Everyone dreams of what life would be like if they had a different job or even lived somewhere else.
But what is life like for kids from another country to grow up in Japan?
What? What's going on here?
We're having a picnic.
You're having a picnic in here?
Was this the kids request by chance, huh?
Well, they wanted to do a picnic and that's the easiest for me. Do it on the back porch. For sure.
[Life in Japan Theme Music]
There are a surprising amount of people whose kids are growing up in a different country then they did.
And just like our family, they have to navigate a mix of cultures — their own and their home countries.
But being able to have a bit of both, while complex, can be quite the adventure.
Hey, did you pray in here?
Yeah, we did. You did! Oh wow, look at you guys.
Oh, that's so cool. You need to stop, we are having a meeting.
Oh, you're having a meeting while you eat? Oh, ok. Yeah.
They're having a meeting while they eat so, no interruptions.
Take food, for example.
Ruth cooks a mixture of Brazilian, American and Japanese food, and I love it!
Ohhh, she made a classic Brazilian meal.
Rice, beans, some meat. And I have some farina.
Beckster, are you taking a bento to have with your friends at the park?
Bye. Cool. Bye-bye.
Bye for real now. Haha. Bye.
Not for real!
For real now. Ok, bye. Ok, make it for real this time.
Bye!
One of the greatest challenges foreign families face is education, especially if that education is in Japanese!
What is student Sarah working on?
School. School?
Oh, ok. Should I leave you alone?
You're just so cute over here at your desk working away.
If there’s one thing a foreign family needs, it’s good friends who can help you out!
Tonight we have a special dinner guests, Ryoji and Miruka.
If you're watching this with Japanese subtitles, they're why.
If you appreciate that, just say 'Hey, we appreciate you' down in the comments.
Thank you.
But learning to adapt to a new way of life while retaining your roots can make you into a better person.
I have a helper today.
Yeah. Me. It's you.
And I mix it around and then I put it down like this.
So Mommy mixes it into a little ball
And then mix it around in here, In the cinnamon and sugar.
Yeah, and then I put it down in there.
Two at once!
I can.
Oh, yum dude.
Very good.
Will daddy get to test these later? Umhum.
As adults, we certainly enjoy living with a foot in both worlds, so long as our kids are thriving as well.
Alright, we're in Shinjuku.
To celebrate the birthday boy. Yay!
A new bag and something to eat.
Oh, happy birthday to me. There's the burger, there's the girlfriend's burger and the girlfriend.
What a nice birthday treat.
Got me a new birthday bag. Oh boy.
Bunch of family over to celebrate a birthday. Happy birthday Nate!
Ok Sarah, you've been learning your razor rib stick, right?
Ok, let's see.
When kids feel loved and accepted, they are much more likely the thrive in life,
no matter where they live or how rich their family is.
Wow Sarah, so good!
You've been practicing a lot.
I've been practicing from yesterday.
Wow Sarah! You went so far!
Was that the farthest you've done?
I went this far. You went all the way there already?
That's awesome!
Dude, what happened? What's wrong?
Anna stopped playing. Anna stopped playing with you?
I can come play for a bit, ok?
What in the world? Somebody has taken over.
Yeah, this is my bed now. You can no longer. It's ours.
I claim this bed. What in the world?
Come and see the hanging party. Ok, let's go see.
Oh dude!
And look at Daisy. Looks like she is walking.
Daisy's walking upside down huh?
Wow, look at Bowser just chilling, hanging there.
He can hang on with his magic wand.
Oh yeah, cool.
What are you practicing for Rebecca?
Sports meet.
Oh yeah? Yeah.
What are you going to do this year that's so different?
We're doing all the dances that we ever did.
Ever did? So like 1st grade, Yeah, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade.
And no 5th grade because I think sports day was canceled? Oh yeah, maybe.
And then, 6th grade. A new song.
We squat the whole time. I'm so sore.
Like, like this! The whole time.
Oh my goodness.
This is the last day that you are going to school as 11 years old. 11 years old!
My Sarah bear. Hi honey.
Are we ready to go?
Bye mommy! Bye honey. Whoa dude.
Breakfast time for you?
I'm going to take the girls to school. It's curry rice.
Oh yum.
When kids grow, their needs change and life must adapt.
Becca and Anna are about to get something they’ve wanted for a long time.
So, what is going on here while the kids are at school?
We are rearranging.
Massively rearranging.
The girls are about to get their own room.
Yes, their own room. But it's a surprise so I can't talk too loud.
Because Joshua is still home.
How many room transformations have we done?
Oh, its, I can't keep track.
Has changed as the kids grow.
Yep! And the kids are growing.
Are you ready for school? yeah.
Oh yeah.
Sarah's bed is like this?
I want to see in the room. No, no.
Don't go in there? Why?
Something's happening. Something you'll see later.
Ok? Ok.
We’ve changed the use of just about every room in our house,
and this new change will hopefully help our growing kids have a little bit more of their own space.
The downside? We have to figure out where to put everything we moved out of these rooms!
This requires some thoughtful repurposing of furniture with the occasional new purchase.
I think I just did it? No!
You did it? Thank goodness. No.
Look like you're in prison. I feel like I'm in prison.
The first phase is finished!
The 20 millionth other stages are starting.
Organization is done.
So this is Joshua and Sarah's room now.
Tada! Wow!
My goodness. They have more space than anybody huh?
They do. And they have more junk than everybody. They have more junk than everybody.
Come see the girl's new room.
Oh wow.
Look at that.
Look at all the organization over here too.
The girls are going to love this.
Good job momma-chan. You work hard for your family.
Aunt Debbie came over and helped. Oh fun.
With the new room setup, we’re anxious to see what the kids’ reaction is!
Will they love it? Or not.
