The beginning of spring in Japan is marked by the blooming of the Sakura.
Nothing is quite as beautiful or fleeting as the Sakura,
and if you don’t get out to see it while it’s in bloom, you may just miss it all together.
Oh man, I love these early morning walks out here.
It finally stopped raining, so I wanted to get out here and walk under the Sakura while it's still here.
And boy is it nice!
Look at it — just falling, snowing like Sakura.
When you see the Sakura starting to snow, you know that your chance to see it is almost gone.
But for us this year, a couple of big Sakura surprises were still in store,
for as it got sunny, we had a very unexpected and delightful Japanese spring experience.
Grandma made some eggs today, huh? Wait, this is eggs?!
Try it.
April fools!
Doesn't that look like egg, though?!
I was like what kind of egg is that?!
No, grandma’s false eggs were not the surprise I was talking about, although it was a fun start to the day.
Oh, look at that, boy!
We are saved, huh? We are saved!
The Sakura this year has really been quite phenomenal because it took so long to fully bloom
But on the hind side of that, it's just holding on for so long
So we have lots of days with good Sakura this year.
Coming out to Tachikawa today
Oh, and it's a beautiful day! Another beautiful day!
Whoa, it's green and glorious! Let's look at what flowers are where!
Oh my!
At Tachikawa’s Showa Kinen Park, the real surprise awaited us, and it was most unexpected.
Well guys, this looks amazing here today too.
Wow!
Pretty amazing. This is awesome.
Now Showa Kinen is great any time of the year, but we just so happened to catch the perfect spring day here,
so you knew that there was going to be a lot of photos taken.
There is just a lot going on here today.
OK so today, just everything is so gorgeous, so beautiful,
Look at this! In just like in all directions it looks amazing!
Ha ha! Amazing!
Wow, yes yes yes!
Anna, do you have any money? What?
There's nothing to drink...
OK I'm coming — ok, bye bye.
Well the kids survived 10 minutes without us? Survived, but...
Mom, come, hurry we're thirsty!
Alright, so let's go I guess.
We should have brought a tent, huh? I guess?
Yeah, but I would have had to carry it.
Oh no! Oh no!
The Sakuras were full bloom, and you could tell that this was their grand finale,
for all over you could see Sakura snow.
And even though this would be the last good day to see Sakura around Tokyo,
this would not be the last great display of Sakura we would see yet this spring.
Here we go, we're going to see the Sakura now with the Canola right next to it.
How about the snowing Sakura, huh? You have tons in your hair.
Look at that — I've got a Sakura hairdo now.
Did I get any of it out? There we go.
That's amazing.
Alright, there's just all kinds of fun little places to explore here. Oh! Here comes Becca!
The day was winding down, but not before giving our car some much needed tender loving care.
Sarah, what is going on? What are we going to do?
We're doing a car wash!
Our poor car, huh? Yea.
It needs... To be cleaned.
It needs to be cleaned and it's going to get it now.
And which one are we going to do here?
We're going to do "A."
A Course — oh yea, let's get it done, alright Sarah?
So good. Oh yea. Oh yea.
We're getting it done, aren't Sarah? Yea.
Yep. It's almost time to rinse it off.
Alright now, I'll see you guys later!
What did you get, Sarah? Fanta.
A Fanta, is that a special treat for helping today?
Yea, and I deserve it. Oh nice.
And Sarah with her special drink, ah!!!
I just can't put this on Oh she needs help, she needs help! Here you go.
In this season of surprises, we had another great surprise arrive, this time in the form of a simple box.
What?
Is that how you prepare your yogurt?
Yeah, and drink it.
I open it a little bit and drink it.
Ah, OK.
Good, good, you should try it too.
OK, what do we have here?
We have a package A package!
And a yogurt! From Australia.
OK, it's from a Life in Japan fan.
This box is very taped together.
OK Wow
Whoa.
A special message to the Reutter kids
Hope you'll enjoy the little gifts from us down under.
We can't wait to have you guys visit Australia one day.
I want to! Oh, I really want to go!
Bucket list!
Remember Psalm 139 "I am fearfully and wonderfully made"
God painted and fashioned you as his one and only masterpiece
You are unique and individually special and called to rock this life.
Oh look, this... I got a box!
