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Overseas Life

Giveaway Announcement!!

April 14, 2023

Special giveaway announcement!!

The Spring Release Sale of Hiragana at Home has ended..

But, if you missed the sale and would still like to get our preschool-level home education language program at a reduced price, you might have an opportunity to get it for free!!

We have partnered with the blogger Hiragana Mama, and are offering one person the complete Hiragana at Home program (a one year program with a 50$ value) for free!! If you are interested in entering the giveaway, please head over to her blog at the link below!

Enter the Giveaway at Hiragana Mama’s Post, here!

Or, to purchase the full Hiragana at Home program right now, click here!

The Spring Release Is Here!!

April 5, 2023

We’re super excited to announce that after much anticipation and a lot of hard work, the spring release of Hiragana at Home, Part 1, is here!! Our one year complete program (Parts 1, 2, and 3) will be on sale for ONLY 3 days, starting today!

If you purchase the program today, you will receive Part 1 immediately as a digital file, and Parts 2 and 3 as they release later this year. The normal price of the one year program is 50$ (USD), but it will be on sale from April 5th-7th, 2023 (Japan time) for just 30$ (USD), before going back up to the usual price!

To purchase the program for just 30$, please CLICK HERE and use the following discount code during checkout: SPRING

Hiragana at Home is a gentle, play-based home education resource for introducing preschoolers to the Japanese language, regardless of whether or not their parents are native speakers. It can also be adapted for older children, such as kindergarteners.

If you are unfamiliar with or have questions about the program, please check out the following:

Shop page

Hiragana at Home: Overview page 

Hiragana at Home: FAQ page

Or, if you have additional questions, DM us on Instagram (@theharunahomestead) or leave a comment below!


Hiragana at Home: Spring Sale

April 4, 2023

The Spring Release of Hiragana at Home, Part 1 is nearly here!!

As long as there are no technical difficulties, we plan to release Part 1 on April 5th, 2023 (Japan time)!

You will be able to purchase the complete Hiragana at Home program at a discounted rate from April 5th though April 7th (Japan time)!! If you purchase the complete program, you will receive Part 1 as a digital file on April 5th, 2023 (Japan time), and will receive Parts 2 and 3 later during the year as they release.

Hiragana at Home will normally be sold for 50$ (USD), but will be available for 30$ for ONLY three days, on April 5th-7th 2023 (Japan time). Then the price will go back up to 50$ for the one year program!

When the program goes live, we plan to release a discount code that you can apply at checkout to reduce the price during the special sale term!

We have also published **brand new** pages on our site about the program, which you can find under the new “Shop” tab in the top bar of our site. Or, click the links below!

Shop page

Hiragana at Home: Overview page

Hiragana at Home: FAQ page

If you plan to purchase the program and use it from this April, you can also DM us on Instagram (@theharunahomestead) for a preview of the supply and booklist of the first week of the program to help you prepare.

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Hiragana at Home: Spring Release Update!

March 24, 2023

In our last post, we introduced a home education language-learning resource called Hiragana at Home.

You can read the introduction post here (which has been updated with some of the new information featured in this follow-up post), and additional details on the program and its 2023 spring release below.


What Is Hiragana at Home?

Hiragana at Home is a home education resource designed to expose preschool-aged children to the Japanese language in a way that is gentle, simple, and play-based. It can be used with children whether they live in Japan or elsewhere, and whether or not their parents are native speakers of the Japanese language.

The program features a detailed daily schedule of language-learning activities and ideas, and is offered in a digital file “pdf” format that can be downloaded and printed from home.

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Coming Soon: Hiragana at Home!!

February 8, 2023

I’ve been keeping a secret!!

We are excited to announce the upcoming release of a brand-new home education resource:

Hiragana at Home!

As a mother living in Japan and a second-language speaker of Japanese, I longed for a home education resource for exposing young children to Japanese language in a way that was gentle, simple, play-based, and not time-consuming or filled with busy work.

Home-educating a bilingual child should not mean that their language skills have to suffer!

However, there are few home-education resources available for people who desire to teach the Japanese language to young children (including overseas), and little support is available to families in Japan who decide not to enroll their child in preschool.

