Leah comments

We tried really hard to get our non- Japanese kids into the local public Japanese school. My family spent a year taking Japanese lessons and studying. Ultimately, the school said "no". They said that we don't know enough Japanese, our kids (ages 7 and 9) wouldn't be able to keep up, and they don't have the resources to help them. So, our kids are going to an English speaking school. It's unfortunate they couldn't get into the local school because we plan to live here for the reminder of their childhoods. We live in a Japanese community and yet we can't really be a part of it. Our kids don't have much of an opportunity to make local friends. I wonder if their writing system wasn't as complicated if they would have let our kids in. Having a single alphabet and no kanji would certainly make Japan a more foreigner and immigrant friendly country.