Ruth, the kids are out and what are we doing?
Rearranging Rearranging! Oh my goodness!
We're going to see how this works here
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
We just finished doing some big changes but we still have more to do.
The kids are coming up and they're going to see it for the first time.
Hello guys, welcome back.
Welcome back! Whoa!
Where'd you put the TV?!
Right there.
Hide and seek for the TV, where is it?
No! It's not in our room!
They thought maybe in their room.
Could it be?!
Where is it? Found it!
Sarah found it!
It's in the closet.
How are we going to watch it? We can't!
Now whenever we want to watch it, we have to pull off the doors so it's a lot harder.
It's just not like you come in and turn it on.
Isn't this nice? Yes! It's so nice!
Now we have lots of space over here though, don't we?
It looks like we live in a new house. I know.
Oh, Rebecca's helping with the dinner tonight. Way to go, huh?
What's for dinner tonight? Chicken Alfredo with corn in it.
Chicken Alfredo with corn, how yummy.
Alright... All done!
Oh all done?! You guys scarfed down dinner! Were you hungry?
When it comes to living in small places, even the smallest change can make a big difference,
especially when you compound good changes together.
Momma-chan's organizing over here.
Yeah.
We’ve wanted our living area to feel more spacious and encourage interaction in the family,
so we moved our Kotatsu table into the main living area and banished the television to the closet
at least until we find a better solution for it.
The outcome, we hope, will strengthen our family.
I’ve used a similar mentality for setting up my home office to encourage creativity and productivity,
allowing me to minimize distractions and maximize focus.
One change can have a domino effect causing multiple changes that create a healthier living environment.
It looks like someone is moving out. What is going on here?
Well, two kids are moving out of one room and into the other
And the other two are moving out of that room into the other.
So we're doing a swap-a-roo.
Oh my goodness!
Joshua... and Sarah are going to sleep in here.
And Becca and Anna are going to sleep in the other room. Oh my.
Oh my is right.
This, but just the opposite.
This living room feels so much bigger like this!
We got rid of the TV from over here.
We put it in the closet over there
But in the closet doesn't work, so we bought a stand for it and it's going to swing out here.
And I think it's just going to help us make the most of our very little space for a big family.
Look at the sunset over here today — wow!
Over the mountains!
So, were you guys going? Aunt Debbie's house.
What—how are you kicking off Golden Week?
Movie night! Movie night?!
And I'm going to go to Sophie's house tomorrow and do a sleepover!
Awesome!
Are we having our special guys time? Yeah.
Doing some Kirby, huh? Yep.
Whoa.
And we do allow Momma chan at the special guy time. Yes.
I make the pizza. She makes us pizza!
We love her!
Look at this! Momma's homemade pizza! Yum!
Did you see the mountains over there?!
Yeah. They're so clear, isn't that awesome?
Wow.
We should go over there!
We should go over there?
It would take at least an hour to get over there.
What? Yea!
That's a long ways away over there, Dude!
Anyways... OK
Golden Week is a series of consecutive national holidays in Japan,
and this year we’re using it to get our home reorganization projects done!
OK, I'm here at the door! Come in, please!
We're about to see Becca and Anna's room.
Whoa!
Look at this, Becca!
Check in the closet.
Here, I will open this side.
It's a closet-desk again!
Oh my goodness, look!
Look, I can barely stand up in here.
This is awesome. I can't even get the camera in there to show what it's like.
Hang on.
Whoa. Well, I can block the way.
That is a good use of the space there.
It is. Daddy
Do you want to see my desk?
OK, come in.
OK, what do we have here now?
Now we have Joshua and Sarah's new room.
Joshua and Sarah's new room. Here it is.
Very nice. Still in the process.
Still in the process.
What do we have here?!
My own desk privacy.
Your own desk privacy, huh?
Wow, that's pretty awesome.
And look! What a great place for that!
Yes, the rug you made with Grandma, huh? And this.
Alright Dude, very nice, huh?
Very nice.
The next part of our project comes along. Guess what came in?
The TV stand! Time for Mommy and Daddy to put it together and get that giant TV on it.
Alright I got the stand done
It's all together. Now the big thing is getting the brackets on the back of the TV
And the even bigger thing is figuring out how to get the TV on the stand.
Alright, here we go. The new room.
The new tatami room.
We have this in here so people can come in, and we just grab some chairs or just watch on the floor.
But when we all want to watch, we're going to wheel it out this way, face it out here, so everyone can see.
Nice for when we're watching. And when we're done, wheel it back.
