I never thought that having a little toddler at home would be to have a teacher giving me lessons in metaphysics, or a zen monk introducing a koan to me. That is one of the things I appreciate most about being a father, the constant need to challenge habits and old patterns of thought which […]
In Japan so called 100 yen shops are very popular. They are stores that sell almost anything you need for your home and most items cost 100 yen. I guess they are the dollar stores of Japan. You can by paper, pens, cleaning and washing supplies, storage solutions and hobby materials. They have office supplies
It starts with the name. Raizan, thunder mountain. I cannot imagine a more awe inspiring name for a mountain, and it is easy to imagine how people who gave the mountain its name felt that this is a mountain to fear and revere, a mountain of deity. Raizan is located a short drive from our
Sometimes I wonder if there is a kind ghost living in our house or if our baby has some kind of special powers. A little red wooden toy car had been missing for weeks. I had been searching for it everyone including the bathroom and I was convinced that it must have somehow ended up
After having been to Sweden, going by train and bus and airplane, my son was so enthusiastic about public transportation that we decided to go on a little train ride in Fukuoka. He loves his trains and on the local train to downtown Fukuoka he wanted to get out of the pram and proudly sat
I have only started to collect my impressions of our son’s first trip to Sweden. Finally he could meet all of my family – my parents, my European brothers and sisters and their partners and children. It was the first time for me as well to meet a nephew and a niece, so it was
With no wife there with us, my son and I still managed to leave Sweden and get back to Japan safe and sound. He was sleeping a lot, so I was having a lot of time admiring the ceiling of the airplane. All those little LED lights in the bluely lit up roof that made
Before going to Sweden I was intrigued by the requirements of the Japanese government to be able to return to Japan, seen together with the possibilites in Sweden to follow those requirements when it came to o PCR-testing. Japan still basically requires a negative PCR-test (for a few more days when writing this) in order
In the last post I lamented the shock of coming to Copenhagen airport and being met by tightly packed crowds of non-mask-wearing people. Going from Copenhagen airport to Sweden by train, I could not see anyone else wearing a mask. Having been living with masks every day for two and a half years, not actually
Sometimes it is difficult to like crowds of people. I really try, I do, but sometimes it is just not possible, especially when you are tired after an almost 40-hour-journey with a two-year-old who did not let you sleep, and you arrive at an airport where social distancing is unheard of and the sport seems
I am already behind my son in language skills. Almost every week he uses some Japanese word I do not know and I am sure he sooner rather than later will start to read faster than me too. In one area we are on the same level though, and that is when it comes to
That children are innately creative I know, but I still almost every day marvel at our son’s way of creating and explaining the world around him, particularly so when it comes to languages. The other day our son woke up from his midday nap and started to speak English, talking about a white house and