Wear a Christian cross as a charm to bring Love, Success, Money, or Lucky!

A toy that sold in Japan (which probably wasn't distributed very widely)
On the box, you can see a boy praying to the toy for the love of a school classmate.
(the source, Engrish.com, generally only presents examples of bad English from Japan, but in this case, they included the toy because they were struck by its extremely off-base concept of God).

This is a part of the spiritual environment outside the walls of Yokkaichi Christ Church.

The Japanese Concept of Animal Poop

I don't know what the deal is, or whether many Japanese people had traumatic experiences with animal poop as children, but whatever the cause, the outcome is a disproportionate presence of animal poop warning signs. These signs employ vivid imagery and expressive faces to get the point across.

Poop Sign 1
This one I found in a park near the church.

Poop Sign 2
Ryan took a picture of this on his camping trip in Hokkaido.
Lit. "Beware of seagull poop."

Let's get started with this blog thing

Well, I have opened up all kinds of communication methods in order to cling to the relationships I have with Americans. And this online journal is one of them.
I don't want this to be celebrate-my-intellect time; this is a chance to share a glimpse of Japan and how I'm living in it, and a chance for you to give your thoughts. And I'll try to avoid mundane details, although sometimes they may help paint a picture of daily life.

God is working here, though in obvious ways not very quickly.
(current reading: Brother's Karamazov. )