Names

On Thursday we had to officially register Hana with the Japanese authorities. Although we had decided on the name 'Hana' we hadn't decided how to spell it, or what to do about middle names.

Japanese Name

In Japanese, 'Hana' (or 'Hanna') is a popular girls name. The sound 'hana' means 'flower' and and can be spelt with the kanji (chinese character) for flower.





'Hana' also means 'nose' when spelt with a different kannji. So touching noses together is callad a 'hana chuu' or 'nose kiss'.

In practice, people called 'Hana' generally don't write their name with the kanji for 'flower' because that is too obvious, and also because it only uses 1 kanji which seems too short (most names use 2 kanji).

Instead parents tend to pick the most appropriate of the dozens of combinations of kanji that spell the sylables 'Ha' and 'Na' . One consideration is to pick kanji so that the number of strokes used to write the surname and first name add up to an auspicious number in traditional fortune-telling.

Rika chose the following pair of kanji.



In japanese this is more poetic than it might seem - it gives us images of butterflies or dragonflies flitting among green summer leaves at Ikadaba. Although a different reading might equally bring to mind 'chicken and vegetable soup'.

This choice of kanji also means that Hana's name in roman letters is 'Hana', not 'Hanna' as I've been writing it up until now.

Hana's official surname is 'S.', the same as Rika's. Why? well, as a foreigner, I don't have a family register, so when Rika and I married I was added to Rika's family register and thus officially became a member of the S. family of Shibuya. My name is unchanged, but for Hanna to take my surname Rika would have to change her surname. Which she hadn't done.

(By the way, as the man I'm officially 'head' of the household, although in practice this is more of a 'governor general' sort of role).

In fortune telling terms 'S., Hana' is a reasonably lucky name:

To give Hana the option of using my surname later, we decided to add it as a middle name. So her full official name is as follows (family name first in the japenese manner).



This seemed a good compromise, although it turns out that Japanese authorities do not recognise middle names, so they have joined together the 'first' and 'middle' names. So Hana's official name is 'Hanasmith'. At first sight this seems a bit wierd, and perhaps brings to mind images of someone hammering out flower shapes from red-hot iron.

In fact it isn't so bad once you remember that there are never 'spaces' written between Japanese words, and the 2 names are written in kanji and katakana respectively so they are obviously different words. Rika assures me that this sort of thing has become more common as people have started adding middle names, and she will be able to just use 'Hana' except in ultra-official contexts. Also we can put the space back in when we translate her name into english.

English Name

We chose the name 'Hanna' because it is also a version of the biblical name Hannah. Which, (as we all know), means "grace", "favour", "charm", or perhaps "blessed by god", or "god has graced me with a son", depending on which website you have just looked up.

Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel. She was barren and prayed for a child in return for giving the child up to the priests . When the child was born she gave thanks to god with the 'Song of Hannah' which is regarded in Judaism as a model for how to pray.


Painting Jan Victors 1620-1667


We couldn't use the spelling 'Hannah' since it doesn't exist in Japanese. This is a shame since 'Hannah' is a palendrome, ie reads the same backwards as forwards. So is "name no Hannah one man").

'Hanna' is also version of the name 'Hannah', but in technically 'Hana' isn't, unless you are spanish. On the other hand 'Hana' means happiness in arabic, and 'One' in korean.

Song of Hannah (Samuel 2:1-10)

1 Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn [g] is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
2 "There is no one holy [h] like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
3 "Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.
4 "The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
6 "The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave [i] and raises up.
7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has set the world.
9 He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails;
10 those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."

Sung to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain"

Hanna waking up.

This series of photos shows Hanna waking up from a nap in her new crib. Its fairly typical scene.

Something is not quite right here...

Thank goodness thats over...


... er... no it isn't...

..Daaad... put down the camera and clean me NOW!

That produced an extra-large-sized wholegrain mustard poo. This photo doesn't show it in its full glory.. it went everywhere.. I had to change Hanna's clothes as well as the nappy.

