savvykenya

[savvykenya]

Books I Have Read in 2025

It’s hard to believe that we are almost halfway through 2025. A long while ago, I made a list of things that bring me joy, and every day I try to do the things on that list. Reading is one of those things, and I make a conscious effort to stop mindlessly scrolling on my phone and to instead turn to a book. Last year, a friend who left Japan left me several books, and I have been making my way…

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What I'm Cooking: Quick and Easy Japanese Meals for Busy Families

[savvykenya]

2025 So Far

[savvykenya]

Running 10K in the Hitachi Sakura Road Race

I have always wanted an excuse, a chance, to visit the famed Hitachi Seaside Park. On a perfect day, it would look like the image below that I have just lifted from a Rakuten Travel Page. Hitachi Seaside Park. Image from Rakuten Travel Page. And, after running 6km in the Nairobi City Marathon and 10km in the Nairobi Standard Chartered Marathon last year while I was in Kenya, I have been wanting…

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A Decade in Japan: Coming Full Circle

I came to Japan at 26, a little naive but a lot optimistic. Life has worked out in some ways and in others, not so much. At the moment, I feel like I have hit some sort of ceiling, some stagnation, and not just because I failed the JLPT N1 for the second time. For the record, I actually passed the listening section. It’s also not because I have been waiting for the result of my permanent…

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A Brief Review of This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga

(Just going through my drafts and publishing all my half-written work. I read this book in 2020.) This is a very complex novel, to be unpacked in a literature class. I suspect I barely scratched the surface when it comes to understanding it. While the book is titled “This Mournable Body”, the main character is actually never physically harmed, she’s more psychologically tortured. It’s all the…

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My Year in Books - 2024 (From GoodReads)

8,888 pages read. 23 books read See link to goodreads page

[savvykenya]

Alternative Schools in Japan: The Option You Could be Looking For

Alternative schools could be a suitable option if you cannot afford the astronomical fees at conventional international schools, or the schools are located too far away, or your child just doesn’t fit in. They could also be an option for foreign parents staying in Japan for a short while, and their children need to continue their studies in English and would find it difficult to immerse…

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2024 Goals

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My Running Journey in 2023

I am so proud of my running habit this year. I thought I would share some highlights from my running journey this year. Hopefully, it will also encourage you in your own fitness journey: be it yoga, walking, swimming, pilates or weights. Summary Total distance covered this year (up to Dec 28th, at the time of writing this post. Excludes walking/cycling): 326.6km Average per month including…

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2023: A Year in Review

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Mothers and Daughters

I would like to tell you the stories of two mother-daughter pairs that fascinate me in my neighbourhood. I was bending over at the garbage cage outside our apartments, lowering my garbage into it, when someone said hello awfully close over my shoulder. “May I speak with you?” she asked, in English, bending close to my face. Not another one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I thought. They are the…

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Sunset in Ishikawa

I love this picture of a summer sunset that I took from my car when I was living in Ishikawa Prefecture, about 5 years ago. I have been waiting for an opportunity to publish it. I wanted to write a good essay or story or blog post to accompany it, but I have not been able to find the words. So I will borrow the words from Ras Mengesha’s piece, The Colour of August. Ras is a writer and teacher…

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Garbage Tales

Sometimes I think that my life in suburban Tokyo is boring since nothing exciting really happens. One day easily fades into the next. My life consists of daycare pickups and drop offs, grocery runs to Gyomu Supermarket, and detergent shopping at Sugi Drug Store, and the rest of the time working at my desk for the better part of the day. Then I realized that a lot of interesting things happen, it…

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I Translated Kusadikika Into English

I only have two favorites among Swahili novels, and I am ashamed to admit it is because of how little of Swahili literature I read. I hope to make more of an effort in the future, because right now between a full-time job and kids, a jogging habit and a Netflix addiction, I have no free time. The two books are Kusadikika by Shaaban bin Robert and Siku Njema by Ken Walibora. I’m happy to report…

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What to do (or not to do) if Your Child has a Neck Abscess

Wait, what? Yes, you read that right. When Kai was two months old, we flew across continents and oceans to be with family in Nairobi, Kenya. Kai was not a passive baby. I could not put him down for a second. I couldn’t cook, I couldn’t clean. I literally had to take him with me when I went to the toilet. I look at wonder at those babies who are content just lie there, staring at the ceiling or…

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The Ones Left Behind: Documentary About Single Mothers in Japan by Rionne McAvoy

When Rionne asked me to be interviewed for his documentary about single mothers in Japan, I wasn’t sure whether to accept or not. I did not want to become the “face of single mothers”. What a silly thing to worry about. I am a single mother, that is a fact. There is nothing to be embarrassed about and everything to be proud of. To be the parent that is turning up and taking all of the…