While walking around Kyoto we stopped into a small restaurant (near Nijo Castle) for a bite to eat.
After some delicious curry spaghetti – who knew curry was so popular in Japan? – the cook walks over to our table, says a few things to the boys in Japanese (my oldest son speaks japanese pretty well) and takes them out the door without saying a word to me. Where could they be going?
With me trailing behind – they walk about a half block down to a small Japanese temple and she pulls out a bag of bread …
… and tells them to feed the fish. They happily start throwing strips of bread to the fish in the pond.
how kind of the cook — looks as though everyone was having a good time, which comes through in your shots. thanks.
What a lovely memory. This is my favorite thing about traveling with kids – the opportunity to experience moments that you would never have without them.
Lovely story and so true that in all aspects of life kids open your eyes to new experiences
I love that they just wandered away with the cook–something that doesn’t happen in the States!
Thanks Kerry, Deb, KT2 and SKM. As with most places the people in Japan were incredibly friendly with the kids. Another one of those experiences that you can only have when traveling with kids.
What a lovely story! I’m traveling to Japan in a couple of weeks and am hoping to come home with stories as nice as yours. Thanks for sharing!
Love your stories. I recently came back to Japan from the States after a 10-year long stay. Yes, I am a Japanese, but I found your tips highly useful to us (I have a 7 year old son) as well. We will definitely try some of the places you list. Anyway, this fish-feeding story is a lovely one. I wonder how come your son got to learn Japanese to a level enough to communicate with the local.
Hi Miso. Thanks for the nice comment. My sons attend a Japanese immersions school and so have learned Japanese fairly well. Some people say my older son is now “almost fluent” – though he’s still a long way from conversing like a native speaker. At the time of the “fish story” he had taken 1.5 years but could still order for himself and have some short conversations with Japanese speakers.
Cheers.