Ok, so we all get to a point in life where we make our first pukka-gen Blog.

Blog, is a funny word. 

This is mine; although I have to admit to dropping comments into Newspaper responses and chat sites. DailyMail.co.uk is one of them. That`s not actually Blogging; is it?

Im from the UK where the nearest word we have is "Blag".

 i.e. To give out BullSh..t to get where/what you want, by manipulating the truth into a third world country. Lets veer away from there ok.

Anyway;

Its summer holidays and Im looking after my bi-lingual 7 y/o daughter while my bi-lingual 5 y/o son is at play-school. However, im still being crushed by Japanese/Kanji on a daily basis whilst they learn everything like a steam train under acceleration. 

At least that is my excuse for not being able to get beyond even the very basics of Japanese language. The Kanji is a misty slippery mountain covered in a blanket of confusion for me to even consider figuring any of it out.

3 years in rural Niigata and still an almost entirely illiterate, deaf mute, to the Japanese language for the 99%  of it. Sorry; but I yam a slow language learner. 

Sadly.  Maybe its my age. 

It can be like being a (frustrated) child again. Literally. I recall our son (relatively recently) struggling himself with differentiating between the two languages his parents speak at home, when he was just 3. 

It helped him for us to explain the differences to him, and why they are different. We explain simply and clearly a lot of things for them. My daughter asked me, and was happy to find out, how the TV works; and where the images come from. 

I also had to explain how Electricity comes to the house and what its used for. And how telephones work. Kids like to know things; and it is better to tell em in simple terms when they ask. Rather than raise fudged minds.

Children need such clear information. Its a complicated world we live in. They have a lot more nous than many people give them credit for. So keep em up to speed. Although, Kids can be scarily intelligent. Mine are twice as bright as I was at their age. 

Gotta love em. Guide em.

Hope this generation of Japanese kids get all the jobs they need; start making more products in Japan again; while the UK is struggling to maintain its composure after losing most of its industry. Wouldnt like to see Japan socially disintegrate like that did (and will again next year?).

Not being able to speak the language certainly doesnt help while wanting to pursue some of the invention/designs i`ve been working on for years, and hope to see manufactured one day. Working towards it though.

God is watering the garden today here. Rural Japan is great usually.

You can buy for cash a used 250 Sq/M house for the price of six months rent in central Tokyo.

Space, Nature (bear, monkey, eagles, snakes and the like here), Great well-pumped mountain water. 10Km to a decent town for facilities.

But if you dont do gardening; you could get bored without the inter-web and books (and children).

3 years in Japan and not ready to quit yet.

Ganbare; every gaijin out there. 

And good luck those Japanese learning English on site in "the West".