Yumenoshima - Likely the only tropical waterfall in Tokyo

The Botanical Gardens are enclosed in a huge glass dome and specialize in tropical plants from the Amazon, S.E. Asia, and the Congo River. So how on earth can Tokyo afford to keep such a huge facility constantly heated year round and only charge 250 yen for entry (children under 12 are free!). Yes, this is yet another example of Tokyo’s scale and it’s hidden efficiency. A byproduct of Tokyo’s rubbish as it is burnt in the nearby New-Koto Incinerator (新江東清掃工場, Shin-koto seiso kojo) is an extremely hot (125 degrees) supply of water. After cooling this water to 70 degrees they circulate it around the green house to recreate a tropical environment. So regardless of how cold or wet it is outside, you can go for a pleasant walk in a warm tropical environment with your kids.
* If this sort of thing really fascinates you then you can also sign up for a free tour of the Incinerator!

Yumenoshima Tropical Rainforest - glasshouse with huge palm trees inside

Just like you’d expect in a tropical environment, you walk down paths surrounded by huge trees – the palms that are as high as the roof are amongst the most spectacular. Many of the trees are pretty easy to recognize fruit bearing trees so your kids will enjoy looking out for bananas, mangos, pineapples, guavas, durian, etc.

Pineapples growing in the middle of Tokyo

I can also guarantee that it will probably be the first and last time you see a waterfall in Tokyo – especially one that you can walk behind (picture below). If you have a boy with a bit of courage then you might like to take him into the Carnivorous plants house. When I was there it was mainly filled with Nepenthes and had quite an eerie feel about the place. (We were in an out in less than a minute!)

But the Gardens are more than just looking at trees. They make an effort to put on regular events that are enjoyable for children. When we were there at the end of October they had an extensive fancy dress wardrobe available for use (free!) and about 20 huge pumpkins (50~100kg!) for kids to push around, sit on and play with. However perhaps the biggest highlight for us (sorry plants!) was the Kapla room. The room which is officially called the “dream room” (Yumenoheya, ゆめのへや) is well placed at the end of your tour and has a whopping 5,000 pieces of Kapla. If you’ve never played with it before, Kapla is a simple wooden Dutch toy (like Jenga) designed to extend your imagination through thinking in three dimensions. While you can buy Kapla easily in Japan. It would cost you a few hundred thousands of yen to put together a collection that big. We spent at least an hour building and then demolishing several towers.

Playing with Kapla in the Yume-no-heya

If the weather isn’t that bad when you go, there are also lots of other great facilities to keep your kids running around and entertained. Right in front of the Gardens is a large bed of grass in the shape of a colosseum which is perfect for kicking around a soccer ball or flying a large radio controlled helicopter. If there aren’t any events on there is an Olympic size running track which is often used for athletic meets. (* Request from author: I am always looking for a running track like this in a convenient place – let me know in the comments section below if you can recommend one. They are few and far between in Tokyo.) If the weather is really good, then definitely go for a walk around the marina behind the gardens (Yes! There is a marina in Tokyo!) and tell me what the restaurant there is like.

If it is pretty cold but you are still looking for something to do to kill a few minutes on the way back to the station then you can go visit the Fukuryu-Maru Museum (第五福竜丸展示館, daigo fukuryumaru tenjikan) for free. Here they have preserved a Tuna Fishing boat that was hit by the US hydrogen bomb dropped on Bikini Atoll in 1954. They claim that it is no longer radioactive.

Colosseum of grass at Yumenoshima

Finally, for the bean knowledge buffs out there – here is the story of the island. The first plans to reclaim land here were late in WWII when the government planned to build a huge runway here. The plans were quickly cancelled as Japan faced a huge shortage of raw materials and weren’t rekindled until the 1950s when Tokyo was forced to look for a new way of storing its ever growing rubbish heap. The island was filled in a mere 10 years and a decade later in 1978 the rubbish island was officially turned into a park. It got the nick-name Yumenoshima (“dream island”) because the original grand plan of the government was to build a huge amusement park there. Ironically, the dream never came true but the name stuck.

I don’t know if it was because of the really low expections I had before I arrived but I thoroughly enjoyed our day out at Yumenoshima. It’s definitely worth a visit, especially at the end of the month when the budget is a little tighter than normal.

Behind the tropical waterfall at Yumenoshima

The easiest way to get there is to walk (15 leisurely stroll through the park) from Shin-Kiba Station (JR Keiyo Line, Rinkai Line, Subway Yurakucho Line). There is a car park which is reasonably cheap but is still a 5 min walk from the Gardens. You can also catch a bus directly to Yumenoshima from any of Kinshicho, Kameido, Kiba and Toyocho stations.

Place: Yumenoshima Tropical Botanical Gardens
URL: http://www.yumenoshima.jp/index.shtml
Hours: Open daily (except Mondays) from 9:30AM~5PM
Tel: 03-3522-0281

If you can understand Japanese then it is definitely worth asking for one of the free tours as the guides are very knowledgeable and will tell you a few interesting stories behind the plants that you wouldn’t have known otherwise.

Here is an overview in English, to help you explain this place to your kids!

How Yumenoshima Tropical Rainforest gets heated from burning your rubbish

Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Documentary - Fuji TV

This incredible documentary is the first of its kind to air in Japan, with professionally commentated and chronologically compiled footage of the massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that was to follow. It is all in Japanese, but for those of you who cant understand the commentary, just watch it anyway. It is very well put together, giving logical sequencing of the mess which we all witnessed on the news and Youtube in the weeks after the event. Watch it, and witness the gut wrenching footage and interviews with people who lost their families and livelihood (even if you dont understand the language with your head, your heart understands the story being told). Much of the footage has previously never been shown before, and has been painstakingly sewn together into this shocking story, that helps with a deeper understanding of what really happened on that tragic day, March 11th 2011.

It starts with a 20 minute sequence of the progressive destruction of one single city, that had 19 cameras (some amateur, and some fixed) positioned around the bay. Quite amazing to see all of this second by second swallowing up the city.

The main program then starts, with detailed stories and descriptions of different people’s accounts. Emotional as hell, but it focuses on how the Japanese pulled together, and helped each other. No riots, no looting, just people in mourning trying their best to help other people in mourning.

Full credit given to Fuji TV for this show (we even left the ads in). We just thought it was such an incredible show, that it needs to be shared.

Watch the full program by downloading it in the link below.

Download the full video in mp4 format

(formatted for iPad, iPhone, in very high quality – you may need to right click and choose “save as”)

In part three of this series, I wrote a bit about travelling with a baby in Japan on planes. The big form of transport that I didn’t mention was cars. I’d never felt the need for owning a car in Japan until I had a baby but recently I’ve been starting to think that it would be a nice addition to the family. Besides the fact that it would make bringing nappies home from the local supermarket a lot easier, it would make domestic travel just that little bit smoother. We’ve been able to get around a reasonable amount with a combination of rent-a-cars and taxis when we haven’t been able to use trains (or boats or planes), but the reality is that it is just not as safe or convenient as having your own car with a fitted baby seat.

