community Archives – The Haruna Family

Storytelling and Soul Sharing

One of our neighbors is in his 90’s, and he continues to surprise us. Sometimes we see him walking around on his roof (doing repairs?), or sweeping leaves off the street that were blown in from a storm. His garden thrives. Certainly there are secrets to be learned from such a man?

In Japan, the elderly outnumber the young, and there are opportunities to soak up wisdom and experience that go largely overlooked. There are stories to be heard, too. (more…)

Peanuts and Abundance

One of the advantages to living in the countryside is that many of our neighbors are farmers or keep big gardens, and there is a lot of produce-sharing in our community. Often, someone will show up at our house with bags or boxes of fresh fruit or vegetables that someone has collected for us to sample.

We have been given home-grown potatoes, bell peppers, squash, kale and cucumbers, to name just a few. This last weekend, we also had the opportunity to pick peanuts! (more…)

Multicultural: Creating Our Family Culture

As a multicultural family, there are all sorts of cultural habits and holidays to adjust to create our own family culture.

My husband Masashi is native Japanese and also lived in Uganda, while I am from America. Our family is a unique blending of cultures and languages. His mother cannot speak English. My parents cannot speak Japanese (though my mom is learning it).. and at our home in rural Japan, we often speak a mix of Japanese, English, and “Japanglish“.

Beyond the background of where we grew up, we have multiple other differences, such as related to our educational upbringings.. and we’ve spent time living in both the Kanto and Kansai regions of Japan (which are different culturally, even within the relatively compact island country).

Some of my family members were also more recent emigrants from Europe (not hundreds of years ago as is the case with many American-European “mutts”, but within the last century), and bilingual. This means my family heritage is not fully diluted.

And it creates a lot of questions.. (more…)

Tips for Healthy Boundaries: Technology

Living in a different country from the one where I was born means I cannot visit my family or old friends as frequently as I would like. So, I truly appreciate the ability to stay connected using the internet.. can you imagine waiting for handwritten letters to arrive by ship overseas, like in centuries past?

Having the ability to keep updated with family and friends is a blessing.

On the other hand, the internet has a dark side that I’m sure I don’t need to explain. Even within the nearly 10 years that I have used social media, its usage has evolved. Social media, instant messaging, e-mail, and the internet in general has changed the way that we communicate. (more…)