Mama in Japan
June 23, 2017
What’s different about being a mom in Japan? I don’t really
know where to start. My mind races through topics when I get asked this question.
Lucy is seven and a half months and I think it’s time to try to take this topic
on. There is so much that I want to explain. Just this morning I was grocery shopping and forgot my baby carrier.
I smiled to myself as I put Lucy in the shopping basket in my small Japanese
size shopping cart. Everything is truly different then I imagined it, in every
way.
Although this is my first experience as a mom, the world of
all things baby isn’t completely new to me. I started babysitting when I was 11 after that
I worked at my Aunt’s day care followed by working at a summer camp and then
finally being a pediatric ICU nurse. I thought I had a good idea of what to
expect entering motherhood. Little did I know that I would become a mom in
another country. I have to laugh when I think of how humble it’s made me to
realize I may be seen as doing everything wrong here.
Baby showers: I feel like I should talk about this topic
before explaining some other things. Most people in Japan wait to celebrate the
baby until after they arrive because of superstitious reasons. It may be seen
as tempting fate to gift something to a child not yet born. And then after the
baby is born its normal to wait a month or two before visiting the family. When
people do visit new baby its customary to give a gift of money. When we first
had Lucy everyone would comment on her clothes and how many she had. I was
taken back by this a little bit because to me she had a normal amount. It
wasn’t until I started to ask questions and do some reading that I realized
clothing wasn’t gifted to new parents and most newborn babies generally wear hand me
downs because they grow so fast.
Car seats and strollers: All I have to say about this is
think small. There is no room for strollers and infant car seats in a world
where space is so limited. We live on an Island. Cars are very small, many
without any trunk at all. Restaurants have limited space, sometimes only seating a couple people at a time. Shopping
malls and grocery stores also have narrow isle ways and checkout lanes. There is
simply no room. Infants and sometimes large children are carried pretty much
everywhere. The first time I seen a small woman with a child about the
same size strapped to her I couldn't help but laugh. I was in complete awe as I watched her. Needless to say, infant seats aren’t sold in stores and strollers
are pretty small.
Baby supplies: Baby stores are limited in our area.
There is one in our city with supplies such as high chairs and strollers. Then there are a couple baby specialty shops. When it comes to selection, the baby supply store has one or two options of each
thing. For example, the largest baby store I shop in has just three different brand options of wipes and diapers. The grocery store has a few baby items with only one brand of baby
food with a couple different flavors for each age. I should also mention that there are big department stores
that have gorgeous clothes but outrageous prices. Other than that you might
find a baby section with some things in pharmacies.
Clothing: Baby clothing is sold in cm sizes. All that means
is measurements are by the length of the child not the age. I actually like
this idea and it wasn’t that hard to figure out once I realized what the tag
numbers stood for. Another little challenge was that clothing is all sold as one piece under six months of age. Before I realized that I searched for clothing and thought
I was only finding pajamas. Since then I have kind of given up on buying clothes here
in Japan and buy most things on clearance when we are back in America.
I hope you enjoyed reading about how things are here in
Japan with a little babe. Stay tuned for the social differences I have
experiences being a mom here in Japan. As always, please comment and let me
know what you think and if you have any questions! Thank you for reading and
following along with us on this journey.
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