We knew that we would be using a taxi every so often (coming home from the hospital, visiting the in-laws, etc) so bought one of those 5-in-one baby cars (ベビーカー, pram/stroller) that brushes your teeth and also turns into a car seat when we need to take our child in a car. It seemed like a great idea. We could save space by attaching the car seat to the frame to form a pram and yet still fit the frame easily in the back of a taxi. You attach the baby’s car seat to one of the back seats using the chest harness already in the taxi. So you’re thinking, most taxis in Japan don’t have a back seatbelt – well… that was the least of our problems. Generally if you hunt around the back seat you can find a seatbelt, what we didn’t budget for was the length of the seatbelts not being long enough. Yes. This is a seat for babies made and designed by a Japanese company to be used in Japan, yet there are actually many taxis that don’t have seatbelts long enough to attach it. My word of advice to you? Read the fine print on your car seat before you buy it. Ours required a minimum seatbelt length of 210cm. While you’ll be right with a new kojin taxi (個人タクシー, privately owned and operated taxi) in the big cities, you might not be so lucky in regional centres were the car models of taxis are a little bit older. Indeed, we had to wait a very long time (and say “No Thanks” to several empty taxis) in both Kyushu and Shikoku in order to find one that we could attach our safety seat to.

You can’t rely on taxi drivers to help (or understand) the issue as they will often say “not to worry” or ridiculous things like “you’ll be alright if you hold him in the back”. Somebody really needs to educate taxi drivers that it is actually illegal to take an infant (or any child up to the age of 6 for that matter) in a car without a child safety seat. For some reason it seems as though the broader population missed the passing of that law, not to mention the one requiring seatbelt usage for adults in the back seat, too, last year. The stats for child auto safety in Japan is quite eye opening. Perhaps it is because most Japanese are not regularly drivers but for some reason (tell me why!?) people just don’t seem to realise how dangerous a car can be.

A survey of nearly 13,000 people by JAF and the police (チャイルドシート使用状況全国調査全国調査) in 2007 found that less than half of parents used a baby seat for their child in their car and a whopping 11.5% felt that hugging their child was adequate protection in case of a car crash (in America this is known as the “child crusher position”). These numbers have gotten significantly better in the 2010 survey, where 56.8% of children under 6 were fastened in child seats, however a staggering 40+% were still “protected” using other means, such as the child crusher position.

Even amongst parents using child seats, only a scary 36.5% were able to fasten it correctly to their car seat (most of them had intentionally fitted it loosely and some had just placed it on top of the back seat! 2 out of 3 parents who own seats don’t even use it every time their child is in the car. The probability of your child dying when you don’t use a child seat is 4.3x higher than when you use one.

All of these ridiculous stats are in spite of the fact that it was made compulsory for children under the age of 6 to use child-seats in cars way back in 2000 （道路交通法第71条の3）. That said Japan has got to be the only country in the world that has an official exception to this law stating that children who are in the middle of every-day baby related activities (ie. Feeding, nappy changing, etc) are exempt from this law. How ridiculous is that? Surely you can stop the car in order to change your kid’s nappies!? Surely you’d want to! I mean, think of the mess if you did crash with a crappy nappy lying on the back seat because you hadn’t finished changing your child yet. yuck..

In order to be able to use our car seat in a variety of different cars and taxis, I went to several auto-shops to see if I could purchase a seatbelt extender. The idea is that you attach the male and female parts of a seatbelt to a short piece of seatbelt that you can plug into both parts of the seatbelt in order to add a few inches of length to the belt. No matter how many shops I tried, the answer was the same. They don’t exist in Japan. (I’ve seen them overseas and they are normally used by over-weight people to help them lock their seatbelt.) By my third visit, I found a man who was quite clued up to the Japanese auto-laws. Apparently there is a clause in the Japanese seatbelt laws that states that obese people are exempt from wearing a seatbelt and hence there is no need for such a seatbelt extension in Japan. After all if it isn’t required by law, who would want one? Damn it. How much more obvious could it be that the government is enforcing these rules in order to help us and that seatbelts protect our lives. And yes, while we’re at it, there is a safe way for pregnant women to attach a seatbelt so there is no reason why they shouldn’t wear one either! In case you haven’t noticed, I have had this discussion with many Japanese taxi drivers but every time it has been in vain. I’d love some advice on this matter. How do you rebut the comeback “don’t worry I’ve never had an accident before” or better yet “but the customer looks so uncomfortable with that tight seatbelt on”.

Do you have any seat belt in Japan stories? Tell us in the comments!

Vaccinations in Japan are different than in the West - there are important points that you should know, because your Japanese doctor may not.

There are two very important things to know about new born vaccinations in Japan:

1. Japan doesn’t immunise for as many diseases as is standard in the West.
2. Japan has developed its own domestic vaccines for most diseases which means that they are not compatible with vaccinations taken for the same disease in other countries.

At the time of writing, the recommended injections for newborns in Japan (i.e. those that are provided free of charge to residents) are as follows:

The yobosesshu brand - Japanese babies will wear this mark with them until adulthood and beyond

• BCG (結核予防法) → at birth
• Diphtheria(ジフテリア) → 2, 4 and 6 months
• Pertussis(百日咳) → 2, 4 and 6 months
• Tetanus (破傷風) → 2, 4 and 6 months
• Polio (ポリオ) → 2, 4 and 6 months

In addition to these diseases, Hong Kong, for example, also recommends (and provides free of charge) vaccinations for the following diseases:

• Hepatitis B (Ｂ型肝炎) → 2, 4 and 6 months
• HiB (ヘモフィラス・インフルエンザ菌タイプB) → 2, 4 and 6 months
• Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV) (肺炎球菌結合ワクチン) → 2, 4 and 6 months
• Rota Virus (ロタウィルス) → 2, 4 and sometimes also 6 months

According to our paediatrician who was educated in London and Australia, both Australia and most of Europe vaccinate for the same diseases as Hong Kong. I’m assuming that they are all copy cats of the UK standard. Furthermore, each of these countries uses the same brand of vaccinations so your child isn’t going to have any problems if you travel between those countries. On the other hand, when we found ourselves in Japan 4 months after my son’s birth we realised that we’d created two problems for ourselves: (1) we were half way through vaccinations for diseases that Japanese paediatricians hadn’t even heard about (e.g. rota virus) and (2) we couldn’t even complete the four diseases that Japan also immunises for, as Japanese hospitals use domestically developed brands that aren’t compatible with the first two rounds that we’d taken overseas. Don’t let a Japanese doctor fool you on this point. They are not compatible.

This is an interesting chart (source) that makes a comparison of the standard Japanese vaccination schedule with that of the United States. Could be a good one to take with you when you visit your Japanese GP, to spur discussion about how he/she needs to help you:

It is actually possible to receive a hepatitis B vaccination in Japan if you pay for it yourself so I guess it is unfair to include it in the second list although it is not standard and most children don’t receive it. I’ve also heard that the HiB vaccine is very close to approval in Japan as well. Even if it is improved, it is unlikely that it will be included on the free list of vaccinations for several years so will probably be in the same basket as the hepatitis B vaccination.

