Every month we (CAN) hold a "CAN Monthly" meeting. We have held a number of "open mic" events over the past year where participants share their gifts and abilities. We have had ballet, traditional Japanese dance, hip hop dance, hip hop music, lots of other styles of music, visual arts, film, and poetry presented. Most participants do original material, with some outstanding talent represented. It has been fun, and very rewarding to be a part of these Monthly Meetings. Our purpose includes networking, encouraging participants, and giving everyone a "safe" place to perform.Last Saturday (1-12-08) we had our first 2008 "CAN Monthly." Going into it I thought we were going to have around five people show up, I even suggested that we cancel it. That was a really dumb idea as it turned out to be one of our best meetings. Around thirty people showed up and we had dance, music, poetry, and an illustrator who showed and talked about his art.
We met in a wonderful church building in Chiba. Kashiwa Glory Chapel is an old warehouse that the church refurbished into a warm, inviting beautiful church site.
And, the food was absolutely delicious. The pastor's wife cooked us a huge meal that included coffee and desert (see photos).
I am looking forward to the rest of this year, meeting new people, seeing people get excited about what God is doing in their lives and being a part of what CAN connected artists are doing. I plan to do a monthly report on our meetings.
The video below is of three children at our CAN meeting performing a hip hop dance. Their teacher, who was also at the meeting, is a well-known mainstream dancer in Tokyo. Great to see Christians in strategic arenas like the hip hop sub-culture in Japan (which is large).
5 comments:
Looks great. I wish I could have been there. Those kids are better dancers than I can ever hope to be.
The concept of strategic arenas is a good one, as long as we remember that our "product" so to speak in those arenas will ultimately affect our witness. I would say that it's great to see Christians interacting WELL in the Hip-Hop subculture. However, as we've seen countless times in these cases, there is more to strategic arenas than mere presence.
Does CAN ever do any events outside of Tokyo? Like in Nagoya, where I'm at? OR... Is there another Tokyo event in late March, by any chance? Cuz I'm planning to be in Tokyo then.
Would love to have you at one of our meetings -- will post our plans soon on mixi. Do you use mixi? If so, we have a CAN Community that it would be good for you to join. The mixi community is the primary way we connect with people about our CAN Monthly meetings.
We have not had a CAN meeting in Nagoya but are open to the idea.
Warmly, Paul
Hi Paul -- I signed up for Mixi but my Japanese isn't so good so I'm pretty much lost on there. I check out the CANJapan website from time to time though, as well as this blog.
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