OK, we're heading out now, taking Sarah to her sleep-over
And then we're going shopping, eating,
And just having some Golden-day fun— some Golden Week-day fun.
OK, where are we going to go for dinner? Kurazushi.
Kurazushi!
Oh look at that. That's different, that's cool.
Alright, our food is arriving: salmon, and onigiris and Anna got a ramen
This is not an onigiri!
Oh not onigiri, you're right! Tuna roll.
Tuna roll.
Oh, yes, yes, yes!
YES!
We just won the prize!
What prize did we win?
Mommy power. Whoa, see?
A keychain.
So, we have a new salmon-lover in the family.
And it's not Becca, although Becca's on her 6th plate?
Yes.
Here he is. Are you a salmon-lover?
Oh yeah.
Alright, next stop: Nitori.
What are we getting here today? For me — for my chair.
This won't fit in my closet. No, you have a stool.
After dinner, it was time for some shopping. The girls were excited to get their room just right.
Well, that was quite a successful day shopping.
And now we get back home, get to relax a little bit.
And enjoy our new home setup.
Did you see the moon Dude? Pretty cool.
Wait! Don't put it down. OK.
Is it on the... Yes, it is on the rug.
Ooo guys. Ha ha!
You don't even need a bed!
I know, it's so fluffy!
Is it?!
Oh, walking in here now — glorious and open!
And look at the sunset tonight. Wow!
This is exciting, I like our setup, Anna.
OK, let's see, what do we have? Whoa!
Anna likes it light and I like it dark when we sleep.
Oh perfect, I love it.
Did you see the finishing touches?
Very cute. Very nice.
Becca Anna, we got a new room!
Yeah.
Scream! Ice Cream!
The next day we picked Sarah up from her sleepover and we all jumped in the car.
We had a fun day planned with some good friends of ours at one of our favorite places for summertime fun.
Golden Week traffic meant taking the back roads,
but that was alright for the fun that was about to take place.
Our whole apartment complex here has an English club
And they asked us to speak and share about our family life in Japan.
So I'm getting ready for this presentation tomorrow,
I'm actually kind of excited about it, it will be fun to get to meet different residents here
And to share about our family life in Japan
And perhaps this is something you'd like to have happen in your community
Who knows, maybe it could be a possibility in the future.
After such a big day, Sarah’s cough acted up,
so soon I was joined out in the living room as Ruth came out with Sarah to sleep upright on the couch.
This couch gets a lot of use as momma-chan’s hospital.
The next day came, and as everyone woke up, we got ready to enact the next phase of our apartment makeover: outdoor accents.
Oh!
We had a bird out there! You got to close.
Yeah, huh? Camera.
Camera.
Good morning Anna! Did Sarah sleep out here?
Yeah. Cough cough.
Anna's up now. Anna understands.
Anna understands.
I only "understand" one time.
Oh boy Momma chan! Ah, I'm in my happy place!
There's just a sea of options here.
Now, a couple of planters of flowers would round out our apartment makeover.
Oh look! We're filling up with things here.
The girls are helping.
Alright, Daddy got a purchase too, didn't I, Becca?
And it's pokey.
Once we got home, it was time to make up our planters.
Whoa, some flowers are dead.
No, they're not dead, they just need some water and soil...
We're going to give them a nice place to live and... Love.
God will take care of the rest.
Becca really was a proponent for the grass.
Oh it feels amazing.
Can I feel it?
Starts with some gravel, huh?
Rocks on the bottom.
So Becca says she's sure she doesn't want Daddy's help here for putting in the heavy soil
So let's see how she does.
Anna!
No, Anna can help. That might help you get it right where you need it to go.
Anna, help!
Ah teamwork makes the dream work!
Soon, Momma chan came to see how to divide everything up.
Bring my other pot here because I want to divide these up.
Now we need to water them all. That's right.
Ok look, we're going to put some of this grass on each [end]
OK, hang on honey.
Grr.
There you go.
This one I'm going to put...
Pick that up and switch it. This and that.
I don't want those right next to each other.
Now plant them where they're at. OK.
We’re having a fun time making small positive changes.
It is all these little details after all that make an apartment feel like a home.
Momma chan, you have some great helpers there, huh? Um hum.
Got them busy there while you're making us lunch, aww!
So where's Joshua? Let's go find him. Where could he be? He's playing on the Switch!
I found Joshua!
Ahh!!
What’s been one of the best changes you’ve made to your living space?
Comment below and then enjoy another episode of Life in Japan.