It might seem like a lot of injections for your baby to receive but in actual fact almost all of these injections are administered at the same time. If you find a friendly paediatrician in Japan then you will probably get diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus together in one injection called a DPT (三種混合, sanshu kongo) which reduces some of the shock to the poor little kid. If you’re unlucky, your paediatrician might

Some clinics in Japan will give vaccinations the Western way - at 2 months the baby receives all of them at the same time with simultaneous jabs in both legs

It only took a few phone calls to leading hospitals in Osaka and Tokyo to realise that no public hospitals were able to administer any vaccinations other than those officially recommended by the Japanese government. They recommended me to try and find a small private hospital that might be importing the drugs on a proprietary basis. After smiling and dialling every international sounding private hospital I could think of in Osaka, Kobe and Tokyo, I was proudly offered various combinations of DPT and a bunch of branded vaccines that I’d never heard of. I thought I’d almost struck gold with a small practice in Hiro (広尾), until the senior doctor (院長先生, inchosensei) – who will remain unnamed – started trying to convince me that both brands of the rota virus vaccination were interchangeable. It scares me to think how many unsuspecting parents take their children to that guy and get the wrong vaccination!

Anyway to cut a long story short, I was only able to find one hospital that was able to administer each of the injections for us. Here are their details:

Tokyo Medical and Surgical Clinic
Address: 32 Shiba koen Building 2F,
3-4-30 Shiba-koen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011
Telephone: 03-3436-3028 (24 hours)
Fax: 03-3436-5024

Unfortunately for families coming from Australia, they only had Rotarix (and not Rotateq which is standard in Australia) for the rota virus at that time but that might change in the future. I highly recommend them for the other vaccinations and their professionalism. At the time of writing these vaccinations cost a hefty 80,000 yen for one round of all 8. For obvious reasons, it is nice to have an insurance policy that covers these payments – but it will have to be private as the clinic is not recognised by the Japanese health insurance system. While my focus has been on newborns, parents of children who are either 12 months or 4 years old will probably want to know what the story is with chicken pox, mumps, measles and rubella. All of these injections are available in Japan, but only measles and rubella are provided free to residents. Whereas the west generally administers measles, mumps and rubella together in a 3-in-one injection called MMR, for some reason Japan doesn’t include mumps and just gives an “MR”. It’s worth confirming the brand that you used for the first round at 12 months if you are giving the 4 year booster to your child for the same reason as mentioned above.

Lets us know about your yobosesshu experiences in Japan, or for that matter, anywhere else. It’s a fascinating topic, but sometimes a scary one, especially when it involves your own little one.

The New Keisei Skyliner Express - Tokyo to Narita Airport in just 36 minutes - but what's the catch?

Seems too good to be true.

So what’s catch? Well the first, and rather predictable, piece of fine print is how they measure the travel time. 36 minutes is the time needed to travel from Nippori （日暮里駅）to Narita’s Terminal 2 Station (空港第2ビル駅). Presumably if you get on at Ueno （上野駅）and have to use Terminal 1 （成田空港）then it will take closer to 40 minutes. That itself is not a deal breaker. Perhaps the bigger problem for most of us is the location of Keisei’s existing stations in Nippori and Ueno. Unless you live on the Yamanote Line (山手線) or in one of the many cardboard boxes in Ueno Park, neither are really that benri (便利, convenient.) It doesn’t help that JR’s Nippori Station is one of the only JR stations in the capital to have neither an escalator nor an elevator. Even if the new Keisei Nippori Station will be completely barrier free like they are promising, it is of little consolation to those of us who have to lug our family’s heavy suitcases up the stairs on the JR side in order to get there.

Here is the detailed PR video (in Japanese) that will give you a run-down of more details:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Narita Sky Access – 36 minutes/2400 yen/62.0km Between Nippori and Narita:
The new train will be known officially as: “Narita Sky Access” (成田スカイアクセス), and the fare from Nippori to Narita Airport will be consistent with the current Keisei offering of 2400 yen. This makes it not only faster than JRs N’EX (Narita Express) offering, but also cheaper.

The next best news – apart from cutting off 15 minutes from the existing travel time – is that trains will be really frequent. In addition to the 3 express trains (特急) that will continue to run the existing (51 minute) route to the airport from Ueno, there will be 3 Sky Liners and 3 express trains running every hour on the new route. That’s 9 trains an hour to Narita from Ueno. That’s even better than Hong Kong’s Airport Express (機場快綫, 5 trains per hour) which anyone who has used will agree is a very efficient system. How will the Narita Express (N’EX) be able to compete with its frustrating 2 trains per hour timetable? (Currently Keisei has 55% of the market for train passengers to Narita but this is bound to increase post 2010.)

Inside the new Keisei Skyliner

Apparently the government isn’t too happy about this as the Transport Ministry (国道交通省, kokudokotsusho) want to cut the travel time between Narita and Haneda dramatically before the runway expansions planned at each airport are completed in 2012. Fat chance of that. Keisei’s management have made it clear that it would be impossible without more tunnel space at some key stations on the subway line that would enable an express train to overtake the normal slower trains. But hold on a second, the government is talking about shaving off over 40 minutes from the current travel time (106 min à 65 min). That’s going to take more than just a bit of improvising underground near Asakusabashi (浅草橋駅).

So I can hear you thinking it over. What if they did get their act together and link Narita and Haneda with a high-speed express train? Would I use it? Is the Asakusa Line really that much more helpful compared to say catching a bus from Narita to a more convenient location? This is the icing on the cake for those of you who plan to be in Tokyo long term. Unless Hatoyama scraps it, the government will start including funds in their budget from this year enough to build a new station on the Asakusa Line that links it directly to Tokyo Station (東京駅) by 2015. Nice. I’m not quite sure how it would work exactly. It’s supposed to be somewhere between Takaramachi (宝町駅 ) and Nihonbashi (日本橋駅) but that smells to me of another long, sweaty underground walk like they have at the existing Nihonbashi station for the Asakusa Line. It all sounds a little too aggressive to me. I don’t think I would bank on it being completed on time especially since Ishihara wasn’t successful with his bid for the 2016 Olympics. Fat chance.

Ueto Aya at the kick-off press conference of the New Skyliner

But doesn’t that just strike you as poor planning? Why on earth wouldn’t JR have extended the shinkansen to reach Narita? They could have at least built their existing line on a wider gauge size so that they could potentially upgrade it one day. Funny you should ask. I’d always blamed this gross inefficiency on the ex-bureaucrats at JR but it turns out we have the selfless Japanese people to blame for that hour of pain we experience every time we travel out to Narita. Yep, the bureaucrats had it right. The national government actually approved the construction of a Narita Shinkansen (成田新幹線) and even purchased acres of land in Tokyo and Chiba before the idea was scrapped. At the time, the politically powerful residents of East Tokyo, Chiba and also the left-wing were up in arms at the idea of building a noisy train through their backyards that wouldn’t even stop near their houses. Sounds like that old lady who refused to sell her house to the Narita Airport and now lives right under the flight path of the second runway. Edogawa Ward (江戸川区) actually took the Minister for Transport (運輸大臣) to the Supreme Court in order to stop the construction!!

