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I served in the Sapporo Mikaho area during the Hotta era. There was a space about 3 feet wide between the back of the building and the fence behind it. It was filled with all sorts of bike parts like a vast bicycle gaveyard. Our bikes would on occassion get stolen, but we could always go to the "graveyard" and piece together another whole bike from all the various parts there. Or, even upgrade a donated bike. Anybody else remember that huge junkpile?
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Yes, of course it has been 10 years now, but if I remember correctly, we used Kuroneko (Black Cat) courier service to send stuff during transfers. It was cheap. 500yen (about $5) for suitcase/box and 1000yen for a bike and they picked it up right in front of the apartment. Since it was so cheap, most missionaries accumulated quite a bit of baggage, and transferred with a box or two in addition to suitcases.
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We moraued bikes in my day too (Hotta/Hoki). I never had a bike I didn't like. I did trade up once in a while but they were strong, fast, good looking enough and came in all colors. Well, there was one bike I didn't like too much, the tandem bike in Otaru. The only bad thing about the bikes was when the slush froze on your chain and under your fender when in a lesson. But a good screw driver could fix that in no time. The only other disappointment was when me dode refused to ride in the winter just because the mission president forbade it.
I took Sorrells with an extra pair of liners. Matt Cole gave me some beewax in the MTC to waterproof. They not only lasted my whole mission, I still have them, and only recently changed the liners (after almost twenty years).
In Sapporo we often got mimi pan. The workers at the shop must have liked us because every once in a while we got a full loaf of raisin bread. That was so great! We used the stuff for toast and French toast.
I have to refute the idea that a Japanese elder wouldn't morau a couch. Nakatsuka Choro and I found one while knocking doors in Nayoro. The lady whose porch it was on said she was getting rid of it and that we could have it. We put it on the back racks of our bikes with our inside arms thrown over the back of the couch and rode home right down the street in broad daylight. The funniest couch story I had though, was when we traded the Otaru apaato's couch for a better one with the place down the hill from the church. The 'new' couch was out under the stars so we believed it was tradeable. We toook the old couch down and the 'new' one home. I laugh so hard at the though of what we were doing.
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During the Munns era we also 'moraued' whatever bikes and parts we could. Sometimes members would give the missionaries old bikes they no longer needed. My best bike was a nice 10 speed I had in Wakkanai. As for the infamous "mimi pan" , the best spot was a bakery (morimoto??) in downtown Chitose. The bags (grocery bag size) were full of pieces that were unevenly cut as well as the ends. Often it was very fresh when we picked it up on P-Day. If you were in an area with an Ito Yokado they often had excellent "mimi pan" as well. For transfers we usually carried our suitcases with us on the train and sent any extra stuff by Okuda takyubin. The company was run by Pres Bin Kikuchi who is now an area authority.
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Matt McBride's idea of having two pairs of glasses is one of the best ideas I have ever heard! I wore glasses back then, and in the Winter it took days (or so it seemed) for them to de-fog. I would strongly encourage everyone Sapporo-bound to take two pair!
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I have enjoyed reading how times have changed. As stated earlier, we "moraued" 90% of what we had in our apts or homes. I still remember bringing a sofa home one night in Asahigawa straddled across two bikes. I'm sure anyone who saw us snickered about the 2 absolutely crazy gaijins they saw. (Understandably it was hard to get a native companion to do any of this, they still had to maintain their dignity!) We went back to the same heap where we got the sofa on the side of the road and retrieved a curio cabinet that with minor repairs served well to store books and supplies. We normally did this kind of stuff at night after 9:00 so we didn't run into others on the street.
As for mugi, every care package from the states included a bottle of flavoring for the stuff. We ate it with every concievable flavoring you can imagine - anything so that it didn' taste so bland. In Kitami, there was a milling company that we could go to direct and buy the stuff, always enduring the scrutinizing looks of the workers at the place.
In Otaru we would go to the large bakery there and fill up 2 garbage sacks with pan no mimi when needed. Because the apato had a full sized refrigerator, we would transfer the bread to smaller plastic bags and freeze until needed. One missionary knocked on a door and was about to introduce himself when the lady stopped him, recognizing him as one of the elders who came to the bakery for pan no mimi. She remarked " Oh I recognize you easily. You're from that church whose members only eat bread and water"!
M Neal Bowes
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I understand the Mission has the Missionaries use some shipping company that picks up the bikes (I assume they also take the suitcases) on transfer day to the new area. That should make transfers easy with a bike. When I was on a mission in Switzerland 74-76 when we transfered on the trains we would check our bikes as baggage on the baggage car. There was a small extra fee to do this.
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Finch Kun :) Is absolutely on target. We (Hoki - '83-'84 jidai) never paid for bikes and as I recall I had a few dogs, but had some good ones too. In fact, there was only one missionary (sorry, don't remember the name) that had a bike that he actually owned and transferred with.
Seems to me that worrying about a bike i.e. maintaining it, making sure it didn't get stolen, etc. would be more of a distraction than morau'ing one was for us 'way back then'. I can't even imagine how I would have managed a transfer if I had to take a bike along as well.
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New missionaries were asked to purchase their bicycles during my mission in mid to late 1989 under President Tsuchida. I had several new companions that bought them when they arrived. I was somewhat jealous as I rode ecclectic bicycles during my time as a senkyoshi. I had several of them give up the ghost because the rickety deathtraps were unstable--most of them jury-rigged to make them somewhat functionable. Hirai Choro, my first companion in Obihiro, was somewhat decent at repairing these bikes. I hit a car pulling out of the horseracing track in Obihiro when a worker pulled into the sidewalk area. (I did leave a 2 inch deep dent in the door of his car. He was apologetic.) The mission rule was changed during my time as we spent way too much time repairing dangerous junk and because of the danger in using these pieces of gomi. The new missionaries had been required to purchase their bikes at the time of their arrival. The new bikes were cool! I still was able to survive on my junk bike and had a companion, Hyer Choro, who failed to use his brakes correctly on gravel as he had been cruising "Elder Williams" Style at mach six on Hakodate Yama following an appointment. He did fly for about 2 seconds and then used his steel belted Sweedish knit suit as a braking system. I never thought that those suits could tear, but Elder Hyer had not been included in the Research and Development team. They saved his arm and his hiney as they took the brunt of his short and traumatic test of physics. This was, on the cool, new mountain bikes. The helmets were probably required soon after I left in late 1989 or early 1990. I love talking about mission bikes. It is almost like talking about old friends. In my case--old, old, old friends.
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The helmet rule went into effect around April of 1993. We were issued helmets at a zone taikai or they may have come in the mail, I don't remember exactly. They looked alot like the ones in the picture on the website, really stylish. At least people weren't too interested in stealing them, although I know some choros forgot to lock them up and "lost" them. We had to buy new ones if that happened. Judging from the elders around our area, it seems that you can pick from other helmets now, or don't have to use the church issued ones. Like Stanger Choro said a good bike and a pair of good boots are well worth the money. The members probably aren't in a position to donate the money to buy a bike for every greenie, so plan on spending around $500. If you get outside of Sapporo plan on riding and walking alot of miles (or kilometers). The areas are large. Your feet will thank you for some good boots, and you legs and rear end will thank you for a good bike with a good seat. One suggestion for any new missionary that wears glasses. My trainer brought two pairs of glasses, and he took them with us every where we went during the winter. Whenever we got into a lesson, he traded the glasses that he had in his pocket inside his suit. That way he didn't have to wait until his glasses weren't fooged up to see who we were talking to. If you can afford it, it seemed to be kind of a nice thing to have. Luckily I didn't wear glasses or contacts and didn't have to deal with it.
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The newer Sorel boots look really nice. One thing I can't tell from the site is whether they have removable liners. The Sorels that I had *did* have removable liners, and I was very thankful for that! They could be dried very quickly when not inside the boot. Also, the liner tended to wear out faster than the rest of the boot, so I had the parents send me a new set of liners (which weren't too expensive, I'm told). It was like having new boots.
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Senkyooshi's PAY for bikes now-a-days???!!! That's a real change from 83-85! Like Elder Foote wrote (Hey Brian, how are you doing?) we NEVER paid for bikes. Granted, some of them were possibly acquired in a shady manner (i.e. abandoned at the local eki), but paying money for one was unheard of. Are the senkyoshi-member relationships good enough to ask for donations? It seems that mission money could be spent on a lot of other worth-while things...
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The mugi that we ate during the Christensen and Beckstrand eras was not from the local zoo. Christensen shimai assured me of that. Althought there was a rumor that some of the shimais bought some from a local farmer that was intended as chicken feed that had some steroids in it and they gained about 40 pounds in a couple of months. Probably a mormon myth, just like the choro riding his bike upside down in a tunnel. I don't know how much our messages have helped the new missionary, but they sure have been fun to read.
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When did the bicycle helmet rule go into effect? I didn't see a single helmet 89-91. I don't think I could even have bought one if I wanted to.
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I can relate to Bowes-kun as I was there at the same time ('76-'78). I had someone translate the writing on the side of a bag of mugi on the way home from zone conference. It was wheat and intended as 'chicken feed'. We were buying large bags of 'pan no mimi' at Roba Pan in Sapporo one time and the fellow asked, "How many dogs do you have?" When we replied "none", he asked, "The what do you feed the pan no mimi to?" He was really taken back when we said we ate them. So, our typical breakfast was chicken feed and dog food!
I also never bought a bike -- they were all morau-ed.
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Try a Google search on "hato mugi", "Job's Tears", or "Pearl Barley". Here is an online store that sells it and has a pretty good description of the stuff:
http://www.celtic-seasalt.com/japhatmuggra.html
I don't recall eating mugi all that often on my mission, but do remember sleeping on pillows stuffed with it.
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I have found mugicha at Sato's, a local Idaho Falls Japanese food store/ resturant. As for mugi I have never looked for it. Howard Choro tried to finish my bowl of it at the Honbu, and could of if Christensen Dendo bucho San didn't have eagle eyes. I really don't mind the taste of it, but talk about a brick sitting in your stomach.
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My Ohio company has an opening for a Japanese speaking sales rep. We sell seat adjusters to Honda, Subaru and Mitsubishi. The position was recently vacated by a Tokyo North kikan senkyoshi. You really will use your Japanese and it will be appreciated. My Japanese isn't perfect after 20 years, but has been somewhat resurrected to my delight! If you are interested to learn more call me (419-529-5650) or reply to the message by e-mail. Let me know if you know someone who is interested as well.
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Stallard Choro,
Try an Asian food store. That stuff should be easy enough to find.
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I heard that years ago missionaries would go to the train station and claim bikes that looked abandoned, but that now the police do random checks on bike registrations and you could get in trouble if you are riding an abandoned bike that was registered to someone else.
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