Our twins Rebecca and Anna are turning thirteen,
and to celebrate we’re combining American and Japanese cultures together for a big celebration.
No one's lining up! Look at that!
But not everything goes as planned and things get a little cracked up at the end.
Uh, there was an earthquake.
There was an earthquake, everything started shaking!
It’s time for another episode of Life in Japan. Hold on.
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
You girls have some special visitors coming
Becca and Anna
Go ahead! Come in!
I hear somebody singing...
[Singing Happy Birthday]
Yea! Oh boy.
Wow!
Rebecca!
Teenagers! Yea, teenagers!
Teenagers, my goodness.
Teenagers can't open bags!
What is it?
It's a mufura (scarf)
It helps your car run quietly.
That's right.
It sounds like "muffler" — it's a scarf!
It's a scarf. Wow, how nice.
That looks great. Can you wear that to school you think?
Yea.
And it's big like mommy's.
So you don't have to wear mommy's.
Thank you. Is this supposed to fold this way?
Whoa! Sugoi!
Scarf/blanket, that's right.
It is big.
Did you guys look at the moon coming over?
Yes, it's eclipsing!
Let's see Anna. Oh, you look so grown up.
Looking at the full lunar eclipse that's happening up there!
Everyone's coming to see it, here we go!
Yea, look!
It's going black right now?
Isn't it cool? Yea, it's going black right now.
The sun, the earth and the tsuki (moon)
Hi! Hi!
Wait, I want to see!
Oh, I've gotta stand back.
My legs are shaking!
Momma chan's legs are shaking?
Dude, I do not like heights!
That's just wild how it disappears
Turning thirteen is a big deal in a lot of English-speaking countries,
because it’s the birthday that makes you officially a teenager.
A teenager is anyone who’s age ends in a “-teen,” like fifteen or thirteen in the twin’s case.
The Japanese don’t have teenagers because they literally count “10, 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4” and so on.
Nonetheless, we are celebrating the twins in grand style today, starting with an early-morning surprise.
Sarah, what's going on?
Becca and Anna's birthday.
Becca and Anna's birthday!
We're making breakfast for them in bed!
Oh sweet!
So one of the traditions in America is breakfast in bed
Today we're doing breakfast in kotatsu
OK, we're ready! Let's go.
Oh, we're ready!
Let's go Joshua! We're going to sing Happy Birthday.
OK
[Singing Happy Birthday]
Coffee!
It's hot chocolate.
Happy 13th birthday girls!
Thirteen years old! Teenagers!
Beautiful teenagers! Oh my goodness!
Is this real? Yes!
Guess who picked them?
Daddy! Yes.
Ohh! And little presents from Sarah chan.
Nice job Sarah chan. This is amazing!
You're welcome.
How many origami sheets did you use?
Twelve! What?!
You used it all for me?!
Oh well I cut it in pieces
Thank you.
Ha ha! Pat pat pat.
Boom!
Camera
Wait - no! Camera
And for your birthday, what is going on today? They decided to shorten school, right?
Then what are we going to do?
Yomiurilando
Yomourilando.
"URI"
Wow, is this going to become the tradition do you think? Taking the picture over here? OK
We are blessed!
[Singing] You're so blessed, you're so blessed!
After breakfast, we took time for a quick picture of the girls before they headed off to school.
When they got back from school, the celebration would resume.
Here it comes!
Wait everyone, stay! Stay! I'm going to do something.
Here it is! Alright.
Trying to show her powers of standing on the train?
After the kids practiced standing on the train, we soon arrived at Yomiuriland station
and headed straight for an entrance to the theme park which we had always wanted to do but had never taken before.
Alright, getting our tickets.
Accelerate!
Wow, look! We went up fast, didn't we?
How fast is this?!
There you can see our place, way over there!
Oh yeah!
Oh look at the Bandit! We go through the Bandit!
Yea, you didn't know that?!
Look at this! Going right through!
I didn't know it was this big.
Too bad there's not one going.
Heading into Yumiuriland by air was a stunning way to enter the park,
and everyone got excited about what rides we would do.
This is a super-cool way to come into the park, isn't it? Um hum.
This is the way to do it.
It's a lot more expensive.
But it's going to be fun when we come back and it's all lit up and you can see it.
We need to go on all of these before it gets full!
No one's lining up! Look at that!
That never happens!
And so we descended into a night of fun.
Oh my goodness people!
OK
And we're off!
It was time for us to grab a family photo at the park entrance before heading on to our first adventure.
You guys ready?
Oh, how about you, Dude? Are you ready?