If you’ve ever gone to Disneyland then I’m sure you’ve wondered why the underground station for the Keiyo line (京葉線) at Tokyo Station is in such an inconvenient place? Well that “hole in the ground” was originally planed for the shinkansen station (as they were going to continue it through to Shinjuku). After canceling the shinkansen the government had to come up with an excuse to “use” the hole and hence we have the Keiyo Line. They also spent 90 billion yen building a meaningless piece of track from Narita to Tsuchiya (土屋) called the Narita Airport High Speed Rail. Oh, and you guessed it. It was completed 15 years behind schedule AND wasn’t even high speed! Because they built it on small 1067mm tracks, Keisei has had to build another wider line right next to it in order to complete their real “High Speed” railway! Gotta love JR.

I wonder how much the new train will cost passengers to use. The Hokuso Line that it will be an extension of is pretty expensive at the moment (It currently costs 1070 yen just to get from Nippori to Imba Nippon Medical School (印旛日本医大駅, Imbanipponidai) which is about the price you pay to get all the way to Narita on the existing Keisei line if you don’t use the Sky Liner. But hey, even if it costs 3,000 yen like the Narita Express it is still probably worth it for returning that extra 15 minutes of your life that JR robs from us each time. And I’m sure that the regular express will be cheaper for the day before pay day.

Here is the plan, for where the new track will run. It really seems to cut a beeline for the airport:

So back to my original worry: Where should I live? Well, if I could bare living out in the boondocks, I guess the obvious places where land prices are likely to rise are where the new express (特急) is scheduled to stop: Takasago (高砂駅), Shin-Kamagaya (新鎌ヶ谷駅), Chiba New Town Central (千葉ニュータウン中央駅), Imba Nippn Medical School and Narita New Town North (成田ニュータウン北駅). Hmmm. That’s a tough call. Nothing against those of you living in Chiba but it just feels soooo far away from it all!

I feel like I’m back at square one. What’s it like living in Takasgo? Where do you think I should live? I look forward to your comments below.

Official site for more information: www.new-skyliner.jp

Cabin Attendant with Baby - Travelling with bubs is not as much of a hassle as everyone makes it out to be - especially in Japan. You just have to know the tricks!

I figured that this is particularly relevant to other gaijin daddies out there who either want to take their child “home” to see their half of the family, or, if the child was born and lives outside of Japan, probably have a wife hoping to do the same. When is “too soon” to take your baby on a plane? It seems as though the current consensus is about six weeks but it’s not obvious that there is a lot of medical proof behind this. The six week period also happens to be a defining period in the recuperation of the maternal body and so it seems to me (as a total ignoramus when it comes to medicine) that perhaps the six week start-line is just as much for the mother as it is for the baby. At any rate we jumped on a plane (and a boat!) about two days after my son reached six weeks. No problemo.

The main thing that parents of little children (and other passengers) complain about on planes is crying due to ear pain. While you probably shouldn’t fly when your child has a middle ear infection, if your child is healthy then all you need to do is think of a practical way to encourage him to swallow continuously at the time of decent (contrary to popular belief the change in pressure in your middle ear at take-off isn’t a cause of discomfort, it’s the increase in pressure on descent that can hurt). Feeding is the easiest method. You probably want to start about half an hour before landing as the descent often begins before the fasten-your-seatbelt sign lights up. If you’re breast feeding this is pretty simple. If it’s a short-haul flight you might want to get a window seat for your wife so her oppai (breasts) aren’t seen by too many ero-oyajis. If you’re on the bottle then just make sure you don’t run out at the wrong time. Other things we’ve tried (and succeeded with) include thumbs (both his and mine), stuffed toys with mouth size feet, or some gauze. When they are over six months (not four or five like most Japanese books tell you) and are onto solids we’ve tried rusks and dried apple as well. Not having to think at all about food is the biggest advantage of travelling with a baby under six months, especially a breastfed one. If you’re child is asleep, for some reason unknown to me, there is no need to wake him up on decent. What other things do you need to consider when taking your baby on a plane?

Babies crying in planes annoy everyone - most of all the parents!

• Sleep: babies under three months or so sleep so much of the day there is a good chance they’ll sleep most of the plane trip. This is even more likely if your child goes to sleep easily in your car because he’ll also find the vibration of the plane’s engines very soothing.
• Movement: once your child starts to walk, catching a plane will take on a whole new meaning and you’ll spend your entire flight either entertaining your child or trying to restrain him. Conversely, in their first year of life, babies won’t be moving an inch so that makes them very obedient travellers. In fact, contrary to popular wives tale, a very young baby on a plane is much easier than a baby between one and three years old for exactly this reason.
• Cost: babies under two years of age are free on most airlines although sometimes you might be forced into paying a fuel surcharge for your child regardless of how young they are (with ANA you can avoid paying the fuel surcharge as well – at least for your baby – by using mileage to book your ticket). In order to get your child’s ticket for free, they have to travel on your lap. On long-haul flights you’ll be able to put them in a bassinet if they weigh less than 12kg (i.e. Up until about twelve months) or so and you’re lucky enough to get one (so book it early with the airline). Otherwise they’ll be sitting on your lap.
• Safety: If you’re very safety conscious, you won’t be over the moon to hear that the Japanese carriers don’t provide infant seatbelts (that attach to the one on your lap) on domestic routes. When you consider that the vast majority of in-flight injuries are due to sudden turbulence, I think this is pretty poor and am very close to writing an official complaint to both JAL and ANA. If this worries you too, or you don’t like the idea of your 12kg+ baby sitting on your lap for the whole flight, then it might just be easier to get a separate seat. Unfortunately the discount for children on a seat is minimal so assume you’re paying close to full fare. The other advantage to getting a seat is that it does guarantee your child a pop-down air mask in the case of an accident. Maybe the extra money is worth it for the peace of mind.

Travelling on a plane is nowhere near as bad as people will lead you to think and neither is travelling by boat, bus, or most other forms of transport. Just remember – don’t be discouraged to travel just because you have a small baby – especially in Japan. Travelling in this country revolves around eating tasty (and healthy) food, being treated like a King and relaxing in a hot tub. Especially if you’re wife is having trouble breast feeding, you might be pleasantly surprised: The warm, therapeutic waters of an onsen (温泉、hot springs) , and even your own bath at home to be honest, are known to stimulate milk production. My wife claims that her best milk producing days ever (in terms of quantity) were in the few days we stayed at Beppu Onsen (別府温泉) six weeks after our son was born. Although I’ve searched quite a bit on the web, I’m not quite sure of the minimum age for putting a child in an onsen itself but unless it is a tanjunsen (単純泉, spring containing less than 1000 ppm of dissolved minerals), I wouldn’t try it for at least 12 months (especially if your child has bladder/bowel control problems). It’s worth asking about the yushitsu (湯質, qualities of the spring water) directly with the ryokan as often the shower/bath uses the same gensen (源泉, source) as the onsen itself which could mean you’re inadvertently bathing your child in sulphuric water even if you use the bath in your private room.

