There is no perfect way to raise children. But if you are despairing because of unruly kids, adopting some Japanese parenting methods could be the way to go.

Japanese parenting emphasises unconditional love, community and harmony with nature, as ways to nurture well-behaved, respectful and creative children, says author Lisa Katayama, who used Japanese methods to bring up her own two children after moving from Tokyo to the United States.

And now she has shared the core principles involved with Japanese child-rearing in her new book, The Japanese Way of Parenting.

“As a first-time parent, I felt a need to find more calm, more connection to self, more order in the sea of chaos I could have easily drowned in,” she says.

She drew on her experience of growing up in Japan to write the book: “There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting, but I believe some core Japanese principles – like respect, community and mindfulness – translate beautifully into daily family life.”