birthday

four years old

Like the previous two years, come end of May, our son got a really bad cold. But unlike the time when he turned two and three, this year on his fourth birthday he had recovered enough to both go back to his kindergarten and to have a birthday party with grandma. He has been talking […]

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a birthday to remember

Our son had been excited for weeks about his upcoming birthday. He was practicing holding three fingers up in the air, and he was looking forward to the presents he anticipated he would get. We were planning to have a little birthday party for him, and even the weather seemed promising, so what could go

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two years old

Today our son has his second birthday. Looking at my son sleeping on a mat in the floor, I find myself thinking about all that has happened this past year when we just had moved to Fukuoka and was celebrating his first birthday. Many many memories show up; sleeping on the floor in the kitchen

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happy birthday

One year ago I was sitting on a bench in an empty car park outside a big children’s hospital in Tokyo waiting for news about my wife and our yet to be born baby. Today I am sitting in a beautiful house in Fukuoka with a sleeping wife and one year old son in front

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hospital entrance

becoming a father

This has been the happiest week of my life, but in some ways also the most difficult. Let me back up to last Friday, May 29.  When I start writing this, I am sitting in a car park outside a children’s hospital in Tokyo. The time is 2.25 and the rain has finally stopped. We came

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today I am angry

Today is my birthday. And I am angry. I am sure there is some connection, but today I am just… I am simply angry, angry at people. And a little bit at my wife too. Those morning commutes on an overly surrealistically crowded train, where young people sit on priority seats, sleeping, playing games, ignoring

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