Japanese ryokan and hotels are also pretty well set up for a family with a little baby, although it’s often worth checking with the manager first to make sure they don’t mind you bringing a little child. It’s also worth confirming that they have a kettle in each room as you can use that to sterilise things or boil water for formula etc. A typical mahobin (魔法瓶, flask) is fine as you don’t want to use very hot boiling water in your baby’s bottles anyway (for fear of BPA poisoning) I personally recommend finding a ryokan that offers heyashoku (部屋食, the option of eating your dinner in your room). Even if you have to go to the restaurant for breakfast, you’ll find your dinner much less stressful if your crying baby is rolling around the tatami next to you in the privacy of your own room.

What about when Nature calls? If you need to change nappies while you’re touring go to a shopping centre. While there aren’t that many in central Tokyo/Osaka, American style malls are all over the countryside. Most of them have a babies’ corner with plenty of space to breast feed, change nappies, and some even have a baby food “snack” （スナック, a colloquial term for a tiny bar where a mama-san usually serves sake to lonely salary-men but in this case sell food and drink that are suitable for a baby – together with it’s biological “mama” of course). If you’re wife is breastfeeding but still wants a coffee, go to Starbucks as they are the only coffee store that I’ve found in Japan to offer decaf coffee. Once again, you’re likely to find them in any major shopping centre.

If you’re breast feeding but want to take a small amount of formula with you while you’re travelling “just in case” then I recommend “Hohoemi rakuraku cubes”. They sell boxes of their milk subdivided into handy travel packs so you don’t have to worry about using more than you need at any one time. Within each travel packs there are five hard blocks of formula (each the equivalent of 50ml of formula if my memory serves me correctly) to save you having to measure out messy formula as well.

Finally a word on train travel. If you don’t have a car then you and your partner are going to be battling the railway system on a pretty regular basis with your baby. Good news is that you don’t have to pay for your child until they reach primary school age and as long as they are sitting in a buggy then you will probably never be questioned. That said, my best advice for short trips is “to do as the locals do” and hang your baby in a sling across your chest. While many stations in the large cities have elevators and escalators, you’ll be surprised how many don’t (and never will due to architectural restrictions!). My local station infamously has two flights of escalators, followed by one flight of stairs to get out of the station! When I do take my son on the train in our buggy, I always use “rakuraku odekake net” which tells you what norikae train route to take you to your location while avoiding stations that don’t have elevators and escalators. It’s great. Unfortunately there isn’t an English page at the moment so I’ve been pestering the owner of trains.jp to create one. He is a gaijin in Tokyo, and is using trains.jp make the best norikae annai experience for foreigners. Fingers crossed.

If you’ve got any other Japan specific tips on travelling with babies, please share them with us in the comments section below. Better yet, I’d love to hear some of the horror stories of taking infants travelling to prepare me for what is yet to come!

Semblance of our resident crazy Japanese neighbour.. Do you have one of these?

The perpetrator – my neighbour of five years – completely freaked me out a few years back by coming to my door and letting rip on me about my toddlers (they were 3 and 1 at the time) and the incessant noise they made. I was in the doorway and it was a very very intense moment as the guys mother (with whom he lives) came to the door to calm him down. The guy is in his mid-late 30′s and clearly something was not right – especially as on this occasion the kids had only been home a few minutes before he was dinging on the intercom. To my recollection we came in (after shopping for dinner), they washed their hands and went to the lounge to play. I was making dinner not far away and the noise was fine. The neighbour complained to the Kanrinin-san (caretaker) and he passed it on to the landlord (or at least to the agency that looks after the property). They came to us and dealt with the situation. The flooring was regulation thickness, we even had a thick carpet on top of most of it. We are not a loud family, and the whole situation did not make much sense. They went down to see the neighbour and came back to report that he suffers from some ailment of some kind. We were not sure but it started to sound like schizophrenia or something kind of “scary” to the uninformed (like us).

We agreed that should there be problems in the future we and he would go through the agent to communicate the issue. Of course we would try our best to keep our children quiet. This failed when on the next occasion the neighbour complained that it was me who was at fault for stomping around the house. As the father of two and wife of one, I had been at particular pains to keep quiet yet somehow my walking around in socks was noisy? Again, it did not make sense.

This type of thing carried on for years, with the occasional outburst from the man downstairs. We would get the call, “byonin ga imasu” (there is a sick person down here) every few months and we would be on high alert for a while to keep the noise down. It was not as if we were even all that noisy but with two small kids playing I can not guarantee that there were not at least some “bangs” and “thuds”. We have the same noise issues with the folks upstairs but we tend to understand, and get over it pretty easily. We have foot steps, knife on cutting boards and early morning alarm clocks but we don’t make any fuss. The noise is so slight that it really would be lame (or weird) to make a fuss.

Cue July 2009 – I was at the office and my wife was at home with our youngest son and three of his girlfriends (and their mummies) from kindergarten. Lucky little tyke, you may think but on this occasion – a warm, humid day – the window was opened and whatever noise those naughty little kids were making travelled south to the byonin downstairs. With no warning the ladies in the living room – three in all – heard an extremely loud and scary “Korosuzou! Kono Osutoraria-jin yarou!” (Going to kill you! F*ckin Aussie!). Needless to say the other ladies and their kids all left in a rush, probably thinking WTF is it with this wacko woman and her Aussie husband? What do they do to make their neighbours so angry? Well, as a matter of fact, ah… nothing, as far as we can tell. A week or so before this particular incident the byounin called the O-ya-son (landlord) and they sent a team around to investigate. They got to the door to find a very quiet household – the kids were playing Wii after all. Generally they are just glued to the TV when doing that. But it was clear that the byonin underneath us was reaching a peak.

He went nuts again just last week during the typhoon. For some reason he was paranoid that my home office (corner room) windows being open would cause major damage to his apartment. He asked the kanrinin-san to visit us, and make us close the windows. My wife explained (as I was on a call) that I had no air-conditioning in the room and there was no water coming in, other than the odd droplet that landed on my desk (with a newspaper strategically placed). The kanrinin understood and didn’t really see the issue.

Next thing – as I had not closed the windows – we had more of the yelling from downstairs. One of the neighbours and friends from upstairs called us to see if everything was okay (as this guy was now legendary in his own right). Being on the council (or whatever you call it) for our mansion they suggested that we call the cops. My wife was quite freaked out at this stage and duly did so.

