FIAR: 'Grandfather's Journey' gives us a virtual travel tour through Japan

The lovely thing about rowing FIAR books is that we get to experience other cultures. While rowing "Grandfather's Journey" by Allen Say, we dived into Japanese culture, learning as much as we could about this place across the sea. While we didn't do as much this summer as I had intended to at the start of it, we did have fun with "Grandfather's Journey" and our own virtual journey to Japan.

WE READ
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree by Allen Say
Tea with Milk by Allen Say
Tree of Cranes by Allen Say
Shibumi and the Kitemaker by Mercer Mayer
Look what came from Japan by Miles Harvey
Crow Boy by Taro Yashima
The Magic Fan by Keith Baker
The Badger and the Magic Fan: a Japanese folktale by Johnston, Tony
Little Oh by Melmed, Laura Krauss
Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela S. Turner
Suki’s Kimono by Uegaki, Chieri
Tea with Milk by Allen Say
The Boy of the Three-Year Nap by Snyder, Dianne
The Paper Crane by Molly Bang
Guyku:  A year of Haiku for Boys by Raczka, Bob
Grass sandals : the travels of Basho by Spivak, Dawnine
The Wakame Gatherers by Thompson, Holly
My Japan by Watanabe, Etsuko
A Pair of Red Clogs by Matsuno, Masako
Volcano Wakes Up by Lisa Westberg Peters
California by Mari Kesselring
Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
Maneki Neko: The Tale of the Beckoning Cat  by Susan Lendroth
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree: An Old Japanese Tale by Allen Say
The Boy of the Three-Year Nap by Dianne Snyder
The Funny Little Women by Arlene Mosel
Hurricanes by Gail Gibbons

WE DID
We didn't do as many projects with this book as we have with others, as The Girl wanted to be outside and wasn't into doing anything with paper. (ie. no books, worksheets, etc. as long as the days were long and the sun was out.) Instead, we took field trips and read books. We did build our study around the PDF available over at HomeschoolShare.

It was quite interesting to read as many of Allen Say's books as we could find as they all continue the story of his family in some way. Grandfather's Journey is about his grandfather, who left Japan for California, got married, and then later brought his family back to Japan. Tea With Milk is his daughter's tale, which begins in California and ends in Japan. Tree of Cranes tells Allen's own story as a boy. It is fascinating to watch this family pulled between two nations. Rowing Grandfather's Journey came on the heels of my Book Club's reading of "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, a tale of a World War 2 prisoner of war in Japan, which made for an interesting and complex journey.

Our neighbor, who lived most of her life in Japan, invited us over for authentic Japanese food. We had such a lovely time! (See full post here)

We spent a fascinating morning at the United Noodle store, a large Asian grocery store in south Minneapolis. It's hidden in an industrial area, so you have to know where to look. Once you get there, you'll be so glad you went. The store is divided by country. There's different types of teas everywhere. Just walking through is a cultural experience and we paid attention to all the packaging, language, sights and smells. We left with our arms full of rice noodles, bubbles for bubble tea, rice vinegar, barley tea and more. (See full post here)

When we got home, we made our own spring rolls, which The Girl loved. I think she loved making them more than eating them!

My Neighbor Totoro was playing at the Riverview Theater in south Minneapolis so we headed over there. What a fun Japanese cartoon. The kiddos are still singing the theme song.

I've been wanting to check out Midori's Floating World Cafe at  2629 E Lake St. in South Minneapolis, and so we used this as an excuse to head over one evening for dinner. (See full post here)

We recruited our older friend to teach us origami -- that was a blast.

We drew Japanese characters with sidewalk chalk. Used a fork to paint puffer fish.

Branching out from Japanese culture, we learned about continents and volcanoes and hurricanes. Our continent song is sung to the tune of "He's got the whole world in his hands"...

He's got North and South America in his hands.

He's got Europe, Asia Africa in his hands.

He's Australia and Antarctica in his hands.

He's got the whole world in his hands.

We also did some experiments centered around pollution and birds. We also had fun with a bird beak experiment (inspired by this post)! (See full post here)

We did a little about our family history, and I intend to do more in the near future with that.

There was so much else we wanted to do, such as delving into similes, making candy sushi, fashioning a carp kite, experiencing a Japanese tea ceremony, and more... But it was time to move on. Another time...

WE WATCHED
Netflix has "Japan: Dr. Merry's Nomad Traveler," an older movie but I still felt like it gave us a good look at Japan.

We really enjoyed checking out a exuberant style of Japanese drumming, The Taiko Project. I think the kiddos could watch those movies all day! We're planning to see the Taiko Project live when they're at the St. Paul Ordway in April 2016.