A collection of articles we have found to be full of good advice or information pertinent to the lives of bi-cultural families in Japan:

Writer inducted into intricacies of country life shares her story

— From the Japan Times Online
According to the old adage, “Home is where the heart is” — and Rebecca Otowa would no doubt agree. Home for Otowa is a 350-year-old farmhouse nestled on the edge of a tiny village in Shiga Prefecture, where generations of her husband’s family have lived.
(Click to read more….)

To purchase a copy or Rebecca Otowa’s book, click here:
My Awesome Japan Adventure

Protecting kids from disaster

—From the Japan Times Online
The Sendai District Court on Sept. 17 ordered a kindergarten in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, to pay ¥177 million in compensation for the deaths of four children in a school bus that was engulfed by the March 11, 2011, tsunami.
The private kindergarten was located…(click to read more)

Maternity Harassment

—from the Asahi Shinbun
August, 2012
When a part-time worker at a clinic in Osaka Prefecture told her boss about her pregnancy in December, he replied, “Congratulations.”
Soon, she would be informed that her annual contract would not be renewed, although it had been routinely renewed in the past.
(click to read more)