Within minutes we had a copper asking about the trouble and also the real estate agent. We got some handy advice from the young policeman who was concerned about the potential for this issue to worsen and he went down stairs to talk with our byonin neighbour. He came back later to say that he gave the guy a warning to keep the noise down. Surely the man downstairs felt the irony in this, but we are already looking to move and buy our own place! The guy’s a psycho.

So. What would you do in this situation? We are thinking that after having “I will kill you Aussie!” yelled at our family, our chances at an amicable resolution are pretty low. Especially when you consider that I am not a bloody Australian but a Kiwi. (What an arsehole!) But we think that we need to vacate the premises and make the landlord pay for our new key money and gift money, seeing as we have paid that up so cheerily every 2 years.

Feel free to share your advice, or even better, your “crazy Japanese neighbour” story below in the coments.

Triumphant lawyers outside the court advocating mansion renewal fees in a similar case some years ago in Kyoto - This time they were not so lucky

The regular guy in Kyoto was living in a typical apartment room paying 55,000 yen a month rent. His rental contract reached maturity in April of 2006 and was automatically rolled over to a new contract when he agreed to pay two months of rent (110,000 yen) as a one off renewal fee ( 更新料 ) to the landlord. Nothing unusual there and I’m assuming that the guy himself didn’t think twice when he paid it. However, it’s funny how stupid some decisions look retrospectively. Due to various reasons the guy had to leave his apartment in the following month (May ’06) and decided that he would ask his landlord to refund the renewal fee and 100% of his deposit. When the landlord said no he took him to court arguing that it was in breach of the 消費者契約法 (shohishakeiyakuho, consumer contract law) and requested a full refund of both. Incidentally, his deposit was more than a whopping 350,000 yen (more than 6 months rent!) and that is probably the real reason why he took his landlord to court but for you and I the more relevant issue is what happened to his renewal fee.

To cut a long story short the Kyoto regional court ruled in his favour and argued that the concept of a renewal fee had no benefit whatsoever to the consumer and was completely in favour of the owner and hence in breach of the consumer contract law. While there have been various one off court cases concerning particular cases of a renewal fee, this is the first in which the entire concept was deemed to be against the spirit of the law. One of the specific reasons that the judge raised was that at the time of paying it was unclear what period of time a renewal fee was to cover and hence it was impossible to include in the definition of rent. I wonder what the same judge would say about reikin (礼金, the not very voluntary act of paying 1 or 2 months of rent to your landlord at the time of signing your rental contract).

The consumer contract law was passed in April 2001 in order to protect consumers from abuse in contracts that they have signed. It’s open to very broad interpretation and measures all contracts in terms of quantity and quality of information provided to consumers and ideally protects them from being abused, especially when they are not in a strong negotiating position.

I suppose this debate in this case probably boils down the question of whether or not you would be willing to pay a higher monthly rent for the pleasure of abolishing the renewal fee. At the end of the day most landlords include this in their budgeting and without it would almost prefer you to leave so they can sign on a new tenant for their reikin. But, given the considerable oversupply of rental properties at the moment it might not be that practical for landlords to raise their rent. That would mean rents on long-term properties would fall by 8% (assuming 2 months renewal for a 2 year contract). Bad for inflation but good for renters like you and I.

Breastfeeding: Baby formula product marketing and your doctor may make you blind to the benefits

It really frustrates me the number of heart-ache stories that I hear from friends who’ve been totally convinced by the Japanese mass media that their breasts aren’t good enough for their babies. Just as depressing are the number of stories that I’ve heard where mothers in Japan who had previously believed that breast is best, have been convinced by their doctors (after only a few weeks of trying) that they’re not making enough milk and switched to formula or a mix of formula and breast milk. Whereas 90% of Japanese mothers when surveyed before giving birth suggest that they want to raise their child on breast-milk, only 3~40% of them are still exclusively feeding their babies breast milk by their three month check up. That is lower than most countries in Asia, and is extremely low when compared even with developing countries – what makes Japanese mums feel so unhealthy/unqualified that they can’t breastfeed properly? It’s not because they are rushing back to the work force, the vast majority are dedicated (and motivated) stay-at-home mothers. It’s because a combination of dated medical practices and an advertising dollar focused publishing industry has lead Japanese mothers to believe that there is a good chance that their breasts won’t be making enough milk. If you introduce me to another Japanese mum who cries to me that her breasts are 出が悪い (degawarui, don’t make enough milk) then I think I will take to her doctor with a knife! While I profess to have no official medical background, I’m hoping that my views as a novice Daddy-san in Japan will be able to save a few couples from resorting to an unnecessary evil. (This is the second article in this “Daddy-san” series. Make sure to also read part one).

To be very clear, I have absolutely no qualms with mothers using formula for lifestyle reasons: because they want to go back to work, because they want more freedom or because their husband wants to be a stay-at-home Dad, etc. I know many people who were raised exclusively on formula and they have been able to function as normal human beings. I’m angry because there is a significantly large number of mothers out there who want to feed their babies breast milk but are actively discouraged by (a) their pediatrician, (b) mass market literature claiming to offer information on bringing up babies, (c) stealth marketing by infant formula companies and (d) their parents (who grew up in a time where formula was erroneously thought to be better than breast milk.) Let’s be very clear about this. There is absolutely no doubt that breast milk is the best thing that your baby should be drinking. Your baby can and should be fed exclusively with breast milk (that also means no water) for approx. 6 months. Even after you gradually introduce real foods from 5~6 months onwards, your baby is best drinking breast milk at least until 12 months of age if not longer. The list of the benefits of breast milk over formula is very long and growing. My favorite is that despite it being totally free, it also provides higher immunity and hence lower medical expenses for the child’s entire life. You can find a long list of the benefits all over the web and in most English books on child rearing.

The Japanese deception starts the moment your wife begins reading the pregnancy magazines by Benesse and the like. Have you ever wondered why these publishers can afford to publish so many magazines on pregnancy so regularly despite Japanese mothers giving birth to less and less children every year? A healthy advertising budget from the infant formula companies help. Whereas English books often focus on the potential difficulty of breast-feeding and the need for support from the father, Japanese magazines seem to paint the world as if it is totally normal for a mother not to be able to make enough breast milk and that to top-up with formula is the norm. This is called kongo (混合, mixed) and refers to feeding your baby part breast milk and part formula.) Perhaps it works because of the perennial Japanese complex of having small breasts (which is known to be totally irrelevant) or perhaps it is just because first time mothers are lacking in confidence and hence willing to believe what they read in a magazine written by a company that runs English language schools (Benesse owns Berlitz remember!). Someone please explain to me – If the human race has survived for so many thousands of years, why on earth would breast milk not be enough to raise your child? Needless to say, I’m yet to see a Japanese book written by an academic that doesn’t paint the picture accurately. For some reason, it’s the colourful magazines written by editors – not academics – that survive on advertising and sales of other products to their readers, that have become the trusted source of information for Japanese mothers. If you are a new gaijin Daddy, I definitely recommend that you come to your own conclusions about breast feeding after reading a book or two written by an academic. Here are some great ones:
The New Father: A Dad’s Guide to the First Year by Armin Brott or
Baby Love: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby’s First Year by Robin Barker

Unfortunately, “information” magazines are only the tip of the stealth marketing iceberg when it comes to Japanese formula companies. Most of the professionals that you have trusted (yes, your sanfujinka too) are probably on their pay-rolls. One of the key conditions for becoming a baby friendly hospital (BFH) is not to accept free samples or other forms of financial assistance from infant formula companies. Given that 70% of Japanese public hospitals are loss making, I guess you can’t blame them for seeking out private sector subsidies like this but is it fair to sacrifice the health and well being of our children while doing so? (See our article on BFHs in Japan for where to find one – they’re few and far between).

