When Easter approaches in Japan, everything starts to bloom,
kids go off to their new school year, and everyone settles into their new routines.
Yes, Easter is a day celebrated around the world by billions of people, so how about here in Japan?
How do we celebrate this big day, and what is it even all about?
In this episode we’ll see how to have a big Easter celebration.
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
Hey Dude, so what are we going to do? Throw some rocks at the river.
But what are you going to use?
Gotta go to the river where nobody else is.
Big guy is a little excited about this.
How long has it been since we came down here? Like one year ago.
Like one year ago, I think you're probably right.
OK, look there's lots of rocks here, this is a good place, OK?
Oh!
That one actually went really far.
This one will work, I guess. Look how far I can slingshot it.
Just come and look, you didn't see it.
Oh good, that was good.
Oh, I see two pretty ladies heading this way.
They found us!
Alright! We made it.
Good job guys, you made it. I got this!
Oh! Look at that!
Where's the moon? Did you find it?
OK Momma chan! Let's see if those days growing up along the Amazon River paid off.
I wasn't a sling-shotter. My sisters were. Oh, she wasn't a sling-shotter.
Whoa Momma chan!
The farthest!
Joshua's like "I got to do better than Mommy." Ha! Yeah.
I don't think he can.
Wow! Whoa, that was good Dude!
Wow, I can see something purple right there. Yea?
And I can see a circle.
And I can see your eye. Ha ha ha!
Oh my goodness! I saw the wind take it.
Back at Paz Coffee Shop, we had some big plans for the night.
Easter is coming up, and one of our first big events at Paz Coffee Shop is a special album release from my good friend Tatsuya.
He invited me to join him in his release party and we had a blast.
It’s always great to collaborate with fantastic musicians!
Check out the links in the description to see more.
The coming of Easter also marks a lot of firsts for our kids this year.
Oh, are you all ready?
Yeah. Look at that! Let me see.
Oh so cool, isn't it?
OK Sarah, should we put this in here?
It's the third grade bag.
Oh and we got it all? Are we all ready to go?
And our neighbors. And our neighbors!
Ron! It's the first day, isn't it?
Just today we go and come back fast.
We ready to do this thing? Your first day.
I'll have homework.
Oh! You're going to have homework?!
Yeah. Maybe.
Back at the Coffee Shop, we had some more preparations going.
This Spring we’re installing permanent professional PTZ cameras for high-quality videos and live-streaming,
and today we’re deciding the placement.
New equipment!
Paul's been working hard for a big level up for Paz Church!
It's coming! It's coming!
Anna- what is going on?
Sarah and Joshua are not home, and we're home!
Wha?!
Oh man, this is super rare.
These girls like Japanese fried chicken, huh?
That's right.
Oh my goodness!
Hot, be careful.
Can I unpause? Unpause! They're watching a show, the Amazing Race.
With Momma chan. The first one.
The first season, from eons ago — look!
It's got the black bars on the side, that's how old it is.
Oh yea.
Look Daddy, the wind is actually so strong that I can't hold the umbrella.
Back from elementary school. How was it today? Good.
Good?
Time to do some homework. Time to do some homework.
What a big guy!
Tsu, right?
Oh good job!
You have to remember how that feels so that when you don't have that there you can just go and do the right thing, huh?
That looks so straight actually!
Keep going. That's pretty good!
OK, go do the next one!
Sarah, what are you working on honey cakes?
A craft! A craft. You are a craft master.
Did Sarah do that for you?
This is what you can do if you do that.
Oh cool.
And then it's supposed to be a mask like this. Nice!
What you girls working on? Homework.
Homework! How much homework do you have now?
What's junior high homework like? Hard...long...
How about your English homework? Easy peasy.
The easiest thing ever.
It's kind of like kindergarten.
It's Friday night and normally I'm staying here for Life in Japan premiere
But tonight there's Good Friday Service at church!
So I'm going to do our Life in Japan premiere from the church,
And then be ready, because just after that is going to be our Good Friday Service and it's going to be awesome.
So here we go!
We were planning on doing a lot of fun stuff this weekend like go to Showa Kinen Park
See the amazing tulips there. It's awesome this time of year!
We were all ready to go, but it's just been so rainy, and I think it's supposed to be rainy tomorrow.
So if you've ever heard of Good Friday, and you're not sure what it is,
I did a whole video about it, because billions of people around the world celebrate this day.
It's the day they remember the death of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice He did on the cross about 2,000 years ago.
And He did it because of God's great love for all of mankind.
So we go to church and remember that.