Hanna really doesn't like having a dirty or wet bottom and doesn't hesitate to let us know. She usually calms down after she has been changed. But in this case it took a little longer. When she is unhappy she sometimes grabs the hair on the back of her head with her right hand and holds onto it.

First week at home

Rika and Hanna have now been home for almost a week

For Hanna the main event is feeding every few hours followed by a nice cuddle with Rika.

Or sitting in Rikas lap for some 'mum and baby' time.

We are lucky that Hanna feeds well during the day and sleeps well at night , so Hanna is generally content to be fed just once betwen midnight and 7am. Also Rika has some home-help this week courtsey of the Shibuya local authority. Nevertheless the constant cycles of feeding are exhausting.

Hanna looks very cute and peaceful when she sleeps. This is her 'reclining buddha' pose.


She is also lovely as she wakes up. I look out for her little 'I feel wonderful' smiles.

Unfortunately much of the time Hana is fully awake she seems uncomfortable, and she cries quite a lot, especially if we lie her on her back. She often seems to suffer from gas and sometimes seems overtired from lack of sleep. So we are now trying to improve our burping skills, and find ways to encourage her to nap.

This burping position seems to give Hanna some relief and usually produces several impressive burps...

Ive been looking for other positions that Hanna finds comfortable. She stays like this one without crying although it doesn't seem very practical.

I've been on paternity leave most of this week. I enjoy burping Hanna and changing nappies since it clearly helps her feel better. Of course Im having an easier time than Rika, but I still feel pretty tired.

Another job is to make sure Minimi doesn't get ignored and start to resent Hanna. Thats seems to be going well.

Coming Home from Hospital

Rika and Hanna came home from hospital today.


When I arrived at Rikas room to pick them up, Hanna was sleeping on Rika's chest.


It was just a 15min ride home by taxi. Hanna is wrapped up in a sling and has fallen asleep.

Like this...

Rika's mum, Atsuko, and sister, Yasuyo, were waiting at our apartment.

Minimi and Sasuke were also waiting outside on the terrace. They had both turned 5-years old while Rika was in hospital. I have been putting them out for the last few days so that they will get used to it before Hanna came back.

This is Yasuyo holding Hanna for the first time.


This is Hanna's first feed at home. Note Minimi watching from the stairs.

At first Minimi didn't know what to make of this new cat-sized addition to the family. You can clearly see his worried look as he observes Rika feeding Hanna - watching intently with his head forward and ears back.

After that Minimi got quite clingy and demanded to sit in my lap. I had to give him lots of love to show he is still my 'top-cat' - even if he's no longer the top 'cat-sized-person' - until he fell asleep on my chest.

This photo shows Minimi sitting on my lap watching Rika, Hanna and Atsuko.

Hanna seems to have adjusted will to the change of scenery. But she has been crying a lot.

Fortunately she settles quickly when she is put in a sling. Here Yasuyo is calming Hanna, using Rika's sling.

We also bought a sling for me so we don't need to adjust Rika's all the time, and so I don't need to wear pink floral patterns. This sling is actually from a New Zealand company called 'Natures Sway', so it's nice and big and available in masculine beige canvas.

Here is the 'dads-eye' view of Hanna, fast asleep in the sling...

... and the dads-eye view of Minimi demanding not to be left-out.

We don't have a cot so for now we plan to change nappys and also sleep on a baby-futon on the floor...

while the cats are safely out on the terrace.

You can see Minimi has taken the 'power seat' on top of the cage, while Sasuke is patrolling. The cardboard boxes have cat beds in them and cork tile flooring so they should be quite comfortable, even when its no longer 25 degrees at night.

Bath Time

One of the last things we did before we left the Red Cross hospital, was to have a lesson in bathing our baby.

This isn't Hannas first bath but its one of the first and she clearly finds it strange.