Take a look at these pictures taken in our nearby hospital (you can click to see a large version of them).

I guarantee you that there is not a single mother (or father, or grand mother or 3rd cousin twice removed) who doesn’t check out the photo of their loving little baby who’s just been born into this world. Better yet, this sign is right near the front entrance so even patients coming for other illnesses are likely to have a peek. What better subliminal messaging could you hope for than a rather unsubtle add from Meiji for their infant formula called hohoemi (ほほえみ) when you first see the face of the newest member of your clan? This hospital is known in our area to be highly respected for its sanfujinka (産婦人科, Ob/Gyn). With a reputation like this, why does it have to stoop to paid advertisements from one of Japan’s major formula manufacturers? Or is this hospital just like many other hospitals in Japan where the male Ob/Gyn’s claim that they can stimulate breast milk production through special Zen breast massages before resorting to formula when they proclaim that it is the mother’s fault as her breasts don’t produce enough milk. Rather than focusing on the joys of breast massaging, we need Japanese doctors to spend more time explaining how difficult breast feeding can be. Let’s face it, it’s not easy and it doesn’t come naturally to the baby or the mother.

Historically mankind have had grandmothers around to teach breastfeeding to the rookie Mums. But because the baby boomer generation decided that formula was “better” than natural breast milk, we can’t necessarily rely on the elder generation anymore. While America was just as guilty of throwing out the breast in the 70s, they’ve also come to the rescue of the younger generation with lactation consultants to take their place. We had a lot of trouble with breast feeding. My baby refused to grow in line with the pediatricians expectations for most of the first month of his life which was very stressful. Ironically, this is not that uncommon. It takes different babies (and mothers) different lengths of times to get into the swing of breast feeding – very few people get it right in the first week or so. We were lucky enough to have the support of two lactation consultants who helped my son and wife latch better. There is a vast shortage of internationally accredited lactation consultants in Japan so if you’re expecting or have just given birth you should book one ASAP (see the link below).

I’ve heard of some very unsettling stories in Japanese hospitals that have even resorted to giving formula to babies within the first few days of their lives. Even perfect breasts do not manufacture milk for 2~3 days after the baby has started suckling. You’re lucky if you get more than a teaspoon of a liquid called colostrum during that time. That is totally natural and your baby can survive for a few days on the fat stores that he built up in the womb. More to the point, the colostrum has vital nutrients to boost your babies immunity that are sacrificed if the Mother gives up breast feeding from day one (reference). While none of this is obvious, it only takes some caring advice from a responsible midwife to calm the first-time mother who is worried that it’s taking “too long” for her milk to come in. Then, except for a very small percentage of women, the amount of breast milk slowly increases as your child suckles on the breast, creating oxytocin. Oxytocin not only stimulates breast milk production but it also speeds up the recovery of the Mother’s body which is why mothers of formula fed babies are less likely to have a smooth and quick physical recovery.

Ironically, when your baby isn’t growing “fast enough” in the first few weeks of his life, your pediatrician is not necessarily the best person to rely on for information. He is there to ensure that your baby meets certain growth targets which are deemed to be “normal.” He’s not a lactation consultant and he hasn’t studied very much about the female body. It’s no surprise that he’s going to be quick to suggest a “boost” of formula to help your baby hit his growth targets. When we were in that situation, our lactation consultant kindly explained to us that we could sakunyuu (搾乳, express) milk from my wife’s breasts and feed it to him via a bottle or syringe (we actually elected for a blunt syringe as we didn’t want to promote nipple confusion). Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases in Japan, the doctor is more likely to portray a “now or never” need of urgency and bully mothers into adding formula to boost their babies weight. Sure that is the easy option but it is rarely the only option. Less than 2% of the population actually have breasts that cannot produce “enough milk”. Make sure that you’re wife is seeing a lactation consultant from day one so you have the option to express before you’re forced into using formula. While it is a tiring process, expressing gives your baby a few more weeks to learn how to suckle independently. Better yet, you don’t have to worry about your babies weight-gain in the interim. If you are going to try it out, make life easy and go straight for the automatic ‘milking’ machine (for want of a better term). We rented ours from Medela after battling with a manual pump for way too long (you can find your closest rental agent on their homepage). I can’t stress enough, you should be able to supplement your babies milk intake with expressed breast-milk before you have to resort to formula top-ups. You’re wife is only going to have the confidence to do so if she’s been talking to a lactation consultant from day one.

The stealth marketing of the formula companies does not end there. One of my friend’s mother works at the local shopping center. She visits the baby section once a week or so to hold sessions for mothers on baby nutrition. If you’ve ever been to a Jusco or a big shopping center, you’ll know what I mean. In the area where they have the nappy changing tables and the baby scales, they often have a room which is used for these nutrition seminars. Sometimes it is once a week, sometimes once a month but local mothers come to get a free checkup on their baby’s health and to “learn” about how they should be feeding their child. What a great idea, huh? Apparently the advice that my friend’s mother give ranges from how many mls of miruku to feed your child each day and how to prepare solids for slightly older babies. Hold on a second. Did you say miruku? Yes, and that is specifically miruku (ie. formula milk) and not the natural stuff (母乳, bonyu). On further questioning, it turns out that my friend’s mother is not even employed by the local supermarket, she is employed (and trained!) by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. (大塚製薬). Yes, the company that makes the biggest selling brand of formula in Japan, Beanstalk (for some reason pronounced beanstark (ビーンスターク) but don’t get me started on that). How stealth is that? I guarantee you that every week, huge numbers of innocent, unsuspecting mothers around the country are being fooled into believing by their local “baby nutritionist” that they should be substituting their own breast milk for formula. Not only are the hospitals and the publishers working against us, but the supermarkets are, too. I guess it makes sense. The supermarkets get a free “entertainment act” that not only attracts shoppers but also promotes shopping, not to mention that this likely boosts formula sales right after the deed. Who can we trust?

