OK, so “hitting” our car is a bit of an exaggeration. But hey, I got your attention and you clicked through. So here we go! The other night our neighbors rang our bell and started explaining something in Japanese to Mark. After a minute of standing there silently and nodding, Mark called me over as the …

Continue reading The Daijobu Chronicles, or Part One of When Your Neighbor Hits Your Piece of $!@>*^ Car

Mark's parents Don and Julie live in San Antonio, Texas, and we visit them at least once a year. This also means that at least once a year I buy a new pair of cowboy boots, in case any of you wondered about my rather large collection of my favorite fall-winter footwear. Though probably not …

Continue reading Kane Family Visit: The Floating Classroom in Corpus Christi, Texas

After three great weeks at our home in Washington DC, we packed up for the next stop in the U.S. Family Tour: Ann Arbor, home of my sister Joanna, her husband Richard, and their kids Ben and Ava. Friday: tubing the Argo Cascades of the Huron River. Saturday: Rolling Hills Water Park! We slid down the water …

Continue reading Not-Quite 72 Hours in Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Theme is Water

Last week I took advantage of the kids' stay at sleepaway camp to pop up to New York for a quick visit. I hit four museums in four days, saw two movies, wandered, ate well, visited with friends and family. It was great! One such evening combined all of the friends/family/eating well elements when I …

Continue reading I’ve Never Been to Greenpoint, But It’s Changed So Much!

When you're visiting Theodore Roosevelt Island, of course! During a recent camping trip near Mt. Fuji, the family and I visited Mt. Fuji's Station Five, a popular starting point for climbs to Fuji's peak. Until then I had no interest in climbing Fuji myself, but that visit got me fired up. So on my shopping list for …

Continue reading When does Teddy Roosevelt look like Vladimir Lenin?

We're in Washington! The kids and I arrived last week, and I delivered them to summer camp last Sunday. I assume that they are having fun, but I don't know since neither child has responded to messages or care packages (ingrates!). The camp director assures parents that no news is good news, and homesick children …

Continue reading Hanging out at the National Gallery of Art with Dad and Ginevra

A few weeks ago when I considered booking this weekend trip to Seoul my ears perked up when the travel agent mentioned a tour to the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ. I never realized that I wanted to see it until that moment. So this morning we met our tour bus, passports in hand, and headed …

Continue reading The Demilitarized Zone

Mark has a long weekend thanks to Monday's Independence Day/Fourth of July holiday. The travel agent on base advertises weekend getaways, so we decided to try one out and head to Seoul for the weekend.  The expectation: It's a 2.5 hour flight, we figured. Easy!  The reality: 10 hours door to door, from home to …

Continue reading A Weekend Getaway to Seoul

A few weeks ago we started the journey of comparing American and Japanese versions of the same junk foods. In the first installment we sampled Doritos; recently we tried both American and Japanese Oreos, side by side. The junk food:  Oreos The Japanese flavor: Original The American flavor:  Original The test subject: Tessa You may recall that the Doritos flavors …

Continue reading Let’s Eat Junk Food: Metric vs. Imperial Oreos

In true expat fashion, the kids and I headed to Ikea in Kohoku yesterday for yet another piece of Only While We're Here furniture. Frankly I'm surprised that anyone here needs to buy any new Ikea furniture at all, given the brisk trade of second-hand Ikea furniture on the local moms' Facebook group--but there it …

Continue reading Let’s Visit IKEA Japan, or “Mītobōru, Onegaishimasu!”