Tag - family-entertainment

 
 

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT

Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jan 14, 2018
Tsukiji fish market: Old schooling for kids
A new year means new beginnings. For the Tsukiji fish market, that new beginning may finally arrive in 2018. News of the market's closure in Tsukiji and rebirth in the nearby Toyosu neighborhood has been a regular feature in the news. This year, however, the closing will very likely become a reality.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Dec 17, 2017
Living it up at the Hilton — Disney style
The seemingly simple act of checking into a hotel can be a recipe for disaster with tired young children: cue tackling mundane paperwork while trying to preempt high-volume meltdowns or contain hyperactive runarounds.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Nov 19, 2017
Slip back in time and into a kimono
One of our family's favorite ways to learn is through hands-on experiences. Sometimes it's cooking classes. Other times it may take the form of historical reenactments or clever interactive museum exhibits. Whatever the experience, we enjoy being immersed in it rather than just reading about it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Oct 15, 2017
A crafty way to give the kids a creative workout
It's one of those fleeting parenting moments when my normally nonstop high-volume children are awake, but silent. The reason for this? They are studiously poring over a table covered with a neatly aligned assortment of wood cutouts — a cat, a witch, a star, a moon, a pumpkin — and, unusually quiet in concentration, they are brushing on thick pastel paints.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Sep 17, 2017
Cooking classes can dish out plenty of culture bites
What's the best thing about exploring Japan with kids? For us, it may be the eating. With two kids born in Tokyo, I can say without doubt that one of our favorite things to do together is cook, eat and talk about Japanese food. One of our children's favorite Japanese meals is also one of the simplest: udon. If you've ever dug into a bowl of these thick and hearty wheat noodles, then you'll know why it has its fans.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jun 18, 2017
Dipping into Hakone's more unusual hot spas
"I love red wine, it's my favorite thing!" These are perhaps not the words that a mother particularly likes to hear from her young daughter — especially when she is only 4 years old.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
May 14, 2017
Weekend drama can be great for the kids
My two daughters rub the backs of their ears to retrieve some magic dust, which they then use to summon a pile of pizza and ice cream, before tucking into the newly created feast with arm-waving gusto.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Apr 16, 2017
Japan's traditional blues for bright and cheery kids
"It's stinky!" shouts my 4-year-old daughter, jumping up and down with an expression of pure glee on her face. The object of her fascination is a large vat containing a dark, murky substance that does indeed have a distinctly earthy aroma.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Feb 11, 2017
Let kids seize the day, and an opponent
It's an all too familiar sight: my two young children, exhausted after a long day at nursery, return home and proceed to jump up and down, bounce off walls and throw toys at each other's heads in a rush of post-containment energy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jan 14, 2017
Don't let winter stop you from going out
It's the coldest part of the year in Japan. Combine frigid weather with cramped apartments, rambunctious kids and a dose of cabin fever and you have a parent's recipe for frustration. However, in Tokyo there are countless options for indoor family fun, and with the season in mind, I've created a list of some great options for inside playing and learning. Moving west to east, I hope that these suggestions help you find entertaining spaces to learn and play away from the house and out of the cold. The list is far from complete, and was chosen with minimum outdoor walking times in mind.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Dec 10, 2016
DIY — a power tool for distracting kids
My 4-year-old daughter's eyes light up when she spies something sitting on the work table. Unlike her normal playtime preferences, it is not a rainbow-haired unicorn, felt tip pens or a plastic doll that has caught her attention — it's an industrial looking electric screwdriver.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Sep 10, 2016
Hiking with kids is not an uphill climb
Hiking in Japan is always fun with family, and with summer subsiding, some of the best months for a mountain walk are around the corner. Japan offers countless choices in its vast mountain ranges, but one of my favorite family hikes is only 90 minutes north of Kyoto. The mountain villages of Kibune and Kurama reside in neighboring valleys. Connected by trail and stairway trails, these two towns offer a great day-trip getaway from the clamor of the city, and a taste of Japan's spectacular cultural and natural beauty.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Aug 13, 2016
'Peanuts' can be a treat for adults, too
There is one precise moment when I question the wisdom of taking my two young daughters to visit the Snoopy Museum in Tokyo's Roppongi district.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jul 9, 2016
Test the white waters this summer
As much as I love Japan's major cities, I quite enjoy leaving them as well. Places like Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto have played crucial roles in my family's life, but it has been equally important for the four of us to get out of town and back in touch with the natural world. Now that summer is in full swing, it's a good time to explore Japan's spectacularly great outdoors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jun 11, 2016
Sweet times at Tokyo's monster cafe
Maybe it is Nasty's electric blue hair, cascading in braids around her doll-like face. Perhaps it is the gothic-style black lipstick of her friend Candy. Or the surreal fabric limbs sewn onto the dress of lilac-haired Baby.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
May 7, 2016
Countryside Chiba farms out the fun
If you're raising children in Japan, then there's a good chance that, like me, you are raising city kids — children who are more comfortable in an urban setting than a rural one, whether it's in downtown Tokyo or suburban Kobe.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Apr 9, 2016
Time to let the kids get on their bikes
Like many Tokyo mothers, there is one ingenious invention that I can absolutely not live without: our much-loved electric mama chari bicycle.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Feb 13, 2016
Trust robots to keep the kids occupied
'Can we go to the park?" In our household, this refrain is heard almost as frequently as "I want ice cream" and "I don't want to go to bed."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jan 9, 2016
Workshops to keep the children sweet
You and I can talk all day about differences between this country and that, and we can detail any number of parenting strategies and discuss how they differ from one culture to the next, but there are more similarities than differences, and one of the biggest common denominators is this: Kids want sweets.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Dec 12, 2015
Crafty ways to have fun without mess
For some parents (or maybe it's just me), there is one particular festive word that causes instant anxiety: "craft."

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree