A great article for foreign parents in Japan

I read a great article in The Japan Times this week about migrant children in Japan and the question of where they feel they belong. It got me thinking about my own experience of raising children here, and something I have wrestled with for years. Has staying in Japan been the right decision for my children, particularly when they are very visibly not Japanese, and don't hold Japanese passports?

I'm a mother of two, and as the years have passed, I have thought more and more about what growing up in Japan means for them.

The Japan Times article pointed out that adults often think about integration in terms of things like speaking Japanese, working, and adapting to society, but for children, it can be much more basic. Belonging can mean having someone to sit with at lunch, being invited to play, or having a friend who helps when they don't understand something.

My children have grown up surrounded by Japanese culture and have spent the entirety of their childhoods here thus far. For them, Japan is home. But they are also very clearly not Japanese in appearance, and I know there may always be moments when other people see them as outsiders.

I don't have an easy answer about whether staying in Japan has been the right choice for my children. I just hope that wherever they eventually call home, they feel like they belong!