🍎Newsletter #5: New School, Jetlag with Kids, Homemade Furikake!

Hello September! How did it get here so fast? Well, just like that, my oldest is in public Pre-K and no longer in full time Japanese daycare. I will no longer receive photo updates and the detailed daily reports that I obsessed over for the past few years. My daughter will no longer get her daily dose of Japanese - all the songs and holiday crafts! Well, the time has come, and it's all fun and good :)

Random things I worry about with this new change:  Will my child still enjoy bringing and eating her very-Japanese style bento? Will she want those ‘lunchables’ instead?! (BTW, why are the American lunch cooler bags HUMONGOUS like the size of an actual child and the child is supposed to carry that thing? I don’t understand!) Will she call me mama now instead of oka-san?! 

All these things, we will only know with time, and am here for all of it! (though I still hope she will always call me her oka-san!). This semester also marks the beginning of the ('infamous'?) “Saturday Japanese School” for us. Goodness, it’s not going to be easy! With a few different options in NY with varying levels of “Japanese strictness,” I found the selection process to be daunting. I hope to do a summary of Japanese schools in NY at some point to share with you all, and to update on how we are doing. 

Congratulations to all the kids starting their new school year, and major ganbatte to all of us with all the feels :) !!!

LET’S TALK ABOUT… JETLAG with KIDS! 

I know, I know - most of you are kinda done traveling around the world now that it’s September...but I am writing this so that I do not forget our experience, and so that potentially for your future planning this might be some helpful data!

So, a local mom asked me about how jetlag is like traveling to Japan from New York. I will share here what I shared with her. Note that this has been OUR experience, and might not mirror yours - but hopefully this will be a datapoint in which you could potentially lessen your fears about jetlag with kids! (If my post made you more scared, I apologize!)

“Usually, it takes adults about 10 days to FULLY feel "normal" - like no sleepiness, no tiredness. By day 3-4 though, you are usually feeling 'okay' - like you might not be at your best, but you are functioning okay. For little kids (6 months to 3 years?!) - I find that though the first 2 days are quite difficult at night (because they will wake up every 2-3 hours despite all the things you do to try to get them to sleep, and they quite don't understand the concept of 'jetlag'), they will magically adjust fully by day 5-6. It's weird, but it has been our experience.  A few things we do as a family to get adjusted to local time as quickly as possible:

- Switch to Japan time as soon as you are on the flight en route - including mealtimes, nap times. It can be super challenging especially on the flight, so don't worry too much, because the flight in itself can be a monstrous challenge depending on whether your kid sleeps or not. We were lucky on our way there when our then 8 month old slept well in his car seat on the flight. HOWEVER, somehow we forgot to book his seat on his way back to NY, so we held him the entire time on a full flight which was not fun at all - because by then he was 13 months old - big, mobile, and resisted sleep the entire flight. 

- After landing, keep naptimes exactly the same as the ones in NY, from day 1. Make sure to wake them up because they will keep sleeping if you don't :)  Lots of daylight during the day during non-nap times. Keep them moving! 

- When they do wake up at night, which WILL happen, despite all your efforts - never turn on the light in the room fully - use dim light as much as possible. Do very light playing or reading, never like jumping up or down! This "dark, quiet play" should only last about 1-1.5hr. And then try putting them down again. They might protest, but you will find that after some protest, they fall asleep - because they are tired from all the traveling. As for feedings, by 8 months, my son was sleeping through the night with no feedings in NY, and as much as I tried not to feed him during nighttime in Japan, he inevitably woke up needing milk (because he still thinks we are in NY) - so I gave it to him. For the first 1-3 days, I gave him a full bottle at 2-3am - even though I really did not want to, because adjusting to local mealtimes is critical - but then I needed him to sleep during the night, and it did help him to get back to sleep. After he had adjusted (day 5), he no longer needed the milk, and never went back needing it - so it was clear that he needed the milk because his hunger had not adjusted yet to Japan time, and that it was a cue for him to go back to sleep. 

- Generally, we find that after putting kids down at around 6-7pm, they will wake up at 10-11pm, and then again at 2 or 3am, and are fully awake around 4-5am. This will last anywhere from 1-3 days after landing. By day 4 or 5, they can stretch nighttime sleep until 4am or 5am, with maybe one wake up around midnight. By day 6, I find that they are able to sleep in till their 'normal' NY wake up time, which usually for us is 5:30-6am (we are early risers). This is our pattern, and has been the case for most of our Japan travels, for both of our kids. 

- Last but not least - though dealing with jetlag feels horrible while you're in it, we all adjust, at some point! Might take 3 days, might take 10 days. Similar to the "newborn" stage, it feels so hard while you're in it, but once it passes, you know you've done it and know what to expect next.  

- I would say coming back to the USA is actually the 'harder' jetlag to deal with. A few things we do to ensure we are back on track: go back to daycare/school as soon as possible to get back into the "routine", if that's an option for you; if you work - lighten your workload or take 2-3 more vacation days so you are not overtired at work or even have to stress about it; have food ready upon arrival at home so you don't have to deal with kids wanting milk/food in the middle of the night (it's easy to find midnight food in Japan but not so much in NY except for bodega food and McD!)

