Random Things about Living in Asia

There are certain things about Asia that can be surprising at first. When my son was a young boy we would go to the onsen hot springs at least once a week, a fun way for a father and son to experience the togetherness the Japanese call “skinship.” Once he took me aside to ask me why another young boy who was in the bath near us had what appeared to be a blue bruise on his butt. This is the Mongolian Spot, and it’s a skin condition that affects Asian babies until the age of three or so. My kids (being haafu) did not have this spot, which caused some concern during their health check-ups at the time.

Another interesting aspect of Asia is what’s known as “East Asian age reckoning,” which was the tradition of counting babies as being one year old at birth. The system was ended after WWII, but older Japanese still consider themselves to be one year old than they really are, and insurance documents ask customers to “write your age according to the Western counting system.” A version of this age counting system seems to be quite big in Korea still, where one’s “Korean age” (your age rounded up one, more or less) is quite culturally important.