And then on Sunday, we have Easter Sunday which is arguably an even greater celebration than Christmas.
Because it has to do with the resurrection of Jesus,
His victory over death, over despair, over hopelessness, over sin, over disease
And so this is a big weekend for us to remember, and celebrate.
Tonight's Life in Japan is new school entrance
This is awesome for a premiere, now it's 862 people watching, it's just cranking. Awesome.
OK, premiere is done, now it's time for the service, to get ready to play and sing!
Hey Ben, can you see yourself in there yet?
It looks great. It looks great, Dude!
Ready for prime time! Yea, we're ready for it.
Well tonight was so cool
It was a great service at church, a great premiere of Life in Japan,
So now I'm heading home and going to have a nice night to relax
And catch up with all these comments that have probably been coming in.
Ready? What do we have here?
We have a box from a friend in the US.
Whoa!
OK, stop stop stop Whoa whoa whoa, wait, wait, wait!
Look at these crosses for Easter, I love it.
Cool! One for each of you.
Oh my goodness, look at that York Peppermint Patty! That's gotta be for Daddy.
These have nuts in it right? Yea, that's mommies.
Dear Nate & Ruth, I admire what you're doing in Japan and PAZ Tokyo,
We enjoy your videos, please enjoy the goodies.
God bless! Wendy, Matt and Rachel
Hello to Anna, Becca, Sarah and Joshua
Hello! Hi!
It rained all night, it was cold, so we thought maybe the park wouldn't be an option,
But guess what? It stopped raining, it's still cold, but we're going to give it a try.
Well Joshua's taking his good buddy Aiden with us today and then we'll be on our way.
See that tree over there? I want everyone to go put your scooters there.
We're going to walk and then we're going to come get it.
Daddy, can I use your phone? Sure.
I want to see what you're going to get, ok?
Wow, look at these!
Guys, look at these orange ones! Oh my!
They got so big and open didn't they?
This reminds me of coffee — a coffee tulip!
Oh look at that! Did you get a good shot Anna-or Becca?
Look at that. Oh, pretty cool! Alright alright.
This is the collage garden, maybe?
1, 2, 3
The tulip gardens here are really something special
They're just beautiful. We try to come out at least once every year,
We don't always make it, but when we do, it's a lot of fun. Great for pictures.
Here we go.
Here's your Japanese fried chicken.
Now it's lunchtime, and look at that.
We have curry rice, we have some chicken, ham and corn dog,
I put my fry inside the curry.
Oh, you dipped your French fry in the curry?
How does that taste?
Good? You try.
Oh, I would love to, thank you.
Joshua's got his corn dog now, Aiden's munching his
Sarah is still working on her curry!
But Anna just demolished the curry — look at that! And Becca just got her curry.
And Becca's about to demolish it.
I'm going to try French fries with curry with rice. Oh, ok.
Now with the crew fueled up, we take one last look at the beautiful tulips
and then we head to the main attraction for the kids, the park’s massive playgrounds.
Deep inside the park, these multiple playgrounds will keep kids entertained for hours on end.
All in all, it’s the perfect park for families and a big reason why we keep coming back here.
I'm thirsty! You're thirsty?!
Well, you have to go back to Mommy. Mommy has the water.
I can't tell you just how incredibly bright it is here. My goodness! It's like when the sun hits the snow, whew!
Looks like they're playing king of the hill. Or queen of the hill I guess!
Oh Anna! Victorious.
And then the loser gets tickled.
The loser gets tickled?!
One person, two people, third person, fourth person, fifth person— there they go!
And Momma chan!
Anna in this one, Joshua and Aiden in— oh Joshua and Aiden in this middle one because it's big
Becca and Anna in one of these and Sarah in that last one.
Go — go stand in the middle of the dragons mouth.
Everybody's on a... Inside of a dragon.
Oh my goodness. Anna's getting ready for hers...
One two three, smile!
Chomp. Sarah over there — Sarah! No! Chomp.
With a number of playgrounds conquered, it was time to start the arduous journey back to the car.
The track back towards the car can seem extra long when everyone is tired and worn out.
But we have one last stop along the way the promises to be a great photo spot
it’s the fields of Canola, and they bloom each year along with the tulips.
If they could stand right here. Joshua come! Pictures.
It's fun to go down the mountain, but it's hard to go up the mountain. It's fun to go down...
A pose. Oh yea, Anna's pose.
And with that, it was time to head back.
That was fun guys! And they're off.
And they're off!
Momma chan loves this family and gets us some great food to eat. Oh my goodness.
