Tachikawa = The name of the City in Tokyo
Ekimae = “Near the Station” or maybe “Accross from the Station”
Kyoko = “Church”
The near the station part usually gets a bit of a laugh from Japanese people, because it’s usually attatched to the names of things like convinience stores, or Pachinko Parlors, it’s almost more of a marketing term. So to use it to describe a church sounds funny. And it usually implies that whatever is “Ekimae” is within eyesight of said station. Now, the church is about three blokcks from Tachikawa station, one of the largest stations in Tokyo, however it’s no longer visible. It was when it was built, but the surrounding area now has many much taller buildings.
If anyone who speaks Japanese can correct me on this, please do (Tomo, Jon, or Yoshie).
A shot of the church service in progress. As you can see, most people dress somewhat formally, and what you can’t see is that the songs are mostly Hymns sung with accompaniment by a church organ, much like many traditional churches here in the US
Me standing out as I usually do when in Japan.
