Christmas Baby & Japanese Family Time
January 16, 2026
Episode Notes
Good morning.
Happy New Year.
Thank you.
Thank you.
How are you doing today? Excellent, excellent.
How was your New Year's? Quiet, really quiet.
Tell me about yours.
Oh, well, the big news is that my sister-in-law had a baby.
Good work.
Thank you.
Uh, born Christmas Eve, December 24th.
Wow, interesting.
Yeah, so our, our holidays were sort of dominated by that, which was nice because it meant family time and uh.
Yeah, my, my nephew stayed with us and my brother-in-law.
While my sister-in-law was in the hospital, so.
OK, so this is your sister-in-law.
Yeah, my wife's sister in Japan had a baby and Uh, while they were in the hospital, uh, because they live somewhere else, but, you know, came back to their hometown to give birth.
Right, right.
Um, but my mother-in-law's apartment is small, so my brother-in-law, my brother-in-law and my nephew stayed with us.
OK, good.
Yeah.
And he's, my nephew is 2 1/2, so he's adorable and, and a ball of energy.
And uncontrollable.
Uh, he's, no, he's, I mean, he is too, but he's nice.
He's wonderful.
Good, good, good.
I hear stories of the terrible twos, you know.
Yeah, I, I don't believe in it.
OK, OK, good.
In, in Japanese, they have a different name for that.
They call it yancha.
Yes, OK, yeah, it means like no, they always say no child who always says no.
Uh.
Right, but that can be, wait a minute.
I heard that when, when uh, uh, a young woman gives birth to her baby, she goes home to live with her mother for 1 or 2 or 3 months.
That's but I never, I never heard anything about the, the husband moving anywhere.
He usually stays home, doesn't he? Well, uh, I don't know what, what would be traditional, and yeah, I'd say probably, but in this case, he took uh uh not maternity, paternity leave.
Good, yeah.
So he arrived, he took paternity leave from the due date onwards.
Yes, I believe, I believe 3 months.
Wow.
Which was probably his company's sort of maximum or or standard.
He works for a good company.
Um, And so he, because they have 2 kids, of course, and my mother-in-law, grandma, she can't take care of, of a, a 2 year-old by herself anymore.
Right, right, um, so he basically is taking care of the first son and then he was so fortunately because he was staying with us, we could take care of our nephew.
And he could at the hospital for the birth.
Good, good, good.
And then the, the hospital they were at has pretty strict policies, probably since Corona time, they just didn't get rid of them, but limit 2 visitors per day.
OK, I see.
Yeah.
And we don't have a car and they don't have a car, so they rented a car for a week.
Oh cool, yeah, and, and, and 22 people went and visited every day.
Right, right, right, right.
So again, our, our, our holiday time from the 24th till the 30th was going to the hospital every day.
OK, I see.
Yeah.
And I was the driver, so I drove 2 people to the hospital every day.
Yeah, so you're pretty busy.
Uh, yes and no.
You know, I, I don't mind driving people somewhere while they do something, cause then I get to sit in the car and read my book.
OK, OK.
So I basically, and The hospital is in an area called the Bunker zone, the cultures zone.
Which sports centers, arenas, baseball diamonds, library, museum, universities, and so on.
So it's wow, that's green.
Oh yes.
So about 2 minutes from the hospital is a huge park with parking and it's all just.
Green space, so I just went and sat there under the trees and read my book and.
Yeah, chilled.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, our, our holidays were, were dominated by that.
Um, we really had a nice time, Christmas dinner, Christmas time, uh, New Year's Eve dinner, and, uh, our January 1st Canadian style hatsumode was, uh, a little bit unique, but, uh, I'll tell you about that later.
Yeah, I'm running a little bit thin on time right now.
Can I uh sign off here? Yes, OK, thank you very much.
See you next time.
Bye-bye.
Happy New Year.
Thank you.
Thank you.
How are you doing today? Excellent, excellent.
How was your New Year's? Quiet, really quiet.
Tell me about yours.
Oh, well, the big news is that my sister-in-law had a baby.
Good work.
Thank you.
Uh, born Christmas Eve, December 24th.
Wow, interesting.
Yeah, so our, our holidays were sort of dominated by that, which was nice because it meant family time and uh.
Yeah, my, my nephew stayed with us and my brother-in-law.
While my sister-in-law was in the hospital, so.
OK, so this is your sister-in-law.
Yeah, my wife's sister in Japan had a baby and Uh, while they were in the hospital, uh, because they live somewhere else, but, you know, came back to their hometown to give birth.
Right, right.
Um, but my mother-in-law's apartment is small, so my brother-in-law, my brother-in-law and my nephew stayed with us.
OK, good.
Yeah.
And he's, my nephew is 2 1/2, so he's adorable and, and a ball of energy.
And uncontrollable.
Uh, he's, no, he's, I mean, he is too, but he's nice.
He's wonderful.
Good, good, good.
I hear stories of the terrible twos, you know.
Yeah, I, I don't believe in it.
OK, OK, good.
In, in Japanese, they have a different name for that.
They call it yancha.
Yes, OK, yeah, it means like no, they always say no child who always says no.
Uh.
Right, but that can be, wait a minute.
I heard that when, when uh, uh, a young woman gives birth to her baby, she goes home to live with her mother for 1 or 2 or 3 months.
That's but I never, I never heard anything about the, the husband moving anywhere.
He usually stays home, doesn't he? Well, uh, I don't know what, what would be traditional, and yeah, I'd say probably, but in this case, he took uh uh not maternity, paternity leave.
Good, yeah.
So he arrived, he took paternity leave from the due date onwards.
Yes, I believe, I believe 3 months.
Wow.
Which was probably his company's sort of maximum or or standard.
He works for a good company.
Um, And so he, because they have 2 kids, of course, and my mother-in-law, grandma, she can't take care of, of a, a 2 year-old by herself anymore.
Right, right, um, so he basically is taking care of the first son and then he was so fortunately because he was staying with us, we could take care of our nephew.
And he could at the hospital for the birth.
Good, good, good.
And then the, the hospital they were at has pretty strict policies, probably since Corona time, they just didn't get rid of them, but limit 2 visitors per day.
OK, I see.
Yeah.
And we don't have a car and they don't have a car, so they rented a car for a week.
Oh cool, yeah, and, and, and 22 people went and visited every day.
Right, right, right, right.
So again, our, our, our holiday time from the 24th till the 30th was going to the hospital every day.
OK, I see.
Yeah.
And I was the driver, so I drove 2 people to the hospital every day.
Yeah, so you're pretty busy.
Uh, yes and no.
You know, I, I don't mind driving people somewhere while they do something, cause then I get to sit in the car and read my book.
OK, OK.
So I basically, and The hospital is in an area called the Bunker zone, the cultures zone.
Which sports centers, arenas, baseball diamonds, library, museum, universities, and so on.
So it's wow, that's green.
Oh yes.
So about 2 minutes from the hospital is a huge park with parking and it's all just.
Green space, so I just went and sat there under the trees and read my book and.
Yeah, chilled.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, our, our holidays were, were dominated by that.
Um, we really had a nice time, Christmas dinner, Christmas time, uh, New Year's Eve dinner, and, uh, our January 1st Canadian style hatsumode was, uh, a little bit unique, but, uh, I'll tell you about that later.
Yeah, I'm running a little bit thin on time right now.
Can I uh sign off here? Yes, OK, thank you very much.
See you next time.
Bye-bye.