Aki Higuchi, 28, grew up in a multicultural home, where university students from different countries came five days a week to look after her and her younger sister up until she turned 18.
On Monday it was a Turkish student, then a Bulgarian on Tuesday, followed by a Canadian, a South Korean and a Taiwanese, who came to work for the family after seeing a help-wanted ad put up by Higuchi's working parents at university dormitories for international students. They picked Higuchi and her younger sister up from school, played with them, prepared meals and dined together.
At the dinner table, her Japanese father and Chinese mother often debated with the students about controversial international issues like the interpretation of history. And her father always urged Higuchi and her little sister to voice their opinions even when they didn't have much knowledge about the subject being discussed.