It is getting hot now. Often too hot to be outside without feeling like I have stepped into a sauna. Not a dry one, but one with high humidity that makes me want to change my clothes as soon as I step into it. The Japanese summer has arrived and I am both looking forward […]
About once a month, there is an open day at the kindergarten aimed at children who are not yet in daycare. The kindergarten bus, the one and only Thomas the Tank Engine school bus, picks up toddlers and parents at the nearby shopping center and takes them up the mountainside to the kindergarten for an
It has been a joyful couple of weeks for our son at his new kindergarten. He has gotten used to the place, has started to get new friends and has come to love his teachers. His parents have also been so lucky as to be able to share a few mornings at the kindergarten with
Every weekday afternoon I go and meet our son when he arrives on the kindergarten bus. It has only been a few weeks but I feel like I already know the life happening on that street corner. My new routine has been added to this piece of city, and like an observer I stand there
The start of Kindergarten life is a big event for a little toddler, I believe. Suddenly no more lazy days with dad at home, no more play days at the community center, no more weekday mornings in the park, but instead lots of new friends to play with every day and a new structure to
Our son is growing fast, although he lost some weight the last months thanks to all the illness he had to go through. But I am sure he will get it back soon since he has found his appetite again. At the three year checkup the other day, we saw that he is well above
We almost made it all the way home from kindergarten the other day when we met our very nice neighbor out walking her dog. The dog is old and gentle and my son has grown very fond of him, and our neighbor lets my son hold the leash whenever we meet them. This day my
As the cherry blossoms are the most beautiful, graduation ceremonies are held in schools and daycare facilities all over Japan. The weather is pleasant, students have their spring holiday and many of them enjoy this season having picknicks under the sakura trees and playing in the parks. After a few years of pandemic restrictions, this
There are many activities for children in Fukuoka. The last month we have been exploring some of them at the same time as enjoying the beauty of Japanese spring and sakura, cherry blossom (more on that next week). There is a toy museum in the new big LaLaport shopping mall, where the children can play
Whether at home or out and about, my son shares with me what he is seeing in a way that makes me so happy, and I feel so privileged to be able to take part of his worldview. We have a play-at-home day while the rain is pouring down, we find some old boxes and
It is amazing, the way small children see the world. And the way they express what they see. My son can take me from upset to wonder in a matter of a few words. We sit and have lunch and he decides that he wants to put anything that can fit into his cup with
Hello Kitty is a popular cartoon character in Japan. She has got her own theme park in Tokyo. And since 2018 there is even a Hello Kitty Shinkansen, running between Fukuoka and Osaka on an almost daily basis. I learned about the existence of the train a year or so ago when my son started