As dawn breaks, I want nothing more than something familiar before I face the challenges of the day. Oh, for toasted sourdough bread alongside the “not too heavy, not too light” cereals I grew up eating in Australia!
Nobody warned me about Japanese breakfast.
A traditional Japanese breakfast is rice topped with fish, raw egg, and natto (fermented soy beans). Many will tell you about the health benefits of natto—but first you need to overlook the fact that it smells like unwashed socks with the texture of slime.
“Western style” breakfast is also available in Japan, but it only took a few mornings before my tastebuds signalled to me that this was not the bread and cereal they were looking for.
It is natural to seek escape from our discomfort. During our first few years in Japan, our family back home took pity on our plight and mailed us boxes of cereal. Oh, how we relished each mouthful!
One of the peculiarities of daily life in a new culture—we’re surprised at what triggers homesickness. Perhaps today it’s breakfast, but tomorrow it will be something as unexpected as being told we must wear long pants in summer.
However, sometimes we are called to embrace discomfort so we can love those whom we are seeking for Christ. When Paul says, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some,” (1 Cor 9:22) I wonder if he was thinking about some of the unusual meals he encountered on his missionary journeys. For it can be in these seemingly small changes in our daily life that we learn to love our Japanese friends just a little bit more. And perhaps in embracing these small things we develop a capacity to overcome some of the greater cross-cultural challenges that lay before us.
A few years ago, we decided to eat a traditional Japanese breakfast each morning. While I still struggle with natto, this new routine was a lot easier than we expected. What surprised us more was when we returned to Australia for a one-year Home Assignment. We tried out the cereals we once loved—but found ourselves craving rice and fish instead!
By Andrew, an OMF missionary
#OMFJapan #PrayforJapan
