Does the Tooth Fairy Come to Japan?

The Tooth Fairy visited our house Thursday night! Keanna lost her first tooth, and lucky for her the Tooth Fairy visited, because she doesn't normally come to Japan. I didn't know that, did you? In Japan when a child looses his/her tooth they throw it up or down, not under their pillow like we do in the United States. In Japan, kids throw the tooth in the air (on the roof of their house) or at the ground, and they throw it straight up or straight down so the adult tooth will come in straight. So if an upper tooth falls out throw it straight down, and if it's a lower tooth throw it up.

Keanna was left ¥500, about $5 USD. She loves this melon drink that I've only seen in vending machines, so now she can afford to get about four cans! Actually, she said she wants to save it and Bob and I are fine with that! And as for the tooth, it was on the bottom, and she didn't throw it on the roof, the Tooth Fairy kept it for now.

I wanted something for her to put the tooth in and started thinking about what to buy as soon as it was loose at the end of January. I thought maybe something Japanese would be neat, but after learning about the Tooth Fairy not coming here I started looking online. I saw a bunch on Etsy and Ebay and thought, "That doesn't look too complicated, I think I can do it." After making her popcorn costume for Halloween I had a renewed faith in myself. Mind you, I'm much better with a glue gun, but wanted to give this a shot. One morning Sandy and I were looking at tooth patterns online. She's thousands of miles away in the D.C. area, but we were chatting on one of the instant messaging programs and exchanging links back and forth.

Here's how I made the Tooth Fairy pillow. It wasn't complicated, but I did call my friend, Shari in Virginia to help me. I had no idea how to do the mouth so she suggested a backstitch. Mahalo Shari! I did the same thing for the eyes. I cut a circle out of the dark pink then bunched it together to make the flower; held it while stitching the green thread in there to not only hold it down but make it look like petals. There's a heart on the back to hold the tooth and money too. I stuffed it with some toilet paper believe it or not, and it makes it soft enough for a little cushion. The supplies cost $1.90 at the Community Center on base and for the amount I actually used (out of the embroidery thread and felt) it actually cost less than $1.