I’m not used to this much rain. Some days it rains the entire day. The hardest part about rainy season in Tokyo is that the apartment is more easily prone to mold. I see now why there are so many products that absorb moisture, like these beads inside a plastic container. They look like air [...]
Posts under ‘Daily Life’
Kids Songs~ Gu Choki Pare
This is one of the cute Japanese songs the kids like singing, which is very simple enough for me to sing, too.
It goes to the tune of “Are You Sleeping?” and the words are something like this…
guu choki pare, guu choki pare ぐうちょき ぱあれ ぐうちょき ぱあれ (rock, scissor, paper. rock, scissor, paper) [...]
Somniloquy
According to WebMD: The medical term for sleep talking is somniloquy. Half of all kids between the ages of 3 and 10 years old carry on conversations while asleep, and a small number of adults — about 5% — keep chit-chatting after they go to bed. The utterances can take place occasionally or every night. [...]
February in New York
It snowed twice in February. The kids and I enjoyed it since we were indoors and didn’t have to trek out anywhere. I can’t remember the last time I shoveled snow so doing that was actually quite a novelty again, too. Though I’m grateful I don’t need to do that multiple times every winter!
Cherry Blossom Viewing
We didn’t make it to Chidorigafuchi or Naka Meguro this year to see cherry blossoms there. From reports I heard, it was very beautiful but also crowded, as expected. We’ll try to make it there one year. We did make it to Yasukuni, but it was too early and the cherry blossoms weren’t in [...]
The Cherry Blossom Season is Upon Us
It’s springtime. I’m glad winter is over but I also can’t believe I’ve gone this long without writing one post. Last week was so warm that everyone, including me, was already thinking about the cherry blossom viewing 花見 (はなみ hanami) parties, but the weather fooled us all and dropped to a chilly 11 degrees [...]
By the River
When I used to watch Japanese TV dramas that Yuki would rent back in NY, the dramas often had scenes of uniform-clad school kids walking home from school along a path that looked like it was on top of a long, grassy hill. Now I see where they were walking. In every town in Tokyo [...]
Today’s Lunch…
is something I no longer need to really think about, except on the weekends. Fortunately, hoikuen provides lunch and snacks for the kids. Normally I’d be worried about what school lunches are, but I am amazed at Japanese school lunches. I don’t know what is served in Elementary schools here, but New York City [...]
Hi, my name is…..Keiji-Arisa Mama
This is how I am known at the kids’ school. After chatting with someone a few times, I naturally feel I should introduce myself by giving my first name, then ask the same of the person I’m speaking to. I did it the first couple of times I talked to mothers. And I soon realized [...]
The Working Mothers
Since the kids have entered nursery school, I have many opportunities to chat with other working moms. Although there is still a bit of a language barrier, for the most part I can get by at least with basic small talk. There is something different about the Japanese mothers here (by here, I guess I [...]