One week after we were married in the Philippines, my Japanese husband came back to Japan, because his 2-year contract as a JICA volunteer was already finished.

I took up Basic Nihongo classes in Manila and stayed in a dormitory for 3 months. I was expecting him after 3 months but I received an e-mail from him that he couldn't make it because he did not receive the papers yet from Japanese immigration. He couldn’t come back to the Philippines until he got those papers. I was so disappointed because I really missed my husband and at that time I realized that we had been separated for four months already. So, I decided to go back to our town while I waited for him. I prayed hard that he would come soon. After one week of waiting I was so worried so our family prayed togeth... Read More

In my second month of stay in Japan, in a cloudy and cold morning, I went to the hospital with my husband and my mother-in-law for a check up for some unusual conditions that I felt in my body. We filled up forms and proceeded to the rooms for check up. Since I had three different areas of concern to be examined, we had to go to different rooms. While we were on the escalator I felt nervous about the result of the examination and so I held to my mother-in law's arm. I was touched when I held to her, I felt my mother is with me. While I held to her, she said "Daijoubu."

When we arrived at the second floor, we sat and waited for my name to be called. While we were waiting, I realized Otosan, my father-in-law, was left in the house and nobody will cook lunch for him. I heard that the che... Read More

Summer's on its way and you're in Japan! How do you spend your summer with the kids? As an idea and a warning to you Moms and Dads I suggest "kingyo sukui".

All Japanese kids raised in the cities know what "Kingyo sukui" is and our kids learned what it was all about last summer.

Kids go scooping at summer festivals for 300 yen per try from "Demise" goldfish merchant who set up shop under a tent with a huge tub full of goldfish. Off season you can do kingyo sukui at the local fish shops or Seibutuens (bio-parks).

Our kids did their first kingyo sukui from at a summer festival. The kids were given scoops made of rice flower that melt if submerged in water for too long and try to lift squirming fish out of the tub of water... Read More

Sometimes living in a cold city like Sapporo, where snow doesn’t melt until April can be a big problem for mothers. Sapporo has many beautiful parks where children can play in summer, however in winter most children are stuck indoors. Only mothers can imagine how difficult it is for children to spend most of their days at home with only parents to play with.

Jidou Kaikans are small places, usually inside elementary schools, that have huge diversity of toys and games for children of all ages. It can never be boring there! Children get to meet and know each other, so do their mothers. When their kids are busy with new toys, mothers enjoy their time chatting and sharing their life styles. Since almost ever region of the city has its own Jid... Read More

Just this weekend I was at my girlfriend’s parent’s house in Nagano. The bullet train from Tokyo has a stop there, built for the winter Olympics a few years back, but it’s by no means a large town. The landscape is dominated by farms and rice paddies, and all around the horizon is ringed by tree covered mountains. The air is clean and it’s a nice change from the beehive like claustrophobia and movement that can characterize Tokyo. The family house is a two story Japanese style home that has been in the family for at least two generations. The front yard is full of plants, trees, and even some large pots buried in the ground with goldfish in them. One of the easily identifiable items in the yard is the several bonsai trees. They are larger than ones I’ve... Read More