Being the only person my son hears speaking Swedish every day, of course it comes upon me to be the Swedish “teacher-in-charge” in his life. I have taken the task to my heart and every day I continue trying to make us work on different aspects of the Swedish language, but in a way that […]
It has become a yearly spring time tradition since moving to Fukuoka – forest adventure with our son’s cousins. But this year was different since it was the first time mummy could join. There is a company called Forest Adventure that has locations all over Japan where nature loving people can experience the thrill of balancing
I guess it started last year already – the talk among parents at kindergarten about backpacks for elementary school children. Simply put, during the six years of elementary school, Japanese school children are using a special style of backpack called ランドセル, randoseru, from the imported Dutch word ransel meaning backpack. I have grown up with the
A bit of nostalgia came over me the other day. I was riding on the train with my son, it was a humid warmish day, few people on the train, the door between the cars open. I was listening to the sound of the wheels rolling on the tracks, listening to the metal parts holding
We were so fortunate as to have my parents staying with us for three weeks during one of the most beautiful time of the year – Japanese spring. Together we had picnics among the cherry blossoms, went for country side drives, spent an afternoon walking barefoot in the edge of the ocean, and made the
It is always a special feeling to ride the Shinkansen bullet train. It is quiet, even economy seats have so much leg room that it feels luxurious, I feel easy to relax while looking out the window, passing through towns, seeing the countryside sweep by. Just a few months ago I made a post about
During our few days in Tokyo together with family from Sweden we had the chance to experience two very different sides of Japan – big Tokyo attractions and a small countryside ryokan. For our son, experiencing Tokyo Sky Tree and Disney Land for the first time was as exciting as anything could be. And doing
With the Japanese school year coming to an end and Swedish family coming to Japan to visit, our little family made a trip to Tokyo to meet them. But before seeing our relatives, we visited the world of Star Wars! As it happens, there was a Star Wars pop-up store in Ginza that I had
Our son has been practicing skipping rope a lot this year. He slowly got the hang of the basic idea and managed to swing the rope behind him and climb over in a slow fashion. Then suddenly one day he came home from kindergarten and said I can skip now. At first I was unsure
With a toddler in the house, time really flies. Walking to the bus stop in the morning, enjoying the spring blossom, I feel like the day two years ago when I wrote a post about magnolias, must have been just yesterday. I always look forward to this time of the year. Soft warm air, no
I have more and more come to feel that an important part of life is noticing and appreciating the small things. Like the hug from my wife in the morning. Or the smile from the driver of the car we let by. The beautiful magnolia tree that has just started to bloom. Or the joy
It was six months ago that I last wrote about our bedtime dino-storytelling, and it has continued since then, every night. The dino-cast has expanded slightly, but after New Year there has been a dramatic change in the direction this never-ending story is heading and I thought that was worth a few words. When I