Mother – illness
My mother rarely went to see the doctor. Every year, she received an electronic appliance or audio device as the reward for never using the insurance. The only ailment that […]
Mother – indifference
Recently I asked my mother if she had known I had an eating disorder as a child. I told her that she might have thought I was faking, but I […]
Mother – parenting method
My mother was not overly strict with us, but she rarely praised us or encouraged us, either. She never prodded us to do homework, to achieve higher academically, or to […]
Mother – in the mirror
I often saw my mother sitting in front of the dresser, smoking a cigarette. She’d be facing the mirror without looking into her reflection. She inhaled with a small pop […]
Mother – work-life balance
My mother returned to work at the kindergarten after each birth. She was popular among the children, and my sister and I grew up to meet people who were in […]
Mother – babies
My sister was a honeymoon baby, my mother said. She was born in 1973 as one of the second baby boomers. My father wished for a son to inherit the […]
Mother – daughter-in-law
My father was the fifth born child of six and the elder of the two boys, so the tradition of primogeniture determined he remained to live with his parents. My […]
Mother – proposal
There was one man who pursued her. He was a part of the group of friends she hung out in Tokyo. With them, she went to Utagoe Kissa and had […]
Mother – pre-marriage
My mother was born in 1947, among other baby boomers of post-war Japan. Her father, my grandfather, ran a rice shop after returning from the war. He was a taciturn […]
Adult and woman
When I had my first period at age twelve, I was unable to tell my mother for a month, while I shared the news with friends. It unfolded in the […]