This polka-dotted one is for Sarah. We can open it?
I don't know what this is!
Embroidery kit, Sarah!
And what did you get, Joshua? Sarah, I can make this now!
Sticker by number...
You put these stickers on the numbers
Oh nice! Let's do it?
Wow, those are great gifts for you guys. Now for your parents...
Oh this is Nate
Dark green.
The band says "Hi" — we get their latest CD.
You know a 90's kid will always be a 90's kid — signed CDs and books are still in.
Ha ha!
Planetshakers CD.
Yea it is. It arrived well.
Oohhh - Greater!
Oh the CD!
Oh, it's signed by the [band] — oh how cool is that?!
My goodness, there is a lot of stuff in there! There is a lot of stuff.
Oh, she made those. Those are cool!
Greater Things! Oh!
Oh and a book, I love books.
"Think Like a King" by Neil Smith
And signed, huh? And signed!
Ah! Masks.
Oh! A water bottle.
We have a water bottle. Wow, that is cool.
Look at my new coffee mug
Look at mommy's coffee mug!
You can take it Paz Church and you can use your own coffee mug!
OK look!
Ohh! I want that!
I want that!
It's Daddy's!
But surprises come in many different forms.
Something that at first seems so normal, can be completely different when we see the whole picture.
If I look like this, everything is normal.
And just when you think we had seen all the Sakura we could possibly see, another opportunity opens up before us.
OK, so today is a beautiful day, it's sunny out
And we heard that the Sakura is blooming by Mt Fuji
So with Mom and Dad here we're going to head up there and see what we can see!
Gonna get some good shots today!
Yeah, the Sakura against the... Against Mt Fuji is perfect!
We weren't sure what we were going to get today, but boy we got another clear day
With Sakura blooming around Mt Fuji — just perfect!
That's awesome!
Grandma, you're gonna fill your camera up today, huh? I am.
It's a good day to do it.
It's beautiful and I can always take them off if I need to.
That's right. I've already got hundreds.
OK, let's walk this. Look at this!
Yea, the lanterns here — my goodness, so cool.
It's a nice long corridor of Sakura and then when you look forward
Mt Fuji.
Up here around Mt Fuji all the Sakura blooms about 2 weeks later than in the Tokyo area,
So we get to see it down in Tokyo and then if you wait a little bit you can come up here and see it.
But I've lived here almost 10 years and this is the first time seeing it like this
Mt Fuji, the Sakura with Mom and Dad here, super special!
Very thankful for this.
This this little fence here, but ironically the best shot was walking up to that fence
And sticking our little cell phone lens right through that.
Mt Fuji is so iconic. With the Sakura it just makes it double iconic.
Back in Tokyo, the Grand Finale of Sakura was underway.
When mom and dad came, the Sakura was just starting to bud,
And what's amazing this year is that it's a month later, and the last of the Sakura is hanging on.
We're supposed to get wind and rain and it's for sure going to get knocked off now
But what an amazing Sakura year it's been.
We've seen so much this year!
I told mom and dad it's like we've seen three years worth of sakura in one year.
The Japanese say beauty and life is fleeting like the Sakura — it’s here one day and gone the next.
Sakura is a symbol of the impermanence of life and the ebb and flow of time.
The death of the Sakura blossom means the beginning of something new.
It is bittersweet by nature.
Ancient farmers would wait for the Sakura to know when to plant.
And we who live in Japan start new jobs, start new grades and even go to new schools.
Izzy, tomorrow is a big day, isn't it?!
Yea. What's happening tomorrow?
Tomorrow I'm starting first grade.
Goodness and.. Guess what?!
What? 2nd grade.
You're doing 2nd grade!
I'm 4th grade!
Fourth grade!
Dinnertime with the Blocks.
Izzy, what do you have there? Can I see?
[Gasps] Are you going to wear that tomorrow?! Yeah.
She's going to go to the same school as you Dude, that's cool, huh?
The saddest thing in the whole wide world is that the first day we cannot walk together.
The first day you cannot walk together — if that's the saddest thing in the whole wide world right now than that's a pretty good life.
What are you working on?
The song... that I made up. A song?
You made up a song? Let me see.
Let's sing it together. 3, 2, 1...
Wow.
Sarah, you look so cute for your first day of fourth grade!
