Ryan Ginstrom wrote:

> "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
> news:3FC20727.E297EE4@yahoo.co.jp...
> > The thought saddens me. I will have to teach my children to keep up their
> > studies by themselves, or to be satisfied as they are without being
> concerned
> > about what people around them think, if I want to spend our "holidays" as
> a
> > family. I believe it will be difficult.
> >
> > How do other families handle this issue, particularly those who send their
> > children to Japanese public school?
>
> Well, Sage's school runs on the American schedule, so he gets the long
> summer vacation and Christmas holiday. That's not an issue.

Hiroshima City has an international school. It sounds incredibly wonderful. It
also costs IIRC, about 600,000 yen a year per kid. Or was it 60,000 a month?

Not feasible for me, even if it would be the best thing for the children. I'd
be working so much trying to pay for it, we wouldn't meet during waking hours
anyway.

> But when we went back for a month in July/August (including a week in the
> Philippines), it was just too long.

I get bored after about a week, despite being at my mother's house. I can't
even watch American TV anymore. I take paid vacation time because I can. I have
about five weeks of it remaining. My wife and children of course, are not
available for so much free time.

> In the future, I don't plan on taking
> trips longer than 2 weeks at a time, which should fit into even a Japanese
> school schedule (although you will pay the megabucks for traveling AT THE
> SAME TIME AS EVERYBODY ELSE AND THEIR GODDAM UNCLE).
>
> We figure that if we want to spend longer than that in another place, we'll
> move there for a year or two, although it's yet to be determined how we'll
> do that with our current commitments. I don't relish moving ourselves, two
> elderly parents, two dogs, two cats, and a hamster to some faraway place,
> just to do it all again after a year or two.
>
> Instead, I think I'll wait till our commitments are a bit lighters, the
> mortage is paid off and the sprog has gotten the boot, before doing a little
> globe trotting. I already told my wife, the 3 million yen we saved by
> getting a 20-year loan is earmarked for the down payment on a sailboat. All
> I have to do now is learn to sail over the next 20 years...

I like www.boats.com

The 754 foot Dutch cruise ship is no longer for sale. However, lovely tall
masted boats remain.

Also dealers of used Wharram or Farrier multihulls. But if you are talking
about a 3 million yen DOWN PAYMENT, I suppose you are talking luxury or high
quality, like something made of wood.

I can forget buying a boat in Japan, unless it is really small or crappy.

> Until then, trips of 2 weeks or less is the call.