Starting at 9 am, my son does an hour to an hour and a half of homework. Most of this includes me sitting by his side, going through a deck of math flash cards and listening to him reading. But when he is working on his worksheets, I can escape to the kitchen for a bit to throw together parts of dinner. I know that if I wait until the end of the day, I am not going to have the capacity to cook. Once I have overheated, I am not willing or able to do very much. Even with air conditioning, standing in front of a gas stove is pretty hot. These days our dinners are simple and feature a lot of fresh vegetables. I’ve noticed I am cooking mainly western food, but my miso is making a regular appearance.
Once homework has been wrapped up, we make a phone call or two or do an activity until it is time to eat lunch with my husband. We have all voiced that we hope he never has to return to the office. It is so nice having him home all the time and now he doesn’t have to stand on a crowded train for 2 hours a day.
After lunch, my son and I head out of the house for some fresh air. While in years past, we have explored a lot - going to museums, seeking out ninja parks, and sightseeing - we are sticking close to home. We found a working fountain (not all of them have been turned on), and spent an afternoon taking turns splashing in it and resting in the shade. Heat stroke is a major concern every year, but especially this year since we’ve been spending so much time indoors and not acclimating to the rising temperatures. It didn’t help that the rainy season lasted 8 days later than usual in Tokyo, ending just in time for summer vacation to start (which also started later than usual).
Wherever we go, the constant hum of semis (aka cicadas) is overwhelming. I was mentioning to a friend the other day that it seemed like summer arrived basically overnight. She quickly agreed. One morning the sound of the semi woke her up at 5 am. Now it is a daily occurrence. We find it interesting that both of our husbands grew up in Japan and they don’t even notice the semi most of the time. Where as the two of us, raised in the US, are overwhelmed by their constant “singing” that sounds more like an alarm than anything else to me. At least they started calling out much later this year due to the late start of summer.
Another day, we found a section of trees and set up my son’s slack line. He practiced walking back and forth on it while I sat and read a book.
While reading, a group of teenagers from the local high school (you can always tell by their uniforms) came and sat not too far from me. Since having a kid, the noise of children young and old tends not to bother me very much. It was actually nice to hear them singing and chatting with each other. Since I wasn’t particularly paying attention to them, it took me a while to realize that they were speaking in 3 languages - Japanese, English, and a third language I couldn’t quite place. I noticed when they started using foul language. A couple words here and there didn’t bother me at first, but it got more and more frequent. I know my son has heard it all before, but I found it annoying. I hear more than my fair share of cussing from teens in Japan. Since there aren’t any equally powerful words in Japanese, the excitement of using expletives is alluring. For the most part, I ignore it, but when I am not able or willing to walk away, I have been known to say something. After a while, I finally looked over at them and said “I know you’re used to people not being able to understand what you are saying. But, I understand, and I’d really prefer if you chose your words more carefully. There are kids that can speak English here, too.” Horrified, they immediately apologized. I smiled at them through my mask and told them I understood the allure, but would appreciate a change in verbiage. They went back to their conversation and I went back to my book. A little while later, they packed up their stuff to leave. Before departing, they came over and apologized again. I was floored. I’ve piped up to many kids swearing over the years (time and place, people), and I’ve never been met with such emphatic remorse. We ended up chatting for a few minutes before they headed home for dinner. I wish I could have let their parents know what awesome kids they have. On another day, we discovered that our beloved Piyo Piyo was open almost everyday in Hikargaoka Park. Typically it is closed in August, as it is geared toward younger kids and many families are vacationing the summer holiday. But this year, due to COVID-19, they decided to offer it and open it to older kids as well. My son rarely begs, but he did as soon as he realized he could go dig in the dirt, play with water, and see park friends all at once. It felt like a little reunion as we saw so many park moms that we used to spend each and every day with. I couldn’t believe how much all the children have grown since we last saw them back in February or March!
After playing for hours outside, we go home. I try not to collapse into a melted puddle of sweat, but I’m not always successful. The heat is very taxing. Although we drink copious amounts of water during the day, I often have a raging headache each night from the heat and wearing my hair pulled back and off my neck (it’s gotten so long since I don’t get my hair cut in Japan). We eat our dinner and have a bit of family time before my son heads off to bed.
To wrap up the day, my husband and I lounge around the air conditioning. We mostly watch tv, but occasionally play games. Some nights we are just too tired to function. The heat really takes its toll on us.
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