Category: Our Child
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The Mirror Neuron Trick
As usual on Mondays, I was looking after Mayuki today while Yuriko went to her kimono class. We went for a walk in the morning to look at the Hydrangea Temple (very pretty), and then played a bit and looked at books. Around 3:30, Mayuki got sleepy, so I got her off to sleep and…
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Fireflies
On Monday evening, I went with Yuriko and Mayuki to see the fireflies. Fireflies are fairly common in Japan, and children going to watch them over a river on a summer evening is a standard image of childhood. It’s probably something like the eating ice cream and drinking ginger beer image of British childhood, in…
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Fathers’ Day
Yesterday was Fathers’ Day, and the first one since I became a father. So I received a big “card” in a frame; essentially a single scrapbooked page with pictures of me and Mayuki on. It’s very nice, although I gather that Mayuki herself did not have much to do with the construction. Maybe next year.…
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All Fine Here
There’s been another big earthquake in Japan, but it was a long way from here. We think it did have an effect here, though; it made our living room light swing a bit. So we’re fine, but there is likely to be quite a bit of damage in Tohoku, as the quake is estimated to…
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Passport Photos
We’re going to the UK this summer, so we need to sort out passports. I renewed mine back in February, because it expired in May, and at that point picked up the forms and instructions to get Mayuki’s UK passport. Most of it was easy, relying on documents we already had around. We just had…
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They’re Back!
Yuriko and Mayuki came back from Nagoya yesterday, and I went to meet them at the Shinkansen station, Shin-Yokohama. There’s an express bus from Mizonokuchi station, which is faster, more convenient, and possibly also cheaper than getting the trains from the same place. The only disadvantage is that there aren’t as many buses as there…
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All Alone
This week I’ve been all by myself. Yuriko and Mayuki have gone to Yuriko’s parents’ in Nagoya; the original plan was for Yuriko to sort out the boxes of stuff that she still had stored there. I’ve been talking to them every day by Skype, and I think Mayuki recognises that it’s Daddy in the…
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“Otaku”
As people with a passing familiarity with contemporary Japan are probably aware, “otaku” is the Japanese equivalent of “geek” or “nerd”, or maybe “obsessive fan”. It tends to be applied to people who like geeky things, like science fiction, anime, computer games, or roleplaying. This morning the caretaker at our flats addressed me as “otaku”.…
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Mothers’ Day
Mothers’ Day in Japan was yesterday. Ideally, Mayuki would have got Yuriko a card, cooked her breakfast in bed, and generally been helpful. Alas, she’s still a bit too young to manage that. She did give Yuriko a card, but, if I’m honest, she had a little bit of help with sorting that out. Next…
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New Diary Entry
I’ve put a new diary entry online.