Notes from Tokyo: How It Started…

When we reflect on the journey that brought us to the decision to move to Japan, it’s like much of life: beautifully complex and providential.

We could flash all the way back to the mid-90s when James was first introduced to anime while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Or we could jump ahead to the 2000’s when James was hugely impacted by his Japanese worship pastor at church. However all of the pieces fit together, what started as an appreciation for a culture very different from our own, has evolved over time, for both of us, into a deep affection for Japan and its people.

Around the time COVID shut down New York city where we were living, we started to weigh what was next for our family.

Living in Japan seemed like a distant dream at the time. After all, we had never set foot in the country, but that didn’t stop James from bringing up his growing interest in moving there. We didn’t feel God was giving us clear direction one way or another, but the idea was exciting. 

After a couple of failed attempts to visit, (thanks COVID!) we finally had an opportunity to make our first trip to Japan in November of 2022 and that sealed the deal for us. After a near-perfect 14 days in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, we started taking tentative steps towards exploring what life abroad might look like.

We decided the best way to be sure about whether living in Japan was right for us was to do a trial run. James was working remotely at the time, so why not work from Tokyo? He booked two, 3-month trips. One at the end of 2023 and one in early 2024. I joined for a couple of weeks at a time. The time we spent there on and off for six months set the stage for our next steps.

Around the same time, I started volunteering with Plant Japan - a ministry started by Kimberly Carlson, a friend of a friend. As part of that ministry, I had an opportunity to lead a Bible study with a Japanese woman. The experience of getting to share the gospel with her opened my eyes to the need for more churches in Japan.

Cross-cultural ministry isn’t a new experience for me. My family moved to Mexico City to become full time missionaries when I was seven years old. If I’m honest, it’s not the direction I wanted my life to go. For more than a decade, James and I have been working corporate jobs in some of the most influential cities in the world and enjoying the perks that lifestyle affords. So going into full time ministry was the last thing on my mind, but God was clearly working in both of our hearts (we’d love to share more in depth about what this looked like in a later post, but we’re trying to keep this to a readable length. 🙂)

During James’ time living in Japan, he attended Soma Tokyo Church. We first learned about Soma Tokyo when our pastor in Seattle, knowing our interest in Japan, shared a podcast with us where the lead pastor, Yoshito, was interviewed about the joys and challenges of leading a church in Japan. It reinforced what we were already realizing. Japan doesn’t need more ambitious, corporate workers. It needs more people to bring the truth and hope of the gospel, so we made a big pivot and decided to move to Japan as missionaries. 

James began to talk more regularly with the lead pastors at Soma Tokyo and learned more about their mission and work in the city, which started a year-long process of understanding how we might support their work. James was invited to serve on the staff and all the while I got more involved in Plant Japan as a marketing consultant.

The last few months of 2024 were a whirlwind. After moving out of our townhouse in Seattle at the end of September, we moved in with James’ parents just south of Seattle in Olympia, Washington where we set up a temporary home base to finalize our plans to move to Tokyo full time.  

For those who have experienced the endlessly complicated process of moving abroad, you know how the transition in and of itself can feel like a full time job.

We raced to learn as much as we could about tax implications, visa application requirements, and so much more. All the while we were both working full time, studying Japanese and visiting dear friends and family in Portland, Austin, Park City, and New York City to say our goodbyes.

I’m tired all over again just writing about it.

Here are a few fun pictures of our time with family and friends as we prepared for the full time move…

In what ended up being a genuine blessing for our family, James’ company went through a reorg and he was laid off of his job at the end of October, which freed up his time to focus primarily on improving his Japanese fluency and ramping up with his brand new role on staff at Soma Tokyo. He also helped me stay sane while I continued to work my job and volunteer my time getting Plant Japan up and running as we bounced around literally all of the time zones.

We were grateful to enjoy the perks of flexible schedules and supportive family and friends as we juggled so much. After making our preparations, celebrating the holidays, and submitting our visa application, we boarded a plane to Tokyo at the end of January! 

Though it’s been a big year of change for us, in many ways it’s easy to look back and see how our experiences so far have been preparing us for this moment. From living in big cities, to mission work abroad, God has brought us through many joys and trials to prepare us for this next season. We are just getting started and we can’t wait to bring you along for the journey.