Here I am, teaming up with Multicultural Kid Blogs in our multifaceted, culture-rich look at The FIFA World Cup. I feel a bit like a blogger interning at Sports Illustrated for Kids! Very fun to have a turn, as I am our featured blogger for Japan. (No pressure…um) 😉

It’s game day for the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan plays Cote d’Ivoir today, Sunday the 15th, also Father’s Day. We’ve gotten a bit serious about how we will watch, see exhibit a, b, c, and d.

We will be hosting a little block party of sorts, watching with a wonderful family who are French and Japanese. This unique combo of Father’s Day and the 2014 FIFA World Cup call for some interesting snacks, non? The house will ring with French and Japanese mixing in with English, squeeles of kids running around, while the FIFA World Cup commentators do their thing.

Japan’s team is often referred to as Samurai Blue.

Japan knows how to be fierce as well as cute.

Back to the party. What to eat? Well, if I were really looking to be in WC party mode, I would arrange all the Japanese faves–from sushi to cold somen (noodles) to okonamiyaki (a kind of street pancake with loads of cabbage, egg, pickled ginger, and smoked tuna flakes on top. Many of the foods Japan is know for are seafoods, like the ubiquitous sushi, sashimi, smoked squids and a variety of fish cooked in a variety of ways. We are an island in the Pacific, after all. Actually, the technical word is an archipelago, a string of islands from snowy Sapporo, nearest Russia, to the white sand, tropical Okinawa.

I’m there, in lime green Tokyo, wearing my Samurai Blue with my family and all of Japan. (PS We lost tonight).

We are in the midst of warm, humid rainy season, so one could get pretty excited stocking up on icy-cold drinks and snacks for these games. A Japanese snack or lunch table can include popular sodas like Calpis or a household lemon drink, CC Lemon. In humid June heat, mugicha is the usual summer drink. Cha means tea, mugi is barley; so this is refreshing, non-caffeinated barley tea. Babies, kids, adults– everyone grows up barley tea.

We went all out to bridge the French component with… so much cheese. So much. cheese. Also smoked salmon, capers, and lots of nibbles.

Seeing as our Japan/Cote d’Ivoir game falls on Father’s Day, we are doing a nice brunch of waffles in our waffle iron. Hot, fluffy waffles and a nice cool spoonful of whipped cream are spot-on. Also, our friends will bring a lovely quiche.

With our screen and projector on loan, piles of prints from Multicultural Kids Blog’s World Cup activity pack, everything is in place. Very exciting! ($6.95 bought me a whole download of awesomely relevant sheets from mapping the teams of the world to tracking the score and uniforms of today’s game!!) I will post some of the kiddos’ great work later this week.

Here is the activity pack link, pre-k to grade 4. Truly great!

Did you read my last World Cup post? Here ya go!

Will post more later. So many pics.
Go Samurai Blue!!