Armed Forces Day is celebrated all around the world in honor of each nation’s military forces and their contributions to society. To celebrate, we interviewed some of our customers who use Little Passports to connect with their families in the military.

The Henderson girls reunite with their father after a deployment return.

Where has your family been stationed?

“We have been stationed in California, Rhode Island, Washington DC and are currently in Virginia. There are different things to love about all of our locations. My oldest daughter loves history. Every location we have lived in has been full of rich history.” -Alayna

“We have been stationed in Texas, Alaska and in Okinawa, Japan where both of my boys were born at the military hospital.” -Kathy

What do you love most about having a military family?

“I love that my kids are starting to learn how to go with the flow.  It is a given to them that we will be moving again. They are only 3 and 5 now and they have learned to make friends and adjust quickly. They get excited to go new places and check things out.” -Alayna

“The military has allowed us to experience many cultures and travel to various places. My children have seen more and done more than I had done at their age.”-Kathy

How has Little Passports help your family stay connected?

“We get both the USA and World Edition subscriptions. We use them to talk about where Daddy has traveled in his deployments, where Mommy has traveled, where our families are, where we have lived and where many of our military friends have been born and lived.” -Alayna

What do you love most about Little Passports?

“I subscribed to Little Passports for my boys this past Christmas just to help them learn more about various countries and states. The boys enjoy learning about the different countries and states, many of the states we have visited or plan to visit. My oldest really enjoyed that one of the countries he received was Japan.” -Kathy

“Little Passports have been a great introduction to things that are different from what they know. They love Sam and Sofia and reading about their adventures and LOVE getting to do all of the stickers.  We love the different cultural things and are hoping to expand their eating palate. We are planning to try food from every country that we receive. They are learning a ton of geography always pulling out and referring to the maps to figure out where things are.” -Alayna

Thank you to all the families who have reached out and shared their special stories with us. A very special thank you to all the service men, women and veterans who are serving our country.

In a modern Japanese village, there are colorful carp kites hanging on a post, as if they were swimming in the wind… What an interesting scene, right? Actually, these are a familiar occurrence on one of the most exciting days of the year: Children’s Day!

Children’s Day is a holiday that takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month—May 5th—in Japan, and is also known as こどもの日 (Kodomo no Hi). This holiday celebrates the good health and happiness of all children, and there are even some special festivities that go along with it!
Children celebrate this day by eating Kashiwamochi, which is a mochi (rice cake) wrapped in an oak leaf. Inside the homes, there are decorations of solider dolls, because the holiday was originally called Boy’s Day, while girls had their own day in March. In 1948 it was renamed to Children’s Day, but even now it is still seen as a boy’s day.

For instance, those carp kites mentioned earlier are actually called koinobori, and they represent how many boys are inside the house. The black carp at the top of the pole is the dad, the red carp is the mom, and the rest of the carp are lined up in order of oldest brother to the youngest. Children also put on plays in the comical style of Kyogen: these are really popular, and every year the theaters are always full of amused parents!