Good book for your Japanese partner: 「母乳の方が楽だった？！おっぱいでらくらくすくすく育児」

So as a new-chum gaijin parent in Japan, what should you do? The simple answer is education. Read up a lot in English yourself and do your best to subtly pass on the more important messages to your Japanese partner. Try to find a lactation consultant and better yet find some decent literature in Japanese written by a medical professional. If you’re wife is struggling with breast feeding or not totally on board with the idea, I personally recommend this book (cover pictured here):
母乳の方が楽だった？！おっぱいでらくらくすくすく育児
(Bonyuu nohoga raku data? Oppai de rakuraku sukusuku ikuji, “Breast feeding is easier?! Raising your healthy child on the breast with a minimum of effort”)

It’s written by an internationally accredited lactation consultant (Kitano Sumiyo, 北野寿美代) who realized one day after retiring as an official 助産婦 (josampu, midwife) that she’d spent her entire life focusing on babies and how the baby could get more nutrition while ignoring the mother completely. She then decided that there must be an easier way of breast feeding that was enjoyable and rewarding from the Mother’s perspective. That lead her to studying more about international standards of lactation and her ultimately coming up with this book which mixes the best of both Japanese and Western methods.

Finally, let me leave you with a list of the ingredients of Meiji’s Hohoemi formula – yes the one that advertises in my local hospital (See baby pics, with ads above). This is just taken from the back of the pack, I’m not sure if it includes the 30 different additives that the Japanese government approves for including in infant formula. (source: オーガニック食品最前線) or not. While I know that thousands of Japanese babies drink this every day and still grow up to be strong and healthy adults, I ask you – do you really think that this could be better than breast milk? Ironically, hohoemi means smile. I wonder who it is that is smiling.

Hohoemi Milk Formula Ingredients: Lactose (乳糖)、adjusted edible oils (調整食用油脂)、refined soy bean oil (大豆白絞油)、palm kernel oil (パーム核油)、fractionated pig fat (yummo!) oil (豚脂分別油)、refined fish oil (精製魚油)、milk serum protein (乳清たんぱく質)、butter milk(バターミルク)、casein (カゼイン)、fructooligosaccharide (フラクトオリゴ糖)、dextrin (デキストリン)、salt (食塩)、milk phosphatide extract (乳リン脂質抽出物)、yeast (酵母)、iron pyrophosphate (ピロリン酸鉄)、calcium phosphate (リン酸Ca).

If you have any stories about breast feeding in Japan, either happy or sad ones, we’d love it if you could share it with us in the comment section below so that hopefully the broader community of gaijin Dads (and Mums) can benefit.

Here are some more handy links and contacts that might help your breastfeeding challenge:
• La Leche League Japan (English), ラ・レーチェ・リーグ日本 (Japanese)
• Japanese Association of Lactation Consultants (NPO法人日本ラクテーション・コンサルタント協会)
• Japan Breast Feeding Association (日本母乳の会)
• Japanese Midwives’ Association (日本助産師会)
• Unicef: Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (English), ユニセフ:母乳育児成功のための１０カ条 (Japanese)

Bringing up a bi-cultural kid - it can be confusing

It turns out that while the world knows a lot about bringing up babies, maybe there aren’t as many universally agreed upon facts as I’d thought. Almost one year down the track from becoming a Dad, I’m wondering if there is any topic that isn’t disputed from one culture to the next. But I guess that is one of the things that makes bringing up a baby – your baby – so eye opening when your partner is from another culture. Generally what we believe is best for our children is a concentrated version of the kool-aid that we drunk as a child, or at the very least, what the society that we were brought up in led us to believe. I can tell you now, you will learn more about Japanese culture by having a baby than you ever will by taking the class of the similar name in first year University!

Maybe you didn’t fall into the same trap as me, but I never got around to reading the 9th chapter of any of the “month by month” books on pregnancy. In fact, I didn’t even bother buying any books on bringing up an infant. I was too focused on the pregnancy and on how big my baby was after X number of weeks. I wish someone had have sat me down and just said: “Stop reading the pregnancy books. The baby will pop out regardless of what you do! Start reading up on what you’re gonna do after the big day now because as a sleep deprived Dad you won’t have the time or the energy to be reading anything for months after your baby arrives!” In fact, just like most of the stuff that I wrote in the pregnancy series is most relevant to Dads who aren’t pregnant yet, I have a funny feeling that a lot of this series will be most relevant to Dads who aren’t Dads just yet.

Even mono-cultural Dads don’t have an awful lot of time to recover after the birth before the reality of your new life sets in, but you, the newly Knighted bi-cultural Dad, are in for twice the onslaught. The differences will start to slap you in the face from the first few days in the Hospital. Whereas most English (language) academics are now recommending a more natural environment for your newborn, Japan interestingly chooses to focus on cleanliness and often puts this before many other considerations when it comes to your baby’s health. Take your baby’s belly button stub for example. Whereas you’d probably be encouraged to ensure it was clean with warm water back home, the standard in Japan is to regularly sterilize it with alcoholic swabs. (This used to be the norm in the West, too, but recently Doctor’s are discouraging it as they don’t understand the potential side-effects for the baby from the alcohol). The desire for sterilization doesn’t stop there, most nursing Mums are encouraged to rub their nipples with alcohol before breast feeding. I guess they deem a little grog to be better for the baby than what other potential germs could be on its Mummy’s breast. Clearly babies have been breast feeding without sterilizing breasts for thousands of years so I’m not sure why we’d want to start now. I’m guessing that this must stem from the poor hygienic conditions in war-time Japan but I’m not sure. (If anyone knows the real reason, I’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.)

If you’re lucky enough to learn how to bathe your babe at the hospital, you’re probably wondering why you can’t let water in your baby’s ears or whether you really do need that gauze on his/her stomach at all times. Then there is the perpetual desire to feed him/her mugicha (麦茶, wheat tea) from 2 months onward or the Japanese book that insisted that if your baby doesn’t eat rice regularly during infancy then they won’t grow up to be a real Japanese person. (Yes I really read that in a book about rinyushoku (離乳食, solids)! The list goes on…

Believe it or not, we’re not much better. Have you ever tried explaining the nursery rhymes that you sing to your child to your Japanese spouse? How do you go about explaining why you dance to and laugh about a song about Tuberculosis? And what about rationalizing poor Georgie Porgie’s pedophilic tenancies? Even better, why on earth a dead man in a ditch and the flaws of the judiciary system shows it’s face I don’t know. Don’t get me started on teapots or people with four names. (Sorry for the Windows media stuff, couldn’t find mp3s..)

But most of these differences are just cosmetic. The last thing your baby wants is a tense house because of small difference in opinions and most of these you just have to wash under the bridge as being interesting and educational. My intention is for this series to focus on areas that I found either confusing, frustrating or educational while bringing up my son in our bi-cultural household. For most gaijin like me, living in a foreign country, it can be difficult to get balanced information with your family living in another country and the local medical staff speaking another language (in more ways than one). Hopefully this series will serve to be a bit of a resource for foreign parents in Japan who are keen to share their questions, worries and advice with out parents. I’ll be writing from a Dad’s perspective but there is no reason to limit it to just men. In fact, I have a funny feeling that there should be a whole separate series for Gaijin Mum’s in Japan married to Japanese guys and their experiences. In the meantime, this will be the story of how I endeavored to become a balanced Daddy-san. If you have any requests or worries to begin with- don’t hold back – share them with us in the comments section below.