Not so foreign
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TOKYO, JAPAN
There was only the slightest hint of dawn in the Hiroo-o district of Tokyo on Tuesday morning, Feb. 5. The temperature was above freezing, but barely.
Sister Vanalee Carruth walked up to the multi-purpose meetinghouse adjacent to the lighted Tokyo Japan Temple, entered and began setting up a classroom.
The subway cars and the city streets were less than busy as teenagers began arriving at the meetinghouse just before 6 a.m. Some arrived in cars, others on bicycles, and still others by foot.
Their day was beginning as it did every school day with an early-morning international English-speaking seminary class made up of international students in the area.
The day's attendance was nine. Generally, at least 12 of the 17 enrolled are there, but winter illnesses had taken a toll, Sister Carruth explained to the Church News. The students are extremely faithful in their attendance, she said. Besides illness, only a rare early-morning school commitment can keep them away, she added.
Most of the three young men and six young women in attendance said they arise after 5 a.m., just giving themselves time to quickly get ready for the day and make it to seminary by 6. For a few, it's not so easy. Meg Mihara is up at 4 a.m., usually with prodding from her father, for the long train and subway excursion from her home near Tokyo Disneyland to the inner city.
Each of the four wards in the Tokyo Japan South (English speaking) Stake has a before-school international seminary class overlaid by daily seminary classes in the Japanese stakes.
Five of the Tokyo 1st Ward seminary students attending this day rush out at the end of class to get to the bus for an hour ride to the American School in Japan. Lexi Johnson has time to relax before moving on to the school she attends — nearby International School of Sacred Heart. Evelyn Huang, 18, has finished secondary school but still attends seminary while preparing to move on to university. She and her younger brother and sister — Johnny and Christine, who also attend private school — are from Taiwan.
Meg attends a private school near the seminary; she said she can see Angel Moroni atop the temple spire from her classroom. The seminary operates on the schedule of the American School in Japan and Meg attends on this day even though it is a holiday for her school. It is not uncommon, Sister Carruth said, for students at non-ASIJ schools to show up on days when their schools are closed.
The international classes are taught in English. The students might know some Japanese, but most are much more comfortable with English because they attend English-language schools and speak English in their homes.
Most students live in Japan because of parents' employment. Many are from the United States. Of those, several share the opinion expressed by Lexi Larsen who, when asked where she is from, replied, "Tokyo, where else?" Some have lived most of their lives in Japan and see the U.S. as the "foreign" country.
Evelyn, Johnny and Christina Huang are from Taiwan and their English is ahead of their Japanese. Meg is Japanese, but was born in the U.S. and lived there and in Australia for several years before her native Japanese parents' business brought them back to Tokyo. Meg speaks English with a charming Australian accent.
For all of them, seminary is important enough to make the sacrifice required to attend, and Sister Carruth said the growth in their testimonies and gospel knowledge is inspiring.
E-mail to: ghill@desnews.com
