Thanks to Satoshi Tajiri, Sam has a burning desire to visit Japan. Dunno who that is? I didn’t until recently either. He’s the guy who invented pokemon.
A trip to Japan isn’t about to happen anytime soon, but I figured we could at least start learning about its language, customs and whatnot. Who knows, if he really likes it and learns to speak it well, someday in the future he could end up going to Japan to teach ESL classes. Might be the only way he can get there. :\
Well, as it happens, one of the homeschooling moms here knows how to speak a little Japanese and some of the characters. There is also a couple of Japanese events later this year at the Botanical Garden in St Louis we may go to.
As a parent, I wish I knew what (or which) is going to light a fire to his interest and spark that passion DH and I would like to see in him. Maybe it could be a turkey-button type pop up thing, a bell, a buzzer, SOMETHING that says THIS IS IT! LOL! That would probably be in the instruction manual… if there was one. 
You might also want to see if any SCA folks in your Kingdom play Japanese personae. I can also hook you up with someone in this Kingdom whose grade-school-aged son has a Japanese persona. You know, if you want to make garb and stuff.
You just had to go there, didn’t ya?
Sam would have to be really freakin’ serious to get me to do that. Serious enough to do the research himself serious.
This post reminds me of the pokemon drawing that Sam gave me (it’s on my fridge, so I look at it often!). Do you think he would think it was fun to experiment with Japanese food? A lot of it is really easy to make: miso soup, soba noodles, tempura (okay, sorta bad for you, but a treat nontheless). And, save for the deep fried tempura, it’s generally very healthy.
Something else very educational, and very japanese, but, IMO, cool, is origami. I have a good book on it I could borrow you. And paper. Very spatial/organizational in nature. Japanese kids have to be able to fold a crane at kindergarten. !! Sam might like it.
Those are some great ideas! I hadn’t thought of origami. I used to do it all the time too. I would love to borrow the book sometime! Thanks!