And Joshua!
3, 2, 1
Yummy yummy yummy,
We came out here to take some pictures just a moment ago,
And when we went to take some pictures it blew so hard
But the pictures turned out to be really fun because of all that wind.
My goodness, it's so windy!
Oh my goodness!
Becca and Anna are also twirling into the second year as junior high school students, and we’re so proud of them.
It's just not quite loose enough yet.
Joshua has that one tooth that's just hanging, but it's not...
Is it ready?! Don't do it!
Not quite ready, huh?
Why don't we wait just a little bit more, Dude.
Yea wait, we'll try again when we get home from school. Yea.
Watching your kids off on their first day can help everyone feel a bit less anxious.
What's going on here?
First day of school!
This is the official observation point. It's so windy! Yeah.
Izy's first day of school, hope she doesn't get blown away!
Bye! Whoa, hope you guys don't get blown away!
Oh look who's down there. Bye Becca, Anna, Momma chan!
There they are. There they are!
The Three Amigos.
Ew, windy!
Here at the grand finale of Sakura we also celebrated Easter Weekend.
And just like the fleeting nature of Sakura,
Jesus’ life on earth was glorious and beautiful, but passed far too quickly,
just as we remember on the bittersweet night of Good Friday.
But that dark night did not have the final say,
and just as Sakura opens the way to a new spring season of life,
so the sunrise on Easter opens the way for real life to come bursting through!
If you really want to talk about life in Japan, this is it,
for our Easter celebration at Paz Church was bursting with energy!
So today is Easter!
For Christians all around the world, Easter and Christmas are the two huge holidays we celebrate
Christmas because Jesus came and Easter because he died and rose again and lives forevermore
So this is a big day here
We're going to have celebration, Gospel Choir, kids' presentations, awesome Easter message
Some baptisms and lots of fun. Today is a fun day.
This year we had our best Easter Weekend ever
if you want to see it you can certainly check it out on the Paz Church channel
but needless to say it was the perfect end to this year’s Sakura Season
or I should almost the perfect end.
For we all know after the Sakura everything turns green and life burst forth.
Friends get together and life moves on.
But just like the Sakura, now Grandpa and Grandma’s time with us was coming to an end,
and we would spend our last special moments with them.
What happened yesterday, Joshua? Oh!
The tooth came out! Look at that!
Look at that nice, big, wide opening there!
Somebody's playing Mario Kart over here and it's not a kid.
Who could it be?
It's grandma!
Grandma's playing Mario Kart and doing pretty good, you're in 2nd place!
Grandma your 1st place!
Could she win her first race?!
Did you see how good Grandma's doing on Mario Kart?!
Oh, somebody just passed me!
No, nobody passed you. It was a green shell.
Grandma's cross-stitching all over the coarse.
Tap it. NO!
[Everyone yelling]
Use it! Use it!
[Everyone cheering]
She did it! Grandma did it!
And a Mario Kart legend is born.
Bye bye! Oh my, big hugs.
Big hugs time! I wish you goodbye.
Well! The big-bye handshake.
The tears don't come as much that way.
Big guy.
Big squeeze!
These are the official hugs.
Aw You might be as tall as grandma next time.
I was going to say, do you think you'll be taller than grandma next time? Ya!
Love you.
See you next year. Ok!
[Singing] Na na na na hey hey hey goodbye.
So the moment has come. It's always a bittersweet moment when you say goodbye to Dad and Mom.
And really, living overseas one of the things you have to do a lot is to say goodbye,
And it never really gets any easier.
But we do know that time passes and you get to see everyone again and make more great memories.
Well Mom and Dad are all checked in
and now we're just going to go up to get one last picture together before they take off.
So mom, do you have a favorite part from the trip at all?
Oh, well being with the kids and you guys, that's my favorite.
I agree with mom,
Spending time with you guys with the kids was top of the list.
But the weather was great
We saw some gorgeous sakuras and flowers,
Had some gorgeous days going out to Mt Fuji, to Odawara Castle
And to the park, so it was amazing, amazing trip.
And I love the watch parties for Life in Japan,
And seeing a couple of those episodes just really take off.
It was a lot of fun.
Big changes!
And we have mom and dad here, oh yeah!
And of course our regular crew, yeah! Whew!