In the 1990s I was a new mother raising my kids in a land so foreign than my own that tuning in to the way I saw my mommy-friends do it turned to be the new normal I wanted to imitate. I tried the mamachari... "The mamachari is a cultural icon, it’s the Japanese equivalent of the family station wagon. It’s the family workhorse used on shopping runs, for riding to the local station, taking the kids to school or picking them up from sports practice. Without it families around the country would be in a right pickle. "— Byron Kidd