The Pursuit of Perfection

Its a compliment - really. The fat rich man, a common japanese card game, clearly portrays the culture here. This game is played with 4 or more people, and all the cards in the deck are dealt. The goal of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hand. At the beginning, the person with the 3 of spades (3's are the lowest card) starts. He will lay down a single 3, or a pair of 3's, or if he has it, three 3's. Then going in clockwise order, the next player must lay down a higher card than the one on the table. So if a single 3 was laid down, the next person would lay down a single 4 or higher, a pair of 3's, a pair of 4's or higher, ect. If you cannot play a card (either you do not have a high enough card or the right number of cards) you say "pass." Once everyone "passes," the person who laid down the highest card then starts the entire process again. It is a game of strategy, between laying down the right cards at the right time. The first person to get rid of all of their cards by this process becomes "The fat rich man." The rest battle it out for second, third, and fourth.

Now here is the catch - The "rich fat man" will take the head of the table, and everyone will sit in order of their position. Then, after the cards are dealt, the rich fat man will take the highest 2 cards of the person in fourth place, giving them their 2 lowest cards, and the second place person will take the third person's highest card, giving them their lowest card.

This is the mentality the Japanese are born into. Those who rise to power stay in power, and those who aren't "good enough" are continually bashed into the ground. This is in all aspects of life - from academics to sports. For these reasons, the japanese students push themselves beyond all reasons. Their entire worth in life is how they can succeed, how much money they can get. But the pursuit of perfection can have drastic ends.

Japan has the highest suicide for any nation in the world. Business men who do not get the job, students who do not make it into a select school, or even those who get trampled in the rush for success all decide there is nothing more to live for. They become jumpers - throwing themselves in front of the fast moving trains. And the saddest part of all is the way the Japanese view this. The loss of a life is not disheartening to them. No, they are now late to work. There is an inconvenience. They are more worried about the stopped train system than the stop of someone's existence.

We come with a message of Hope.

Jesus.

Continue to pray as we make contacts here. I have a new contact thanks to the CBU Music team - Y. He is struggling between choosing Buddhism and Christianity. Pray God will use me to reach him for the glory of Christ.