When I was small, we had a family relative who would send us a box of spicy fish eggs every year. From the day of delivery, for several weeks, we would have a bowl of orange-coloured spicy fish eggs on our dinner table every day. Since it was quite spicy, I learned to take just …
In my early childhood, when I was three and four, I made two long-term stays at my grandmother’s house in the countryside away from my family. Unlike my family’s tiny apartment, her house was huge and spacious, providing a plenty of space for me to explore and get lost in my imagination. One of my …
When my little brother turned two and started talking, there was one song that he loved singing: It’s a small world. At the time, my family had never been to Disneyland, but I learned to play the song on the piano while attending the local YAMAHA music school. At YAMAHA, They also gave us CDs …
The summer when I was six, my parents took me to the Tokyo Disneyland for the first time. We took the bullet train to Tokyo the day before, and after being a guest at my great aunt’s place for the night, our real adventure to the Disneyland began. It was an extremely hot humid summer …
When I was in Grade 3 and 4, I had a classmate who was a huge fan of Disneyland. (As kids in Japan, whenever we said “Disneyland,” it referred to Tokyo Disneyland, not the one in California.) Though my hometown was not exactly close to Tokyo, this boy had been to Disneyland several times, perhaps …
Shortly after I turned seven, close relatives of mine came over to my family’s new house to celebrate my birthday. In Japan, there is a tradition to celebrate the third and the seventh birthdays for girls and the third and the fifth birthdays for boys, a tradition that apparently goes back to ancient times to …
When I was in primary school, at the end of every school year, a large gathering was held in the gymnasium to celebrate the graduation of the Grade 6 students. The preparation was mostly done by the Grade 5 kids with the help of teachers, and on the day of the farewell party, the whole …
When I was small, my friends and I all believed in Santa Claus. We believed in the existence of what we called the real Santa Claus, and throughout the year, we often talked about him. The conversation typically started by one of us declaring that they had seen Santa Claus. “Are you sure that it …
One summer day when I was about nine, my two best friends were visiting my house. These were my friends from the time I used to live in a community of tiny half-dilapidated apartments, and even though we no longer lived close to each other, a few times a year, we would all gather at …
When I was in primary school, every winter, Grade 6 students spent a few months creating their original wooden music boxes in the art and crafts class. It was one of the biggest mandatory art projects since the process involved carving of wooden boards, painting, and assembling of all the pieces. The project would usually …
