Our Shabbat in Tokyo

On Friday afternoon in Tokyo, we took a cab to the Chabad Centre in Minato Takanawa early enough to arrive before candle lighting time. That meant that we would be at Chabad quite early as they do not begin Kabalat Shabbat till about 6 PM and candle lighting was set at 5:14 PM.  There were a couple of other people already there, one Japanese fellow who was interested in converting, an Israeli who had been living in Japan for the past month or so and an Israeli businessman from Petach Tikvah.  I specified Chabad Minato Takanawa, as there are two Chabads in Tokyo. Apparently, one is authorized by the headquarters in NY (the one we were attending) and one is not; a so called "mushroom" Chabad, as it sort of grew by itself with no connection to the parent body. We gathered that the two branches do not get along. We had met the Chabad rabbi, Mendi Sudakevitch, originally from Kfar Chabad, earlier in the week when we visited the restaurant. He and his wife Chana, moved to Tokyo 13 years ago, as newly marrieds, and they now have 6 children. Rebbetzin Chana was away this week visiting two of her children who are attending school in Israel.  Rabbi Mendi is an outgoing happy-faced individual and it is said that he will go out of his way to help anyone who needs it. Since arriving in Tokyo, he has created a community and has built the shul, the restaurant and the adjoining mikvah. In fact, this week was the first week that they were going to try to launch a Monday and Thursday minyan. In the roughly one hour that followed candle lighting about 15 men and a few women arrived and we began davening Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv, with much singing and leibidikeit. It was clear, from the warm hugs that the men were giving Rabbi Mendi when they arrived, that he is much loved by his community. When we finally went upstairs for the first Shabbat meal, there were four full tables and we spent some time meeting the locals as well as visitors from Canada, the USA, England, Israel, Izmir (Turkey), Shanghai; a true United Nations of Jews. As we had experienced in other Chabads over many trips, Rabbi Mendi called on each of us to stand and say something about ourselves, about the Parsha or about our travels in Japan.  The meal was delicious and plentiful with a lot of interesting cross table conversation. At our table was a young couple who recently arrived in Tokyo. She is teaching at a local university and he is posted at the American Embassy. We walked home with them; our walk was about 25 minutes and theirs about 50 minutes.  In the morning, tefillah began at 10 AM and we had a few more than a minyan. In total, there were about 15 men and a few women. I was given the honour of davening Shacharit and maftir. They had an excellent Baal Kriah, a local, originally from NY, who works together with a friend of ours from Hashmonaim. There was also another young couple (who had not been there the night before) who just moved to Tokyo for a few months to launch a product of theirs; and if the product would be successfully received, they would likely remain in Tokyo for a year or two. The husband is the one who has pushed for the launch of a Monday Thursday Minyan.  Our friend from Hashmonaim also introduced us to a friend of his, who is a bit of legend in Tokyo. As you may know, there is a very famous fish market" in Tokyo called Tsukiji, where the daily tuna auction is held at 5 AM, and where tuna can go for over a million dollars. In fact, a 222 kilo bluefin Tuna was sold in 2013 at Tsukiji Market for a record 155 million yen or $1.8 million, over $8000 per kg.  The organizers of the daily auction have traditionally been a very closed circle with outsiders seldom allowed in.  David Leibowitz, originally from NY and Miami, developed an interest in the tuna industry some years back and was one of the only outsiders accepted into this very unique and exclusive circle. See the following article about David that appeared in the Japan Times: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/02/07/our-lives/american-tuna-trader-shares-passion-born-in-tsukiji-with-the-world/#.VTbfIvDyqrU David now runs a very successful tuna business and ships all over the world. He is the exclusive supplier of fresh tuna to Costco in North America. He is a staunch supporter of Tokyo Chabad and we enjoyed meeting him over Shabbat and spending time with him. He is a very passionate and outgoing person, with tremendous love of Israel and everything Jewish. After the meal, we davened mincha and I was able to add Japan to the long list of countries in which I have lained the Torah. We walked home and had a good Shabbat rest. After Shabbat we walked up to the Roppongi Hills area and being the centre of the expat community in Japan and home to many foreign embassies, the streets were filled with people enjoying the hundreds of bars, restaurants and sushi spots that dot the area. After almost a full week of being in a subdued, quiet, refined Japanese atmosphere, this was the first time that made us feel like we were not really in Japan.  We were back home early to complete packing for our Sunday afternoon train ride to Hiroshima.  No pictures in this post, as it was Shabbat. More to come from our last day in Tokyo and our trip to Hiroshima. Fran and David