5. The birth of my second child

Just after returning to Japan, the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) was held in Beijing, and my husband was invited as a speaker. We attended as a family and also traveled to other Chinese cities for satellite conferences before and after the ICM. Four years prior, I attended the ICM while visibly pregnant, and this time, though less visibly so, I was expecting our second child. After returning to Japan from the UK, my husband and daughter settled in Kyoto, and I would travel from Tokyo on the weekends by bullet train. However, due to risks of miscarriage, my doctor advised against working and even traveling by bullet train. Having traveled within Germany and to the US during my first pregnancy, this restriction came as a complete surprise. Eventually, I moved to Kyoto. Finding stability and a bit of boredom during my maternity leave, I attended seminars at Kyoto University while visibly pregnant. Realizing that commuting between Kyoto and Tokyo was no longer practical, I applied for several open positions and eventually received an offer from Nagoya University. After spending less than a month at Tokyo Metropolitan University after my maternity leave, I moved to Nagoya University when my son was three months old. It has now been more than a decade since I began my bullet train commutes from Kyoto.

6. Going to the US as a family

When my children were much younger, it was easy to take them along on overseas trips. Once my daughter started elementary school, it became difficult to take her out of school or leave the children with my parents who live far away, making trips almost impossible. But when my daughter reached third grade and my son was four, we decided to spend six months in the US as a family. Our destination was Princeton, where my daughter was born. Coincidentally, some of the colleagues from the previous visit were at the institute, enabling us to reunite with children born around the same time as my daughter. This time, my children got to attend a local elementary school and a preschool, fully immersing themselves in the American educational system. Having children with us also enriched our experience of local festivities such as Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. The institute’s residential area had vast lawns where my daughter would run around and play with friends after coming home on the school bus, and with my son’s preschool inside the institute, our daily life was both convenient and pleasant. In the US, adults have a different attitude towards children, often praising them for even the smallest achievements. I was taken aback when my son commented that I did not say “Good job!” to him as often. Though my children initially spoke no English, the elementary school offered ESL classes. My son, who was in preschool at that time, seems to recall those events as if they had happened in Japanese. At home, although my children read Japanese books, the absence of a Japanese-speaking environment led to some unexpected outcomes: my daughter began to forget kanji, and my son learned the alphabet before hiragana. Being Japanese did not cause them to stand out or be targeted for bullying; the environment where everyone was encouraged to freely pursue their interests and praise one another was truly wonderful. Through my children, I enjoyed interacting with a diverse range of people. The seminars, which brought together world-renowned researchers, were inspiring. Like in the UK, the institute hosted events exclusively for adults. Fortunately, finding a babysitter was straightforward, ensuring that having children did not mean missing out on various enjoyable experiences.