Our need for food and fellowship are two of the main aspects of being human.
But how each culture expresses that in their food and gatherings is as different as night and day.
Today we’re celebrating the confluence of cultures on Life in Japan!
Ok!
We got some cake. It's Aunt Pri's birthday and we are going to go celebrate.
My birthday is coming up! Your birthday is coming up too, I know. Exciting.
Gatherings and food are as old as humanity itself,
and if I were to ask you to name one food found around the world used for celebrations, what would your answer be?
Mine is none other than pizza!
So today's celebration is with pizza.
Now wait just a second.
I know you are saying, this is Life in Japan what does pizza have to do about life in Japan, that's not Japanese at all.
But I dare say that pizza can be found anywhere in the world, it's the most international food.
And every country has a different take on pizza.
And any discussion about international food would have to include desert — cake!
Ruth is amazing in this department, always whipping up something wonderful for our celebrations.
Oh how beautiful!
In the time that Ruth and I have been married, we’ve lived several years along three different rivers:
the Mississippi in America, the Amazon in Brazil and the Tama in Japan.
While these countries are polar opposites culturally,
when you get away from the busy city and close to the river, it doesn’t feel so far apart.
In each place, what people eat is closely tightly tied to the natural produce of the land.
Here, Ruth has made her own garden for cultivating food,
which for us in a mixture of American, Brazilian and Japanese cuisine.
This is my soy beans, and I've got some beans growing on it, lots of beans actually, but some are smaller.
My green onions that I need to replant.
My cucumbers. I've got some big ones growing.
My lettuce. More green onions and more lettuce, that is almost done.
My parsley, my green peppers. Those are really getting big. I need to put them in a bigger pot.
All my tomatoes! There are so many tomatoes on this plant!
It's going to be time to have spaghetti and pizza. And salsa!
So is this your therapy here? Yeah.
Getting to play some nintendo? Yeah.
You better watch this. He goes like this and jumps so high. Isn't that amazing?
Wow, that is amazing.
Time for some curry rice and then to juku. Oh my goodness. That's a lot of stuff all at once coming back.
(Becca talking in Japanese.)
Right, what's that mean?
Says you are going to use a milk box and make a toy!
Nice!
Well, I'm waiting for a good friend of mine. He is going to pick me up. I'm going to have lunch at his house.
It's going to be a good to meet up with him again. I haven't seen him since before the quarantine.
So this is exciting.
Today I came to Satoru-san's house.
We are going to have lunch.
Welcome to my house. Oh, very good!
The view from Satoru-san's house is very good.
Interesting. Olive oil
It's a rare kind of sushi that you eat with olive oil. I can't wait to try it.
Nothing is perhaps more Japanese than sushi.
And Satoru-san is treating me to a special treat of his own creation at his house today.
One thing I've noticed about a lot of Japanese men is that they can cook so well.
Satoru's European cafe.
Salt and olive oil.
Interesting? Is it good?
It's my first time having sushi with olive oil.
Wow, wonderful! Congratulations.
So it was such a good lunch and now I'm going to head off to my niece - it's her birthday party.
Little Evie is turning 2 so we are going to go celebrate.
Happy birthday!
How old are you Evie? Two!
Hey, guess what I heard? You didn't cry at all today at kindergarten. That's awesome!
When we get together, you’ll find food from all of over the world — we like it all!
Good food and fellowship help make a person whole!
If more people in the world developed healthy families and fellowship, there would be far less problems in society.
Thank goodness we can start meeting together again!
Oh my, you are a good student Anna.
Did you bring your homework to a birthday party, huh?
Wow, alright.
I got this. I got it! I do not get any points!
No points? Not yet. You gotta work for them.
Ok, go again Joshua. George. George!
Finally! Finally you got a match.
My turn. Oh, Sarah got a second match, huh?
Studying for your kanji test?
Oh, you are almost there and then you can go to bed. I'm so tired.
The kanji tests. Two of them on the second day of school!
It's been months since these tennis courts have been filled
and it's been months since this parking lot has been filled here.
It's super cool to see it start happening again.
And I think it's been months since it has been mowed.
Woah girls, you are being very studious.
What does that mean?
Studious means you have been a good student in studying, getting your homework done, being diligent.
What is diligent?
Diligent means you are being consistent. What is consistent?
You keep trying, you keep pushing forward
I have a lot of questions. What is consistent.
So what's the idea here? What are we doing?
Ok, so you are going to push against the door handle for 30 seconds as hard as you can with your arms like this.
And then you step out and relax and your arms just go...float up!
3, 2, 1. Walk away.
It's so weird, its so weird!
Ok, Nate do it first. Yeah, Nate, Nate.
3, 2, 1!
Just relax.
That is crazy!
You push it hard. As hard as you can.
Like you are trying to push the panels apart.
Oh weird. For one minute.
Then when you walk out, you step out, you just let your arms relax and you wait a moment,
because you have to wait a couple of seconds and then then arms start going up!
3, 2, 1.
It's Ben's birthday,
Daichi, can you tell me what we are eating tonight.
What are we eating today?
We are eating yakiniku all together.
Is yakiniku famous in Japan?
It is the most famous food.
It's more famous than sushi.
Here is how you get everyone's attention to order.
Oh yeah! Load it up!
Boy, that is like an instant brain freeze!
Their yakiniku is here. You get it, put it on the grill,
You pray over it and say "itadakemasu" and go for it!
It might seem like we have birthday parties all the time, but the truth is that June is just full of them.
Ben decided to celebrate with some Yakiniku, Japan’s version of BBQ.
Here we go...
Lots and lots of sauces. We got hot sauces and soy sauces, sweet sauces...
Too many to choose from
You have your plates here, and you put your sauces in it and as the meet comes off, you dip it in there and eat!
It looks delicious! It is.
Ramen, sushi, yakiniku!
Beef tongue. Beef tongue?
Is it just like when you bite into your tongue and go "ah man!" Yeah!
What do you have there, Daichi?
Reiman — cold ramen.
Cold ramen?! Ice cube in it?!
Finally, you can’t talk about food in Japan without talking about bento, a take-out or home-made lunch that's typically made with rice.
What are you making?
I'm making some little bread rolls. This one's pepperoni and cheese and that one's ham and cheese.
Today Ruth is taking the bento idea and applying it to homemade sandwich rolls for our beach outing.
It's easy picnic food.
Our bentos are going with us to Yokosuka, a city at the inlet of Tokyo Bay.
We’re going to a park that has a beach where the kids can play and swim and we can enjoy the views.
Here's the park Kannonzaki.
It's a big area.
Bentos are the perfect companion when exploring Japan’s beautiful cities, oceans and mountains — all of which are in close proximity.
Good food and companionship is a blessing.
Oh my goodness!
We're exploring the little bit of beach you can get in here.
What did you find Sarah? A starfish!
Oh my goodness.
My first time ever!
Did I leave out your favorite food to eat in Japan?
If so, comment below, and as always, thanks for watching!