Japan: Father's Day Celebration

Last month, Jack Neo's "I Not Stupid 2" was shown on television. It was the second time I watched this Singaporean film which explored the issue of poor parent-child communication.

One of the most memorable scenes to me was that the eight-year-old boy Jerry gave his father a portrait of him as Father's Day present. When Mr Yeo looked at the drawing, he did not understand why Jerry had coloured his face all black on the paper.

So, Jerry asked his father to stand in the dark, with the light off, and gave his explanation: Most of the time, he only got to see his father's silhouette. Due to his busy schedules, Mr Yeo always left home early in the morning while Jerry was still asleep, and went home late at night after Jerry had gone to bed.

When I was in a shopping mall in Japan on 3 June, there was an exhibition "My Father's Portrait" by a local kindergarten.

Small children had portrayed their fathers' faces in all kinds of creative ways.

I thought of Jerry's drawing again, for Japanese men were infamous for working over-time and spending too little time with their families.

To celebrate Father's Day, the best present for the workaholic fathers would be a "bentoo" (single-portion boxed lunch) to bring to their working places, so that they could appreciate it while still being productive...