Every so often I find an opportunity to introduce some new aspects of life or some science to my son. And sometimes a piece of mythology finds its way into our life (of course I leave out any gruesome details, of which there usually are plenty). My son is very curious and often starts to …
I always thought that the day had 24 hours, starting at 0 at midnight and ending 24 hours later the midnight after. At least all the time instruments I have seen have told me that, and when I want to set my alarm on my phone I can only choose between 0.00 and 23.59. Since …
In Japan, the toilet is often found in a little room where nothing but the actual toilet can be found; I guess the space saving reason explains a big part of why often there is no separate basin to wash hands. The other reason I can think of is to save water – while normally …
Our little family tries to surf in the rough sea of languages every day, the waves sometimes so violent that I fall of the surfing board and wash up on the shore all bruised. Especially so after a morning with my son at the playground. My wife and I speak Japanese and English, I speak …
When I came to Japan the first few times I knew almost no Japanese and tried to pick up a few words by listening to other people talking. Standing in front of a traffic light I heard children saying 赤 赤 赤 青 (aka aka aka ao) – so I learned that red was aka and …
Before meeting my wife, I always thought of Japan as a country where punctuality was deeply embedded in society, the image of trains always leaving and arriving on time being the prime example. Coming from Sweden where a train arriving on time is a bit of an oddity, together with my affinity for punctuality, Japan …
Today I take a little dive into the beautiful and (unintentionally?) sweet and funny English translations that can be found everywhere in Japan (please catch up on the story poetry on a mountain if you are curious). There is a spacious park area next to the river close to where we live. In these Corona …