When we moved to Japan over 8 years ago, we knew we wanted our kids to grow up bilingual,
feeling as much at ease in English as they do in Japanese.
So we put them into the Japanese school system from the start.
However, this year as elementary school graduation approached, so did a big choice.
Do we change over to an International or English-speaking school to prepare them for college in the States,
or let them continue in Japanese middle school?
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
If you know about Japanese school culture, you know that it begins super laid back in kindergarten
and then gets more and more intense as students move towards Junior High and High School.
The goal of the system is to produce students who will become shyakaidin,
or contributing members of society.
But how does that work for international families, who have feet in multiple worlds?
Here we go!
Let's go!
So girls, everyone wants to know...
Are you doing bukatsu (school clubs)?
No.
No?!
You had a choice, right?
This summer we want to go on a big trip
But if we did that...
We won't tell you where.
We won't tell you where just yet, you'll have to wait and see.
Right? Yep.
But if we did the big trip then we couldn't do bukatsu, so we let you guys choose, huh?
And you chose? To go on the big trip!
To go on the big trip!
So did you have an awesome time at the school sports day?
Yep.
I got a trophy! Awesome.
It's like a "ouengasen."
I got four trophies. What does it mean?
That means I won the ouen. Yeah!
And you did too Anna. I got four. She got four like papers.
Oh nice! Papers that she won thingies.
We've had this for a while and have done nothing with it.
Oh that would be very good like that.
I think so.
It's the little Reutter kids. It's our turn to go to school, right?
Here they come! Say bye Momma-chan, love you.
Love you!
Alright. And wait I want to show everybody. Oh yes!
Your pet lizard, huh?
Meet, pet lizard.
Wow, does he have a name?
Um, sometimes I call him Lizzie.
Lizzie? Well that's cool.
Oh fun. And there's his little home.
Ok, let's keep going. We don't want to be late for school.
Oh my goodness dude. What is going on there?
What are you practicing for now?
Um, undoukai. Undoukai?
Are you excited? Yeah.
How about you Joshua? Did you start undoukai practice? Yep.
You did. Well, it's for the dance.
Japanese schools have been great for our kids,
and even though we all work hard to bridge the language and cultural barrier,
it helps us be more connected to our local community.
But not all of it is perfect for International families,
especially when your lifestyle requires more flexibility than is typically offered in the school system.
We're living here in Japan, our kids go to school,
Bukatsu is a big part of school life. It's not required,
But, it fills up their after school time, it fills up their weekends,
And it fill up all their vacations.
And that for us just didn't work well because,
As an international family, there's lot of trips we need to take, there's lot of things we need to do,
So the girls decided not to do bukatsu because they want to go with us on these trips.
How was school today guys?
Homework?
Homework makes the dream work.
Didn't you say that in the last episode?
Homework makes the dream work!
Homework makes me sad.
Makes you sad?!
Homework makes you smart.
A bit of sorrow now for a lifetime of joy.
Preach it, Dad.
Oh Joshua, 'sa'. That was was your hiragana of the day?
Way to roll dude. Way to roll.
I know, Anna has beautiful handwriting.
Did it.
Oh boy. There it is. It's going up.
Is that better? Oh yeah.
That looks fantastic. We finally did something.
Now there is still space for the gold plaque.
That's right!
1 million subscribers, here we come.
Daddy look.
It's like the clouds are blue. Then the bottom of the clouds is yellow.
See over there? Oh you're right.
Aren't those super pretty?
They're sunflowers' tiny version.
Yeah. Ok, let's take a picture.
There's two mosquitos by me?
We got some good pictures though. Ok, let's go.
Choosing the right learning environment for your children is an important decision,
and at this point we are glad we have our kids in the local Japanese schools.
But our older kids in Junior High are now at a stage where they may need to switch over to an English-based education
in order to prepare them for their future, but the choice is not an easy one.
Honestly we’ve been surprised by how good the local schools have been for them
and it makes the decision that much harder.
When you're on this bridge, it crosses over to Tokyo.
This side over here
This side over here, that's Tokyo.
So half of the bridge?
Yeah.
Yeah, there's a plaque on the bridge that shows you where it starts.
Found it found it found it! You found it Sarah?
Here. This one side is Tokyo,
And this you should know. This is where we live.
"Kanajawa"
Kanagawa!
Oh, I actually called it "Kanajawa"
So Anna, we went from doing a finger to doing a whole hand, huh?
Yep. My goodness!
I see giraffes and pandas here
You have been busy, huh? Yep.
What are you guys doing here tonight?
We're putting on glowing stars in our room
And it's going to be so like space!
Ready 3, 2, 1
Go space!
Whoa!
OK stop!
I'm not good at fighting. I'm good at it.
Wow, look at this in here!
Wait, I want to see the view.
You want to see the view?
You look so funny!
Do I look like a happy face?
Yea, is that your face?! Yeah.
Oh my goodness, you guys used so many stickers!
OK, you going to turn it on?
[In a funny accent] 3, 2, 1
Whoa, that was cool guys. Very cool.
So Anna, did you finish your hand?
All of it. The drawing of your hand?
You going to get an A?
Definitely
Yea, I'm definitely going to get an A,
But I don't know if I'm going to get an "A Maru,"
Oh yea?
I hope I get an A plus.
I got an A, so she's definitely going to get an A.
Oh yea, awesome.
Because I did it better than Becca.
You really went for it, that was awesome.
Alright, we're on our way to meet with another YouTuber
This is really fun, we're going to meet Takashi from Japan
He's got a fun channel and he asked us to do an interview
So we were happy to meet up with him.
Becca & Anna
Yea! Hello Takashi!
Today we're going to do an interview with Takashi san!
Very fun!
I am really excited. Yes, I am too!
Thanks for inviting us out here.
Alright, we're getting all setup.
Yea! Yea, right?
Takashi, he's got good tastes in cameras.
Thanks! He's using a Sony Camera.
Alpha 7C
Oh yes, very good.
Sony camera right here too
This is a really good lens.
If you’ve been in a multi-cultural school situation,
please let us know what your experience was like in the comments.
Good? Bad? Ugly?
Would you have done things differently?
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