Moving house during the pandemic didn't seem that much harder than at any other time. We found a place, organized the move itself and are now living contently in a larger space.
When we were hunting for our new home, we had several criteria for judging potential neighborhoods and properties, most of them fashioned to the needs of our 6-year-old daughter, Hana. Our new place needed to be close to an elementary school that was not too big, not too small and not too scary. The surrounding streets could neither be totally deserted, nor as packed as central Shibuya.
We were also hoping for a reasonable number of biracial or non-Japanese kids in the area — if not for instant friendship, then at least so Hana wouldn't stick out too much. We've all heard the Japanese proverb about what happens to a nail that sticks out, and we didn’t want the hammer to come down on our child.