That's right, we're all exhausted.
We're exhausted today, so some comfort food is in order.
Some rice and chicken, oh yes.
Here come the troops, and they're like "yes, we need this!"
Food! Food!
Everybody's chowing down!
And do we know what tomorrow is?
Easter!
Easter, that's right! Day off.
Yea! Tomorrow's Easter! Tomorrow's Easter, very exciting!
I hid some Easter eggs. Already? Where?
Joshua and Sarah's are in there room somewhere.
And Becca and Anna's is in the hall and entryway.
How much can we get?
It's only one egg per person.
This is mine.
Oh! Does it say your name?
Well, it doesn't matter.
That's huge! But you found that one, so Sarah finds the other one.
And they trade. Sarah gets to find Joshua's.
Don't open it!
Joshua's [egg] is on your bed.
No, if Joshua's on my bed, I'm not going to be happy.
I bet Joshua's might be on his bed.
On his huge- Huge comforter.
Is she warm, is she warm?
She's warm. Joshua don't help her!
No, that's ok. Unless she doesn't want it. Hotter, hot.
Ohhhh Hot, Warmer, warm.
Cold. Cold. I think it's probably over there, it sounds like.
It might be in his backpack... Hot. Cold.
Cold. Cold.
Really cold. Freezing!
Wait. Freezing! Freezing, freezing...
Right here was warm, Sarah! Freezing.
Oh, that was good!
Ok girls you still have to find yours OK, Becca and Anna.
You still have to find yours.
Where indeed are they? Not in there.
They're about from eyesight up.
Eyesight up — oh!
Up - oh!
Oh, I found mine! I found mine!
They found it same time!
Where was yours, Becca? It's Anna's!
It was Anna's, and that's Becca's?
There you go. OK, let's take them upstairs and open them.
One, Two, Three open!
Yea! Whoa!
What is this?
Sarah look at all those yummies! Can I eat one now?
Wait, are these Easter eggs?
Oh!
Oh, yea they're little chocolate Easter eggs.
Yummy, huh? Those, I think...
That was in our gift, wasn't it?
Yeah! It was in the package that we were sent.
Can I open it?
I'm heading to church to get things ready for music
Ruth is coming in just a little bit because today she is the preacher!
She's telling the message from the point of view from the very first eyewitness to Jesus resurrection.
So it should be an awesome day today, we're excited for it.
And then afterwards we're going to be hanging out with a lot of our friends and having a good time today.
Are you excited for Easter? Yep.
Yep! Ok. See ya.
Guys, are you ready for Easter?! Yea!
So we're getting ready for Eater, this is going to be a lively lively day!
Oh so much fun! It's a great atmosphere here.
Hey guys, are you ready for Easter?!
Yea! Yes, Alright!
Hey! Are you guys ready for Easter?
Yeah! So excited!
Oh yes! Sweet!
Hello, yea! Happy Easter everyone! We're about to start! About to start.
Our Paz Easter service was a huge celebration of music, kids presentations,
and yes, the true story of Easter, which Ruth told so well.
If you want to see more of it, you can check it out on our Paz Church Channel — the link is in the description.
And He said "Mary!"
It was Jesus!
He was alive!
Today is the day we celebrate his resurrection!
Wow, so Easter service was powerful! It was awesome.
I had a blast singing with the choir.
Ruth did a phenomenal job telling the Easter story
Now we're going to go home and hang out with some of our friends and have a good time!
Who do you think it is? Can you tell, Sarah?
I think it's...
Is it Joey?
Oh yep. Is it?
We had one more surprise, this time for all the cousins.
Here they come! I found one!
Oh! Joey got one! Alright Joey!
Luiza, did you get one? Alright.
Sarah! Holy cow!
Momma chan, you didn't find any? Ha ha! Momma hid them!
She got her 5 already.
Oh Eliana! You got some good ones!
I found all of them! Becca, you found one?
I found three back there.
Oh yea, there it is.
Oh! ¥100!
What do you got here Anna? Candy.
I found 2 ¥100. You're rich.
And that’s a little taste of how we celebrate Easter.
People will also take family pictures or have a big dinner with family as well.
It’s surely a day to celebrate — it’s the reason we have so much love and hope and peace.
If you like these videos and haven’t subscribed, please take just a moment of your time to do so.
It really helps us out.
And don’t forget to check the links in the description.
And until next time, we’ll see you on Life in Japan. Bye bye.
He cracked! It cracked a little, ok!
Oh Izzy, good job Izzy! Champion!
Good job Joshua.