I'm getting ready to take a short trip to the States, so the big question is:
What do I take as an omiyage, a souvenir from here for my friends in the States,
And what do I get in the States as an omiyage for everyone back here?
Let's go!
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
Dude, what are you doing?!
[Mumbling]
It's like this...
[Mumbling]
the Bible...
[Mumbling]
Bible app?
Bible book?
[Mumbling]
the Bible book?
[Mumbling]
Bible book club? Yea!
So, my resident shopping pro,
Yes, let's go shopping! I'm always up for a good shop!
So we have to buy omiyages for you to take to our friends in America,
That's right... And just a couple of things that I need for around the house.
Yea, let's go.,
And get ready to pack it, oh boy!
Girls, what are you learning here?
Dutch Blitz
Oh boy!
Feed the birds, feed the birds...
OK, so first stop here today... We have to go to CanDo
Because dollar store- can't beat that.
My mother-in-law asked for some crazy little erasers and things and it's a good place to good to check to see if they have them
Because if they do, it's a dollar. It's cheap. Nice.
OK- good!
Next it was time to go to the grocery store where we would pick up some of our favorite items.
Do you want these ramen noodle snacks or not really? Oh sure!
They're different, aren't they?
Now there's some really Japanese stuff... Like this shrimp...
Yeah, but that's...
Not everything made the cut, as we stuck to things that personally we like.
Oh!
Pandas are the best.
Chocolate pandas! Ha ha!
A different type of chocolate pandas.
These are my favorite chocolates though in Japan... Oh they are?
They're so good!
They've got a graham cracker and a chocolate.
I think I'm going to get those, OK?
I love these.
I can get some of these too. Do you want the Almond?
OK...
Sembe!
You just have to pack them carefully so they don't crush.
Yep.
I think one bag is enough. OK.
Salad dressings!
Is it Sesame Dressing, sesame seeds? Probably, huh?
OK, so we just bought out the store, but actually I bought things that I would want to receive.
So here we go.
Chocolate covered almonds. Yeah they're not unique to Japan, but they are good in Japan.
They are freakin' good!
These things are like peanuts and these other little munchies have a little bit of a kick to them, not really.
But they are good to eat at night while I'm watching a movie.
Ramen — ramen snacks. It's baby-star ramen.
Sesame seed dressing. Oh! The classic from Japan.
Classic.
Some panda chocolates. I haven't had that in a while.
Different other types of panda chocolates...
Ooo!
No, it's koala I mean koala chocolates.
Rebecca's in quality control here.
And these chocolates... Oh!
How much was one of these boxes? I'm not quite sure.
And these are just for some individuals and we're going to give them to them... And oil!
That's for us!
That will not go!
I'll put that in here!
Oh, also for groups...
Classic sembe. Oh! You gotta have the sembe.
They would technically call them rice crackers, but they're not rice crackers as we know them in America.
I don't know if I ever ate a rice cracker in America. They're so different.
And then erasers because your mom asked for them.
This for Nate to take his passport and everything because normally I take it all.
I'm not traveling with him. Oh!
So these gifts though are for normal people,
Now are mothers— my mother lives in Brazil and Nate's mom lives in the States— since they know Japan, they have their own requests.
So come see what we've already bought for them.
My mother loves these mashed potatoes that you get from Costco.
And this size of Sesame dressing. Oh!
Get the big one!
That's what my mom loves, right? And my mom.
Three for yours and two for mine.
Funny joke time!
Ok, come close and tell it to me. You have a funny joke to tell?
Yea. Oh, that's close enough.
Ice cream. I know how to make ice cream.
You put ice into a cup and then scream into it.
It's going to turn into "I scream"
He's getting his dad jokes ready for when he's a dad.
Oh yea Dude!
The next day the last piece of the puzzle for making the omiyages came together.
Looking for bags for the omiyages...
Yes, it's such a hard decision...
There's so many options.
And I want something Japanesey
Right, something "Japanesey"
And Ruth and I enjoyed one last lunch date together before I travel.
Then once we got back home it was time to put together our own, personalized omiyages from Japan.
Omiyage! Look at that!
Then we have space for your clothes.
We'll just be taking souvenirs to America.
I can wear the same change of clothes the whole time.
That's right. OK.
Bye Dude!
Bye! Bye guys!
Well saying bye is never fun, but at least I'll be back in a little over 2 weeks.
Well I've been to Haneda many times before but believe it or not, in almost 10 years of living here, this is the first time flying out of Haneda.
And boy it is a beautiful airport.
Being able to see the airplanes come and go, the city in the background — it is special.
Well I made it here to America,
And now I have a couple weeks of meetings,
I'll be giving out these souvenirs, these omiyages,
But what do I take back for Ruth from here?
Well let's take a look.
We got ourselves some brown gravy.
Boom.
We got ourselves some Ranch Seasoning, oh boy!
Oh boy, is that good! Ranch dressing.
A little more of that as well.
Got ourselves some Taco Seasoning — come on!
Boom.
Several kinds of berry muffin mixes.
Oh yeah, let's set these out here.
Some Baby Powder- sure.
Some shampoo.
Come on!
Multi vitamins.
Here's the things that are going to be making the trip back.
Well as I sit here editing this video I haven't showed what I get as a souvenir
And really it's not a souvenir, it's a necessity.
In Japan, they only go up to size 10 in US shoes.
So if you want anything bigger like me, size 11,
Well, you're going to have to go to the States or a special store for that in Japan.
When I travel, it’s great not only to be able to reconnect with friends and loved ones,
but it’s special to be able to bring something with me that connects them to our life in Japan.
But whenever we travel, I’ve noticed something else — people worry that changes may be coming.
Changes they may not like.
Well one of my favorite things to do is to explore trails and go on prayer walks,
And this is going to be a fantastic place to do this.
A couple miles roundabout going up the bluff with a big scene,
And oh yeah, I'm looking forward to this.
So whenever I travel like this, people are like "are you going to move from Japan? Are you planning on leaving?!"
No, I'm not planning on leaving Japan.
In fact we choose to move to Japan almost 10 years ago,
And we still choose to live there.
We love living there.
So don't worry, we're planning on moving any time soon,
But if we do move, it will probably be to a bigger place, a nicer house.
So don't worry. There's a lot more of Life in Japan where this came from.
Having said that, I do really enjoy my trips back to see mom and dad, where I grew up,
And all these meetings that I have while I'm back, it's very refreshing
And it makes you ready to get back to Japan, see the family again and get busy!
Well as I get ready to go, then I pack the bags, see how much weight I have left,
And then we add some more things, more baked goods, more other goodies that the family likes back home
Until we are up to weight on our bags.
As one set of souvenirs were getting packed for Japan, the last batch of souvenirs from Japan were set out for friends to enjoy.
It’s not often we get together like this, so it was fun to connect over Japanese snacks and stories.
The time to go back home was coming, and I was nearly ready.
I was able to find a new suitcase. My old suitcase would not roll, the wheels were broken.
So a new suitcase was in order and I got all our stuff in it.
I still had weight, so I went out with Ruth on the phone and we did some shopping to fill up our bags so we're ready to go back.
What do you think? Did we leave anything out?
Would you include anything in your group of souvenirs to take to somebody?
Well comment below and don't forget to subscribe to Life in Japan.
We'll see you next week!