The MotherVerse Blog: mothering out loud

Just as spring is the time for cherry blossom-viewing in Japan, autumn is the season for moon-viewing.  My daughter came home from school a couple of days ago wanting to make dango (rice balls) in anticipation of the full moon.  I had no idea how to make them, but Obaachan (her grandmother) was prepared.  In ten […]

One evening, a few weeks ago, my 8-year-old son was playing his toy flute.  My Japanese husband said, “If you play a flute at night, the ghosts will come.”
I rolled my eyes.  Just what the kid needs, when he’s afraid to go down the hallway to the bathroom by himself.  “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” I assured him.
Yesterday, […]

I am always on the lookout for books in English about children in contemporary Japan, so I was delighted to hear about The Wakame Gatherers by Holly Thompson. (Full disclosure: Holly is a friend of mine, who has been living in Japan for many years. I had a chance to see the dummy […]

I’m clueless when it comes to origami. Years ago, in my early days in Japan, I taught English at area kindergartens. The children would approach me with little squares of paper and books with detailed instructions on how to fold, say, a dinosaur, and I would have no idea of how to do […]

There are many things that disturb me about the Japanese education system in which my children are enrolled. I dislike the emphasis on rote learning and the excessive amount of homework. But one thing that I love is the school garden.
In April, at the beginning of the school year, my daughter and her […]