Puppies of law enforcement.
It's next year's calendar.
Here's the books I read when I was growing up. Nate the great books. Oh yes.
The Nate the Great in those books loved pancakes so when I was growing up I thought I'll love pancakes too.
We couldn’t wait to show the kids their new setup.
But when the moment finally came, it didn’t go exactly as we thought it would.
The girls are home.
No they're not, its mom. Oh it's mom, its not the girls.
But I ran into the girls and I brought back their backpacks.
But they are about to come. Ok.
Whoa. Hi honey.
Who's going to the park, Harumu?
And Ayako, Shi-chan and Airi.
Ok, 5:00. Ok.
Once the kids were done playing with their friends, it was time for the big reveal.
I know it's something about the desk.
Ok, come down.
Wait, let's go together.
Wait, oldest to youngest.
Ok. Everyone close your eyes.
Hold onto each other.
Keep your eyes closed.
Don't look! I'm not!
I can't see anything! Don't look.
Wait, don't look I'm going to move you. Mom, your hands smell good.
Its my bed! Its my bed.
I, 2, 3 LOOK!
Where in the world did the bed go?
This is our dream come true! AHHHH!!
This is Sarah and Joshua.
Where's Becca and Anna's then?
We got you girls since you are turning 12, we got you girls your own apartment.
Not really.
Yeah, I know. Our own apartment, I'm really happy.
I'm gonna cry.
This is just for you girls
So all your clothes are in here now. Joshua and Sarah's are all in the other room.
This is Becca and Anna's room only.
What do you think?
This is my dream come true.
It's your dream come true? What do you think Anna? It's small.
It's small and nice so we don't have to clean up hardly anything. Yes!
And now, if they make the mess, we don't have to clean it up anymore.
Everybody makes all the mess and I'm always the one that cleans up all of it.
Joshua get off my bed
We put you guys in the smaller room because they have a lot more stuff
And that way I can store things in there and the toys are in there and everything.
I knew it was our bed. I was like wait, its our bed.
Oh, you were not expecting this though were you?
Not at all.
Was it a surprise? We worked hard today.
Yeah, the little Reutter kids have their room
You can see truly who makes the most mess.
Truly we will see.
Yeah, we will see. This is on video
It's not me, it's not me.
Daddy's going to take you out for dinner. Yes! I knew it!
McDonalds!
Special birthday meal with the birthday girls.
Their choice.
But what happens when the kids start understanding our third language?!
Then things really get interesting.
Well, 12 year old. Are you ready for school?
I know what mommy's talking about.
You know what she's talking about. yeah.
What is she talking about? Scooter.
Oh my goodness, how do you know?
I know what you are saying. I know what you are saying!
Guys, present time.
Mommy just said that in front of my face. In Portuguese though.
Wait, I went into your room.
Yeah, see. I knew it! Told ya, told ya!
I told ya! My other dream come true.
So, we'll have to put it together but it's alright because it's raining now.
You'll have to wait until later to do it anyway.
Oh boy.
Oh sweet, oh sweet.
How nice. How nice.
Whoa.
I want that one.
Oh my.
It is aqua. Is it like Aunt Debbie's?
Well, it's the girls 12th birthday , a little bit rainy so, what did they say? Car.
Let's go by car daddy!
Joshua, is going to show us the no moving, no laughing challenge.
He can't move, he can't laugh while I come to tickle him.
Here it comes. Are you ready? How will Joshua do?
Oh, you laughed!
As steam rose from the river and the sun broke the horizon of the next day,
a group of Japanese elementary school students, sisters, waited for the glorious moment that would soon be there’s.
Girls, today is a big day. What is the day today?
Sports day. Sports day.
Are you excited Sarah? Yeah.
It's on a school day this time huh?
Not cool. What in the world. Not cool.
Not cool, not cool.
We are on our way to the sports day.
This year, because of corona, its a little different.
Just our school.
Yeah, just our school. It's on a weekday of all days, so there might not be a lot of parents there.
And the kids do it at different times so that's actually kind of cool.
You don't have to fight everyone for space.
If you’ve never seen a Japanese sport day, or undoukai, then it’s something to behold!
Normally they divide the whole school up into opposing teams and have a number of different competitions to determine a winner.
But this year they’re doing it a bit different and will not have a large competition, but more of a sports event.
It’s still fun to watch though!
Yay Sarah, go, go, go.
Later the same day, we came back to watch Becca and Anna in their final elementary school sports day!
It’s almost hard to believe, but the girls have truly grown up in Japan, starting Japanese kindergarten over seven years ago.
They speak Japanese better than any of us and are able to enjoy the best of both worlds.
For them, the sky is the limit!
We were blessed with perfect weather, and before you knew it, the sports days was done.
It’s hard to believe this was their last one here.
Beckster. That was a pretty freaking cool sports day. What did you think about it?
Squatting the whole time.
But, now that we're done, yes, but now we don't have that much P.E.
Anna! There's Anna.
Anna, you did a good job too!
A lot of dancing in the front. I screamed, did you hear me?
Did you? I did.
I did. I heard myself.
Look at all those dominoes.
Do not knock it down, ok camera?
Hey, when you do it, tell me because I'll do it in slow motion.
Yes. You give me it.
I feel like you're going to mess up so,
Ok, are we ready? We're going to do slow motion on this, ok guys?
Oh guys that was so cool!
In short, growing up in Japan, or anywhere for that matter, is full of challenges, but with love and some support, any family can thrive.
Any individual, for that matter.
And for us, our church family is a place where we give and receive the support we need.
Do you have a family like that?
You’re always welcome to join ours!
I'm here with Big J, right dude, are we about ready to start the service here?
There's everyone. Say hi guys. Hi, hi, hi!
Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.
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