We were on vacation for a week and went off to visit the land of the rising sun.

Oh Japan.
It was just beautiful.

We went to a lot of places and walked a ton. I was mesmerized by the beauty and the rich culture they have.

Besides shopping for all sorts of paper (they take paper seriously) and art materials, my favorite was our visit to National Museum of Japan History. It is interesting to note how their culture is so intact compared to ours in the Philippines. Not only did I see it in their museum, I saw and felt it as I walked through the streets.

Japan’s culture is defined and unique that it makes me ponder more about our own. Did 3 centuries of Spanish occupation in the Philippines wash much of our identity? Or could it be because the Japanese chose not to integrate themselves with foreigners while we so easily adapt to other cultures? All these thoughts were swimming in my head as I listened, learned, and walked through Japanese periods, each showing a definite way of Japanese life and culture.

This triggered my need to know more about my own side of the world; the need to provide an Asian feast for my children that is equally nutritious and scrumptious as our current Western centric world history.

That is why the search for living books focusing on Asian history, literature, and art is now a preoccupation of mine. Although we have studied a bit of Asia through Marco Polo’s journey, there is obviously still so much that is missing. We have been reading far too many books with a Western perspective. Not that it’s bad thing. Not at all. We just need to know more about our own here in the East, but the lack of good resources is not helping. I have not encountered much living books on Asia but I’m determined more than ever to search after our visit to Japan.

Besides my books about Philippines, here are 2 books I have on Asia. I will pre-read these and hopefully include them in our feast. Let me know if you have any suggestions? Will be searching the world wide web once I have more time.

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying my cup of tea from Japan.

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OK. I couldn’t resist. I randomly bought these from Amazon. The first one is for the kids, the second one mine 🙂

I’ll let you all know about these once they arrive. Excited!