Yes? Alright!
Do you have your arms up?
Arms up? Arms up! Arms up!
Whoa! Yes!
Oh! OK, it's the hill first.
Oh!
Whoa, Dude!
You got your arms up! Are you ready? Can you keep them up?!
Can you keep them up?!
Here we go!
Look! Sarah's got her hands up! Good job, Sarah!
Good job, Big J!
Whoa!
What did you think of that one right there?
Um, that was fun!
Oh, Big J, are you big enough?!
I think you are.
Stand up straight.
They won't let you...
Stand up straight.
Oh Dude, Dude! Dude!
Dude! Just, just barely!
Go on the Pteracycle!
Here we go! Whoa!
Now we're cruising!
Oh!
That's why they call it Pteracycle.
Whoa!
We're at the top! Here we go!
Let's go! Let's go!
Oh! Look! The girls are off already!
What?!
We can't let that happen, let's go!
As the night progressed, so did the rides — in intensity that is.
We're heading into the next ride and look! Oh! We are little little little.
We're so little!
We're so little, Sarah! I mean, littler than normal.
Pull! Pull!
Here we go!
Whoa! Whoa!
Maybe it makes some water?
Whoa.
We're going up, up, up, up, up.
Whoa!
Here we go!
Hey, you're spinning me!
You're spinning me!
Spin spin spin!
Oh my goodness! I don't think Mommy's going to like this one!
Yea, I don't think so!
Here comes Momma! How did Momma do?
I didn't know it was a ride!
That was a fun ride.
You liked it? You didn't get too dizzy?
Just a little.
I was like "Uh oh, I hope Mommy does well."
It seems like a very "Sarah" place.
Is this a very "Sarah" place?
Ah, yea.
What time is it? Tell me.
Bandit.
Bandit time!
The ride we can see from our house.
Have you had any special treatment because it's your birthday?
Happy birthday!
Yeah, is that what they do?
There it is— oh! You took it off.
Yeah? Oo, nice.
The Bandit is one-of-a-kind rollercoaster that races through the hills of Tokyo,
and I wish I could show it to you, but you’ll just have to take our word: it’s awesome.
But that wasn’t the only thrill the ride offered this time.
We were in line for the Bandit and what happened?
Uh, there was an earthquake.
There was an earthquake, everything started shaking!
And so they had to send another car around to make sure it was alright
And then ours was the next one, but how was the ride?
Fun. It was amazing.
It's so good.
The Bandit, oh the Bandit is such a good ride.
Whose ready? Go carts? Go carts?
Anybody? Go carts? Go carts? Oh yea.
Here goes Rebecca!
Becca! Becca! Becca! Becca!
She's thirteen and going to drive all by herself, huh?
And now Anna's turn.
Alright Anna!
Alright Rebecca!
Oh, here they come!
Oh yes! Alright!
Whew!
You guys did that?
Oh my goodness.
Yea, my tummy hurt so bad after that.
Your tummy hurt so bad? I believe it. That looks nuts.
Yomiuriland is a really fun park, but in the winter, with the illuminations, it becomes magical.
Dude, you're dancing too?
I guess so.
With the night drawing to a close, we had one last epic ride to take. The gondola at night.
But not before waving bye to the last ride of the Bandit.
The last ride of the night. Well let's go.
Ok, it's the return trip. Here we go.
It was a fun day. And now we get the beautiful view for the win.
Oh. Wow.
Look at that, What a glorious way to say "bye bye," huh guys?
Can we see our house?
It would be back that way.
You have to look over that way.
The train's arriving at the station! It's not going to wait for us.
We'll get the next one.
Now we just got a couple of trains to get home.
So something kind of sad happened on the way back. What happened, Becca?
So, I cracked my phone.
You cracked your phone?!
Dropped it, huh?
I was having a very wonderful time at Yomiurilando.
This is how I feel right now.
Current mood
Ahh. I still love you.
Happy birthday to you girls anyway.
Happy birthday?! How could this be a birthday present?!
Well you never know, maybe something good will come from this.
Maybe that means you get the next one [phone].
Wow, look at the good student Anna
I need to study, I have a kanji test tomorrow.
You have a Kanji test tomorrow?
It's like 9:00 right now.
No, it's like 9:30
It was so worth it for your birthday, wasn't it?
It is.
Was that a great way to turn 13 or what?
Yep.
This is Anna's feelings having to do the Kanji test.
Show me! There's a new one.
I think my favorite is the one where you're just like... This?
It's like you couldn't hold it anymore.
I didn't cry though. It's just a phone anyway.