March is the end of the school year in Japan, and before next year starts in the beginning of April, the children have a few weeks of holiday. Our son had found a pamphlet at kindergarten regarding events for kids where Tomica toy cars and other types of vehicles were the center of attention, and […]
One evening when we were playing Monopoly for kids on the floor, there was a ping-pong on our intercom. Normally no one except delivery drivers ring on our intercom so we were wondering who might be calling late at night. On the screen we saw an elderly woman and through the speaker I heard her
What can be better than a beautiful spring day and a drive along the Itoshima coast line? Well, it turns out, a drive in pouring rain. Our family has a favorite beach where we often go to swim during summer, and every so often when we take a leisurely Sunday drive in the off-season, we
A week or two ago, my wife and I sat at the dining table talking when we suddenly heard a bang from the window. We went over, expecting to see a bird lying on the ground outside, but the veranda was empty and when I went outside I could not find any trace of a
Our weeks are busy, especially so for my wife whose work sometimes takes most of her waking hours and then some. Our son has his kindergarten and while he is away I, in theory, should have time to not be too busy but it turns out to be the opposite. I find myself trying to
A short anecdote from our little family. One busy morning this week as we were getting dressed preparing to go and wait for the kindergarten bus, my son took an interest in the top of my head. I was bending down, arranging his socks, when he suddenly said pappa, du har en ladugårdsplan på huvudet.
My son and I have been playing with letters for more than a year now and he has gotten quite good at recognizing and pronouncing them. He has come to the point where he is enjoying trying to read shorter words and while in Sweden I bought a couple of learn-to-read-books that we have started
Not that it is often, but every time I fly to or from Tokyo, I try to book seats on the side of the plane that offer views of Mount Fuji. Seeing this mountain is always something special, and even more so seeing it from up high. Returning from Sweden both last year and this,
Every night after dinner in Sweden we played some board games. It was my son who started this “tradition” and he invited me and his grandparents to many different games that he found among the toys my parents has saved from when my siblings and I were young. Labyrinth became a favorite, so much so
My son farmor, grandmother, worked many many years as a Swedish language teacher for children with Swedish as a second language. What better way for a little Japanese speaking child to improve his Swedish than playing and reading and going shopping and cooking with my mom! During our time in Sweden, my son has been
I have come to love living in Japan. I have come to love the Japanese cuisine, the Japanese culture and traditions, the Japanese nature, the Japanese people. But even so, there are aspects of Sweden that I miss so every time we come to visit my parents in Sweden, I take the chance to enjoy
Coming back to Sweden, it always takes time to get used to be in what used to me my home country. After a week or two I feel quite at home but when arriving I always feel a bit like a tourist coming to visit another country. The people look different, the customs are different,