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 miss them, close ones that are no longer living among us. I have missed them especially the past week when the memories of the dead take center stage in Japan during the Obon holiday, the time to remember the ancestors when their spirits are said to come home to visit living family members. There
Having my parents visiting us in Fukoka for the first time, what do we show them? All our favorite places of course! Me and my son took his grandparents to visit various sites in central Fukuoka and Imajuku where we live, and together with my wife we all went to our most precious places within
Our son has only met his Swedish grandparents once, last summer when we went to Sweden. We stayed for a few weeks and he got to know them and play with them, and I believe he really came to love them. Fast forward nine months, a long time in the life of a quickly growing
Finally, after three years of corona and difficulties traveling, my mum and dad could make it to Japan to visit us! For our little family it is a dream come true to have Swedish grandmother and grandfather here, and through the pandemic, while hoping for the day they would arrive, my son and I have
Recently we went to Tokyo for a shichi-go-san (7-5-3) celebration of our son’s cousin who turned 7 this year. 7-5-3 is a traditional Japanese celebration for the growth and well-being of children, at the ages of 3 and 7 for girls, and 5 and sometimes 3 for boys. Our sons loves his cousins and hasn’t
As the the temperature started to drop and the colors of the trees started to shift towards the warmer tones of the spectrum, I started to plan our nature outings to enjoy the colors of autumn. However, the autumn colds has coincided with the colors so my son and I have had to postpone our
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
I have never seen our son as happy as the past week. His cousins and uncle came to visit us and it was like a new bigger world suddenly opened up to our boy. Not being stuck with his dad all day, but instead having two children giving him their complete attention made him grow