Business “Designing Work That Works for Moms: How I Rebuilt My Career After Kids — One Nap at a Time”
The Quiet Revolution on My Kitchen Table If you looked at my resume, you might think I took a long break from “real” wor...
Mother
Business Family The Bento Box and the Ballot Box: How Everyday Choices Shape Democracy
A Kitchen-Sized Revolution It started with a sausage cut into an octopus shape. My daughter squealed in delight, my son ...
Family Raising Citizens, Not Just Students: What Japanese Schools Won’t Teach — and Why I Will
The Education We Don’t Talk About My son came home with a perfect test score last week.Kanji: 100.Math drills: 100.Readi...
Life When Politics Hit the Dinner Table: A Tokyo Mom’s View of Japan’s Future
Setting the Scene We were halfway through dinner — grilled salmon, miso soup, the usual — when my 10-year-old son asked,...
Family “Wife, Mother, Citizen: Watching Japan Shift from the Sidelines”
Living in the Pause It always starts the same way: I’m sipping lukewarm coffee from a chipped mug, toddler socks hanging...
Life Mom Life in Tokyo: Quiet Struggles & Small Victories
When Everything Looks Fine on the Outside If you were to pass me on the street in Tokyo—pushing a stroller with one hand...
Family Between Juku and Joy: My Parenting Lessons in Modern Japan
Welcome to My World of Bento Boxes, Bedtime Battles, and Cram School Calendars When I first became a mom in Japan, I had...
Family The Bento Years: What Romance Looks Like After 10,000 Lunches
“Love, Layered Like Tamagoyaki and Hidden Under Rice” Let’s talk about love.Not the early kind — not the breathless text...
Life Seasonal Motherhood: Why Japanese Parenting Feels Different Month to Month
“Time Moves in Seasons Here” Before I became a mom in Japan, I thought of time in the usual way—days, weeks, months. Dea...
Mother Raising Kids in Japan: Love, Pressure, and Pachinko-Noise Bedtimes
“Where Love Meets the Vending Machine” If you’ve ever walked through a Japanese neighborhood at 10pm, you might hear som...