Noah became one month old on the 17th, and on the 20th we took him to a Shinto Shrine for o-miya-mairi, a Japanese custom whenever there is an addition to the family.

The ritual done in the shrine is short, involving a Shinto priest pounding a drum and reciting a number of chants to alert the Shinto gods about presence of the new baby. While we have done this twice before with Anri and Sara, this was the first time with a baby boy, and Noah was wrapped in a child-size silk kimono for the occasion (girls in Japan get more lavish attention later on in their development). The kimono was a gift from Tomomi's parents, as is common with these things, and it is specifically designed and sized to drape the boy when he is an infant, while at the same time allow him to wear it when he is five for his Shichi-go-san.

Aside from this, the only other thing that happens when a baby reaches one month is the ordinary one-month check-up. Both Noah and Tomomi are fine.

After a week and a half off for Spring Break, Anri went back to Kindergarten today, starting her second year with a new class and new teachers.



Anri's new class, named the Violet Class (all the classes at her kindergarten are named after flowers), has two teachers, Ayano-sensei and Toshiko-sensei. Anri is very excited about finally being nen-chu, or in her "middle year" at the kindergarten. And she had a lot of fun today, as was clear by how quickly she fell asleep on the ride home in the afternoon!