Born to be loved

It has been a long time since I have traveled to Japan during the summer months.When I was younger, I used to spend my summers with my maternal grandparents attending local schools (an initiative I would like to continue for my own son). However, as an adult, I have avoided traveling to Japan during summer as it gets extremely hot and humid... Hugo, though, is a child born into summer. So my 3 month maternity leave began in the summer months. The one good thing about Japanese summer, my husband says, is that it is the season of Ayu. Ayu is a freshwater fish in Japan, adored in the culinary scene. I personally have never eaten Ayu until I met my husband and visited his family. Ayu typically have a lifespan of 1 year, which begins in certain rivers of Japan. One in particular is the Kinugawa (鬼怒川, the angered demon) river which flows near the Tochigi home of my parents-in-law. Spawning occurs in the river, and as the parents die, the offspring make their way to the sea. By the next

This will be part 1 of a series of posts about our trip to Japan as a family of 3. We went on a 2.5 week trip to Japan when Hugo was 5 weeks old. Going on an trip let alone an international trip at such an early age scared many of our family members, but it turned out to be great and memorable. We are most thankful that Hugo suffered no injuries or major illnesses (only a minor cold/conjunctivitis which cleared up very quickly). We purchased traveler's heath insurance at Narita just in case, which was a smart move as a trip to a local pediatrician for his cold cost ~$70 out of pocket. We did wipe down everything with sanitizing wipes and used hand sanitizer like crazy on the way there (although that fervor didn't last long). The biggest drama before the trip was obtaining his passport on time (I might save that story for another post if I feel up to it...). But we were able to get his US passport on time thanks to a very very kind and thoughtful members of the Charleston, S