Category Memories

Hideyoshi and Nene (Kyoto, 2010)

Note: Hideyoshi Toyotomi is one of the most famous Japanese historical figures. He was the Taiko, who conquered and reigned over much of Japan in a period after Oda Nobunaga and before Tokugawa Ieyasu, the most famous Japanese Shogun (military…

Reality

Kids have a wonderful sense of what’s possible and what’s not. A lot of them ask if I have children, and I point to the nearest kid and say that it’s my son or daughter. We all laugh a little.…

Foreigner

Americans love to talk about how exciting, beautiful, or fun their experiences were in foreign countries. Many people especially love to talk about those experiences with natives of the visited country. Japanese people are no different. Sometimes they tell me…

Parenting

Sometimes I ask children about their parents to get to know them. Most of them say things like “my dad is as tall as you” or “I don’t know how old my mom is.” One time, I asked a 2nd…

Yamato

Japanese people, like us Americans, like to name things after popular figures. Some students are actually called Naruto. I recently made a friend called Taiwa (大和), which is also read as Yamato, the same as the most famous battleship of…

Mimicry

Sometimes it’s dangerous to play with kids, since they like to mime actions. Once, I was at a bowling party, and this cute little boy was drinking a soda. He had slurped up a lot of soda, so that his…

Credibility

Japanese people have a hard time believing things that are new to them, and it’s true for both adults and children. When I tell them that students in the US can actually be held back for poor performance and be…

Silliness

The other teachers and I like to play with kids a lot. At lunch, I often fold up someone’s napkin and stuff it in their pencil cases. By now, a lot of the kids are used to it, and they…