Category: Our Child
-
Matriculation Ceremony
There are a number of aspects of Japanese society that seem a little odd from a British perspective. One of them is the fact that Japanese kindergartens have matriculation ceremonies. And uniforms. Today was the matriculation ceremony for Mayuki’s kindergarten, so she had to get dressed up in her uniform for it. I took most…
-
The Importance of Motivation
First, the picture doesn’t have much to do with the content of this blog, but Mayuki looks very cute in it, so I’ll put it on this blog as well. If you look carefully at the middle shelf, between the two dolls on the left, you can see all four shells from the display; Yuriko…
-
Shichi-Go-San
Shichi-Go-San,or Shichigosan, which means “Seven-Five-Three”, is the name for the traditional Japanese ceremonies performed to mark the maturation of young children. The name comes from the ages at which the ceremonies are performed: three years old for both boys and girls, again at five years for boys, and at seven years for girls. The origins…
-
Pictures of Mayuki
We held Mayuki’s Shichigosan a couple of weeks ago, and hired Yuriko’s friend Sonoe to take photographs. She’s now put some of the photographs up on her blog, so you can go to see them. The text is all in Japanese, of course.
-
Mayuki’s Birthday
Mayuki has now had her third birthday, and the first one I think she really appreciated. Obviously, actually getting born is unlikely to be a pleasant experience for the child, and the child doesn’t even get the elation that compensates the mother. I’m not sure that Mayuki noticed her first birthday at all; she really…
-
Photographs of Mayuki
Sonoe took some more photographs of Mayuki. As usual, the text is all in Japanese, but you can enjoy the pictures. The last one is of Mayuki dancing to some music, making up her own choreography. That’s something she does quite a lot.
-
Mayuki Miscellanea
Recently, I’ve been deliberately spending more time with Mayuki, playing with her for at least an hour every day. For some reason, that seems to leave me less time to do other things, a situation I don’t really understand. Surely as a reward for being a good father, the very nature of reality should warp…
-
KODOMONOKUNI
Today, the three of us went to KODOMONOKUNI. I’m not sure why they put the name in all caps, but that’s how it appears on their site. It’s a large activity park, primarily aimed at children (the name means “Children’s Country”), with an emphasis on a pseudo-natural environment, rather than on rides and such. It…
-
Redecorating
Yuriko’s just about finished redecorating the flat, and I’ve just redecorated my blog. I hope you like the new look; I think it’s quite clean and easy to use. We’ve all got colds to varying degrees at the moment. Mayuki’s is making her sick quite a lot, but although we’ve taken her to the doctor,…
-
Cherry Blossoms
The cherry blossoms are out in Tokyo. Unfortunately, the weather is really not very good. It’s raining this morning, and the forecast is for it to continue doing so for much of the day. Yesterday was grey, and rather cold. Nevertheless, we went out to see the cherry blossoms. We went to our local graveyard.…