5th Japanniversary

Last week we celebrated our fifth Japanniversary!  It is crazy to think that if we didn't extend and then move and extend again we would be back living in the states right now.  We have been here so long it doesn't feel like the break from our regular life adventure I thought it would be.  Instead, living in Japan feels like our normal lives.

There are many great things about living here in Japan and I have to remind myself of them often.  The excitement of Japan has worn off for me and so I have to work hard to not just see all the negative things.  It is honestly hard.  If you like feeling like a regular competent adult then don't move to a country where you cannot read or write the language.  I tried to have a conversation with Beatrix teacher yesterday that took way too long but I'm pretty sure the point was that instead of paying her the equivalent of $9 and $15 for childcare I paid $90 and $150.  Before that, I stood outside waiting for the bus to come pick her up but worried the whole time that it was a Japanese holiday and the bus wasn't coming. The very consistent neighbor kid wasn't there so I immediately thought it might not be a school day.  I cannot read any of the many fliers the school sends home. Turns out he was sick.  How strange to not even know if it is a major holiday.  Could you imagine just not knowing it is Thanksgiving?  After looking into it further there are two holidays next week.  That is two holidays that Beatrix's school/childcare will be closed and Bob and myself will still be working and the rest of the kids will still be going to school.  That happens 16 times a year, more days then I get off for my job.  

Many of these little things didn't bother me at first because I can be easy going and I thought they were funny/exciting/interesting.  After five years, it starts to take a toll.  We are in this weird position, living as Americans affiliating mostly with Americans but living in Japan.

Many of my children will be considered third culture kids. "The term "third culture kid" was first coined by researchers John and Ruth Useem in the 1950s, who used it to describe the children of American citizens working and living abroad.  TCKs move between cultures before they have had the opportunity to fully develop their personal and cultural identity. The first culture of such individuals refers to the culture of the country from which the parents originated, the second culture refers to the culture in which the family currently resides, and the third culture refers to the distinct cultural ties among all third culture individuals that share no connection to the first two cultures."

Leon, Calista, and Beatrix are being raised mostly as Americans with no memory of America or what it is actually like there.  All of my kids are growing up in Japan, so not completely American and definitely not Japanese, leaving them in this third culture space.

I like that they have a bigger picture of the world, or will when we move away from Japan.  I wonder how it will affect them as adults.

Here is a picture of us just a couple months after we moved to Japan.