The Inch Boy by Junko Morimoto is a great book for elementary school kids learning about Japan.  I read this to my daughter’s 3rd grade class and they loved it!  The pictures are good for reading to a class – nice and large so the kids can see them even if they’re sitting in...

Today is a Japanese Springtime Festival called Setsubun. It’s celebrated every year on February 3rd. The tradition is to chase out the demons from your house by scattering roasted soybeans. Ayako wrote to me about the holiday from Japan: Hi Lisa, February 3rd is “Setsubun” here. It is a ceremony, the day before spring, in...

The Washington Post had an article today about monsters and Halloween in Japan. Japanese people do dress up in costumes and celebrate the holiday with Halloween parties. Though they don’t go out trick-or-treating like the Americans do. Japan’s scary monsters are called yōkai. Yōkai has come to mean demon, spirit, ghost or monster in Japanese....