Our firstborn turned seven at the beginning of Dec and we celebrated with some nerf gun battles and his friends. He’s able to read now and it’s been a different experience for him as he doesn’t care for birthday cakes. All together we are so grateful for our Johnny boy who is an incredibly kind friend and extremely generous with those he allows into his inner circle. He’s a good guy and we are thankful to be able to celebrate this milestone with him.

Interestingly, in Japan, 3, 5 and 7 are special numbers so when a child reaches that age they have their own day to celebrate aside from their birthdays and it’s usually marked with temple visits if they are Shinto or Buddhist, and Komono picture taking .