We're getting ready for the Japanese school year to start next week, but doubts remain whether it actually will start or not.

With government leaders asking people to stay home on nights and weekends, we've had to adjust our lives to do as much online as possible.

This works for a little bit of time, but it begs the question: when will life go back to normal,

or is this the new normal of Life in Japan?

We've come out to buy some things for Sarah to get ready for her first year as an elementary school student.

So Ruth, what are we buying today?

So today we have to buy Sarah's sports clothes and her red hat,

...my taisougi (sports) bag, because my taisougi bag ripped...

Sports bag for Becca because hers ripped...

Do you want to choose a new one of these bags?

Oh no, these are your... Bosaizuki bukoro (earthquake bag)

This is what you put on the back of your chair.

So many different types of bags...

...and hats...

...towels...

Hi Dude

Did you get all kinds of stuff for ichi nen sei (first year)?

This is not mine and this is not mine.

Yeah, but a lot of it is yours, huh?

It's a beautiful day

I'm headed off to the Coffee Shop because we're going to prerecord our service for this weekend.

The government has asked that everyone stay inside if possible,

So we're going to help everyone abide by this and prerecord our service so we can launch it here this Sunday.

Alright - we're getting all setup.

We have the TV here so we'll be able to see the (camera) angles and the lyrics,

And the cameras setup and we're ready to record.

(Dialogue in English, Japanese and Portuguese)

What is this in here?

Is this your fort?

Come and look at mine!

Ok, let's go see yours.

Wow!

Whoa!

Anna's, I think, is the coolest.

Yeah! But it's hard to get off and get on.

Oh yeah? And it's hard to get in because it's so, like,

Where you get in it's like this low.

Oh, those are kind of pretty though, huh?

The red leaves are coming out on our tree. That's cool.

So since we have a day stuck at home, we're going to make use of it.

Here's the audio from last night, I'm putting it together.

Then I'll send it over to Paul to put it into our video for our prerecorded service.

Hello! Here's your water now. Ok, you going to lay down?

Yep. Ok, lay down and let me see. Let me see your tent.

Is this your tent where you're sleeping?

Yep. Oh, that's so cool!

What a cool tent.

Ok, I'm going to pray with you, I'll get big kisses and we'll go night night.

Hey girls

How's it going? You all in your tents?

Oh my goodness (dog barks)

Dear Jesus, bless my Sarah bear, give her such a good night's sleep.

And who's in here? Who's in here?

Hello? Hello.

I can't see anybody, it's so dark!

And how about up here?

Is somebody... everybody's in their tents, huh?

Do you see it?!

Do you see all the snow?

Yeah. Look at it all!

That's a lot of snow, huh Mister?!

Isn't that so fun?!

Look at that work of art!

This is going to be a colorful house.

A colorful house? It sure is colorful.

What are you drawing, Anna?

Ah, snowing in the night.

Snowing in the night? Wow!

Ooo, cool. What is that? Black? Oh the black is a little strange.

Aww, look at Sarah's!

You drew what you saw out there — very cool! I love it!

Ruth has to find all the... Summer clothes?!

... all the winter gear because it was all put away already.

Is it summer clothes or summer gear?

What?! It's winter clothes!

I'm a cute little polar bear today!

A cute little polar bear today? Aww!

There's hat's in here. Don't slip! Oh look at the car.

Wow. Wow is right, Dude!

Oh my snow-ness!

You got a slush ball already!

What is a slush ball?

Well, it looks like a snow ball, but it's... that would hurt if you got hit by that, you know?

We're going to make a snowman. A snowman?

That's a good idea! You could put him right there.

Oh my goodness!

My punch hand — boom! Ah!

It's so heavy and so cold! Well you're not supposed to hold the snowman!

You're supposed to put him on the ground and build him.

Here, put it on so you can cover up the dirt.

Here's a sight you don't often see — at least I don't often see — snow falling with sakura (cherry blossoms)

With the snow falling, what a great day for church online!

Ok, we're just waiting for church to start, right guys?

Yeah, Mama!

Camera! Yea!

(Tv playing)

Oh my goodness gracious!

Can we go outside?

I want to go outside and play in the snow for a little bit!

We'll stay quarantined in our car, ok?

Kuruman de. (In the car) Kuruman de "quarantine" shimasu. (We will quarantine in the car)

Things rarely seen in Tokyo, right here.

We're going for a winter-wonderland ride. It's freezing!

Sakura and snow! Snow-kura!

Snowkura!

Snowkura loucura!

Oh wow. Sarah, you built a little snowman and the girls built the bigger one?

What a day! What a day!

I want to encourage you: take advantage of this time.

Never before has there been such a good time to spend time together as a family.

And the family is the base of society.

Life is all about our relationships. Take advantage of this time!

Do whatever you've always wanted to do...

You know that thing that's like "If only I had time, I would do..." fill in the blank.

Whatever that blank is, take advantage of this time!

I'm a bunny.

And it's not funny!

(Burp) So I just read... (Everyone laughs)

Dare?! (Who?)

Me! Beccster!

So I just read on NHK that the governor is going to extend the "Please stay at Home" for at night until April 12.

We're going to play Memory!

So we're getting ready for Sarah to go into Elementary school!

So what all did we have to get?

So first we had to get her sports clothes.

And then we had to get her a lunch napkin

That goes in this little bag that hangs on the outside of her backpack.

This is her sports clothes bag.

This is her indoor shoes bag.

And this is a bag to carry all the other bags to school!

And this is for earthquake, this goes on the back of her chair.

And inside is her earthquake protection hood.

Regular pencils... red pencils because they have to correct their own work.

Tape, they need tape.

Somewhere else then I have all her cute little things that hold her pencils and that type of thing.

A lot of stuff!

But I have to label all of these, I have to iron on or sew on nametags on everything

So I have to label every pencil,

Thankfully these, for her graduation, the school gave her pencils with her name on them, engraved.

Hiragana: Sarah Reutter.

But Joshua is also starting youchien this year, so is that different?

No — he has to have all these bags too.

Getting ready for school in Japan is no joke.

I hope you like bags, because you're going to be getting a lot of them.

Do you see what mommy's doing?

Mommy's getting Sarah's thing ready for school so they all have her name on it.

See - she irons them on. And then...

Sarah's name on on her bags so we know which bags are Sarah's.

There's so many very crafty moms who make their own kids' bags.

I've made a lunch bag — a bento bag.

But I've not gotten creative enough to make these other bags.

Ah! It's a lot of work!

With things constantly changing, make sure you subscribe because you just don't know what each week's video is going to be about.

And honestly, we don't know. Will Sarah start school next week?

Will things go back to normal soon?

Or will this be a new type of normal?

Well, you'll just have to subscribe and find out as we do.

Until next time, we'll see you on Life in Japan. Bye bye.