Eventually, I realized that if I wanted a home education program for our family that met my expectations, as well as would allow our children to thrive without losing out on their language development, I would have to make it myself – and so, I did!

**Note: this post was updated on March 24th, 2023, to reflect updates regarding the spring 2023 release!!**

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Purchasing an Akiya in Japan

September 3, 2022

Photo: sunflower fields in Saiyo, Hyogo

It has now been a little over 2 months since we moved into our new residence!

Our “new” fixer-upper home located in rural Hyogo, Japan, was an akiya, a Japanese word used for homes that have been unoccupied or abandoned for some years.

In the past, Japanese houses were thought to have a “lifetime” that could be used up.

Older houses often fall into disrepair after their owners pass away and younger generations choose to remain in the city (resulting in over 8 million unoccupied houses in Japan!!), and newer houses, similar to housing boom suburbs in the U.S., frequently have weaker building standards than traditional houses and are often not built to last.

However, while newer homes and apartments are still generally preferred by consumers, reforming old houses is gradually becoming more popular in Japan.

There are many reasons to buy an akiya instead of a newer home!

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Eating Overseas

August 11, 2022

When I first moved to Japan, navigating the grocery store was a huge challenge.

I struggled with reading food labels, and had no idea what people ate on a regular basis, what food was available seasonally, or how to make a meal out of the random ingredients on the shelves.

I had plenty of experience cooking, and my mom made sure that I knew the basics of making good food and shopping thriftily.. but it took several years of living abroad before my language skills and foundational understanding of Japanese food ingredients matched my abilities in the kitchen and with a calculator.

The first few months of living overseas I had no idea that I was shopping at an “expensive” grocery store that closed early in the evening, and that there was an affordable, 24-hour grocery store just across the street!!

(Granted, the cheaper store was underground inside a shopping center so not super visible, but I would have had no clue without the tip-off from one of the ladies in my sharehouse!)

The first few weeks of my overseas life especially, I had very little money as I was 23 years old and had just bought the things to supply my basic living needs. I didn’t know when food went on sale, and often rushed into the grocery store after work just before closing time, grabbing whatever random pre-cooked items were left and hoping that they tasted okay.

As time went on, I began to realize the flow of sale times, what tasted good, and locate familiar ingredients and read basic labels. Slowly – very slowly – the grocery store became less intimidating, and I knew how to navigate the aisles, and even use the self-checkout machines using the Japanese language setting.

Eating became much easier (and tasty!)!

Yet, this was only the beginning of my overseas food journey!

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Cloth Diapering in Japan

July 18, 2022

Our son has used cloth diapers since about 3 months of age.

We love that cloth diapers can be gentle on baby’s skin, cost-effective (especially for families that hope to have more than one child), leak far less than disposable diapers, make transitioning to toilet training easier, and have the potential to be environmentally friendly, depending on how you launder them.

While cloth diapering is not for everyone, we have had a great experience so far with cloth diapering our son (now 16 months), and are excited to share what we’ve learned!

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We Are Moving!

May 12, 2022

We are moving!!

This meaningful update has been in the works for a while, and a process full of hopeful anticipation and prayer.

We are so excited to finally share the news!!

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Keeping Warm in Rural Japan

January 23, 2022

When I tell people that it snows in Japan, they are often surprised! They seem to imagine that Japan is a warm, tropical island locale full of bamboo and monkeys.

In reality, Japan is geographically diverse, and has four distinct seasons and a multitude of climates. The scenery varies widely, from pristine beaches and fields of lavender to crowded cityscapes and deep forestbamboo and monkeys included!

For example, the area where we live in Hyogo has been said to resemble Germany or Switzerland. The mountains are covered with towering evergreens that are blanketed with snow for much of the winter season.

Yet, unlike 90% of Swiss residential areas, homes in Japan do not normally have central heating, and the walls can be thin and lack insulation. This is perfect for allowing wooden beams to breathe naturally, and has many benefits including decreasing damage during earthquakes, as well as increasing air flow and reducing mold during Japan’s humid summers. However, it can make for some very, very chilly winters indoors!

To learn more about just how cold it gets during the winters in Japan and the traditional (and not so traditional) ways to keep warm in a rural home without central heating, read on!

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