EVENTS + ACTIVITIES I’m CURIOUS ABOUT

This is where I share activities and events around NYC that are related to Japan and are family-friendly. 

[NEWLY ADDED] events indicated events that I added since the last newsletter! 

• Family Storytime in Japanese - Sept 15th @ SNFL
  • Held every third Sunday, this is a great way to meet other parents interested in Japanese culture and for kids to listen to Japanese reading, participate in songs and on your way out, check out Japanese books that are abundant at SNFL. 
  • Make sure to register with the library, starting Sept 10th! 
• [NEWLY ADDED] SUSHI-CON Sept 22nd @ Metropolitan Pavilion 
  • This event is already sold-out and for over 18 year olds, but it does say they might add tickets! A tuna-cutting show with all you can eat sushi sounds like a dream.
• [NEWLY ADDED]  Where Manga Meets SOHO NY by Kodansha Launching Oct 4th - Open from Wednesdays to Sundays, 12pm-9pm, running through the month of October
  • From the website: “This October, Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher and the creative force behind iconic stories like Akira, Sailor Moon, Attack on Titan, and Blue Lock, invites fans to experience Kodansha House: Where Manga Meets.”
• [NEWLY ADDED] Shichigosan: Celebrating the Health of Children Sat. & Sun., Oct. 19 & 20 @ Japan Society 
  • Shichigosan in NYC? Yes, it’s possible! Check out this cool event at the Japan Society where kids can participate in the annual Shichigosan ceremony
  • From the website: “Celebrate the growth and good health of children ages 3, 5 and 7 through the Shinto ritual of Shichigosan (“seven-five-three” in Japanese). Three- and 5-year-old boys and 3- and 7-year-old girls of all nationalities and religions, with accompanying adults, are invited to participate in this traditional celebration. Co-sponsored with the International Shinto Foundation”
• [NEWLY ADDED] Shinnai Meets Puppetry: One Night in Winter & The Peony Lantern, November 7-9, 2024 @ Japan Society
  • From the website: “Following her highly popular run of SHEEP #1 at Japan Society in 2021, NYC-based artist Sachiyo Takahashi/Nekaa Lab presents two whimsical and spooky tales: a heart-warming-then-wrenching fable on the friendship between a shapeshifting tanuki trickster and a lonely old man; and a classical Japanese ghost story to chill you to the bone. These stories were set by shinnai-bushi Grand Master Okamoto Bunya (1895-1996) to rustic, lyrical storytelling music with shamisen accompaniment. Takahashi, who has practiced shinnai-bushi under the authorized stage name of Okamoto Miya, performs this expressive music while her collaborators Rowan Magee and Emma Wiseman animate these fantastical stories with original puppets and new puppetry techniques, sure to enchant children and adults alike. (Recommended Age 8+)”
• Japan Fes - various dates and locations https://www.japanfes.com/2024
  • I’ve attended a few of these in the past and they are so much fun, reminding me of Matsuri in Japan - delicious food, great energy, even in the colder days!
  • There are various days throughout the summer in different parts of the city: Chelsea (Sept 14, Oct 6), East Village (Oct 5)  and UWS / UES (Sept 7, 15, 28), to name a few! 

BENTO STUFF

Half of my kids’ bento is gohan (rice). Over the years, I’ve found gohan to be the most reliable VIP in my bento creating process. Everyday, we set our rice cooker to cook fresh white rice at 6:40am, so that we have rice ready to go daily for our bentos. For my little one who is still learning to use his utensils, I make tiny rice balls, like 1.5cm in diameter. For my older one, I just simply populate half of her bento box with white rice. Then my next move is - what do I do with the topping?! 

I admit - I usually go for the pre-made furikake that you can buy anywhere. I love hijiki-based furikake because I feel slightly better about not dousing my daughter’s rice with salt and other unknown particles (but I love those too so I can’t blame anyone for it).  Recently, I converted my daughter into liking salted salmon (here comes salt again!), and I’m trying out a recipe I found online that apparently mimics the Japanese-style salted grilled salmon you can eat in Japan. I’ll come back to this group if I succeed in replicating that flavor. 

I came here to share my latest favorite homemade furikake, which is wakame + sesame seeds. You can purchase dried or wet wakame (if they are not in small pieces already, make sure to cut them up in smaller pieces), take about 3-4 tablespoons worth (because they expand like… a lot). Pour half a tablespoon of sesame oil and cook the wakame. Once cooked, place them to the side of the pan. On the other side of the pan, combine 1 tablespoon of shoyu, mirin and a bit of sugar - and once boiled, combine with the cooked wakame (it’s ok if the mixture was combined already in the pan as it will do that regardless of how you try to separate them) - adjust the flavor as needed. Once fully combined, add as much sesame seeds as you like. And if you’re feeling great, you can add katsuobushi (bonito flakes), too! These are so easy to put on top of any basic rice, or mix to make luxurious yet simple onigiri. Keeps in the fridge for a few days.

That’s it for this week’s edition! Fall is here in NY already, and it’s the perfect time to be outside with your little ones. Enjoy it all!

EO