Oh, heh, I know - my Japanese culture classes were a couple years ago but I haven't forgotten that much (I hope!).

I'm trying (and failing, probably) to keep my USian perspective out of my reading of Hikaru's family but even given the cultural differences - the lighter supervision and increased trust in a child's responsibility, the stricter division of time and stress of exams and homework (although Hikaru's still a year away from worrying about high school entrance exams), the saleryman father who's only home a couple of times a year, etc - things seem a little off.