Pretty Cure and B'z and festivals

It's been a while since I've written here, so hello again! My family and I went back to Japan for the Christmas and New Year holidays. We were anticipating the sudden switch from English to Japanese in my daughter, but this time it didn't happen as quickly as it did last winter holidays. We spent time at first with the children's Japanese grandparents. Millie was slow to remember her fabulous Japanese but got by with greetings and simple requests. Then for the next week we were joined by their Japanese cousins. They all played together but did not talk together much, realising that their languages were different. Millie became very interested in her cousin's favourite animation, Pretty Cure, or Purikyuar as pronounced in Japanese. Back in England it has become a great way to continue to hear and sing along with Japanese. Not too sure about the short skirts and too cute girly fashions but hearing her try to sing along in Japanese is adorable.

The Pretty Cure Girls

                                        

We also bought a little CD player for them to play my old CDs on. A favourite of everyone's recently is B'z 's compilation album which is often played to accompany our meal times. Finally we are lucky enough to know a few Japanese/British couples and we are now making an effort to celebrate Japanese festivals and holidays together. Just recently we held the Setsubun festival at our flat, throwing dried beans at the dads with demon masks on! Next is Girl's Day in March, so we will be preparing chirashi zushi and the like for that too. The dolls are already on display.