But how each culture expresses that in their food and gatherings is as different as night and day.

文化が違うと 食事や集まり方も違います

Today we're celebrating the confluence of cultures on Life in Japan!

今日は私達の大好きな 日本の食文化を紹介します！

Ok!

OK！

We got some cake. It's Aunt Pri's birthday and we are going to go celebrate.

ケーキを持って 誕生日会に向かいます

My birthday is coming up! Your birthday is coming up too, I know. Exciting.

- 私も誕生日！ - もうすぐだね

Gatherings and food are as old as humanity itself,

人の歴史は正に 食事とパーティーです

and if I were to ask you to name one food found around the world used for celebrations, what would your answer be?

皆さんにとって 祝い事の食べ物といえば何ですか？

Mine is none other than pizza!

私はピザです！

So today's celebration is with pizza.

というわけで 今日はピザでお祝いです

Now wait just a second.

ちょっと待って？！

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.

"日本の食文化の回で何でピザの話？" と思いましたか？

But I dare say that pizza can be found anywhere in the world, it's the most international food.

ある意味ピザほど 国際的な食べ物はありません

And every country has a different take on pizza.

どの国にも 個性的なピザがあります

And any discussion about international food would have to include desert — cake!

どの国でも欠かせない物 ケーキです！

Ruth is amazing in this department, always whipping up something wonderful for our celebrations.

ルースはお菓子作りの名人で 毎回パーティーで腕を振るいます

Oh how beautiful!

いいね

In the time that Ruth and I have been married, we've lived several years along three different rivers:

私とルースは いつも川沿いに住んでいます

the Mississippi in America, the Amazon in Brazil and the Tama in Japan.

米国のミシシッピ川 ブラジルのアマゾン川 日本の多摩川

While these countries are polar opposites culturally,

文化の異なる国ですが

when you get away from the busy city and close to the river, it doesn't feel so far apart.

郊外の川沿いには 似た雰囲気もあります

In each place, what people eat is closely tightly tied to the natural produce of the land.

3つの国のいずれにも 農耕の文化がありました

Here, Ruth has made her own garden for cultivating food,

ルースも日本で 家庭菜園に挑戦しています

which for us in a mixture of American, Brazilian and Japanese cuisine.

米国とブラジル 日本の作物を育ててます

This is my soy beans, and I've got some beans growing on it, lots of beans actually, but some are smaller.

これは枝豆 小さいけど豆がなってきてるわ

My green onions that I need to replant.

分葱は鉢を変えないと

My cucumbers. I've got some big ones growing.

胡瓜も大きくなってる

My lettuce. More green onions and more lettuce, that is almost done.

レタスと分葱 もうすぐ食べごろね

My parsley, my green peppers. Those are really getting big. I need to put them in a bigger pot.

パセリとピーマン もう大きいから鉢を変えないと

All my tomatoes! There are so many tomatoes on this plant!

トマトもいっぱい

It's going to be time to have spaghetti and pizza. And salsa!

パスタとピザ サルサが食べれるね！

So is this your therapy here? Yeah.

- 遊んでるの？ - うん

Getting to play some nintendo? Yeah.

- ニンテンドウ？ - そう

You better watch this. He goes like this and jumps so high. Isn't that amazing?

これ見て！ すっごく高く飛ぶんだよ

Wow, that is amazing.

すごいね

Time for some curry rice and then to juku. Oh my goodness. That's a lot of stuff all at once coming back.

カレーを食べたら塾です 沢山やる事があるね

(Becca talking in Japanese.)

牛乳パックを使って出来る おもちゃの作り方です

Right, what's that mean?

どういう意味？

Says you are going to use a milk box and make a toy!

牛乳パックで おもちゃを作るの

Nice!

いいね！

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.

これから友達と食事です 迎えに来てくれます

It's going to be a good to meet up with him again. I haven't seen him since before the quarantine.

会うのは外出自粛後 初めてなので楽しみです

So this is exciting.

ワクワクします

Today I came to Satoru-san's house.

今日はサトルさんの 家に行きます

We are going to have lunch.

お昼ご飯食べます

Welcome to my house. Oh, very good!

- ありがとうございます - ようこそ

The view from Satoru-san's house is very good.

サトルさん 素晴らしい景色ですね

Interesting. Olive oil

天気がもっと 良ければね

It's a rare kind of sushi that you eat with olive oil. I can't wait to try it.

- めずらしい？ - オリーブオイルで食べます

Nothing is perhaps more Japanese than sushi.

オリーブオイルで 一味違った寿司を食べます

And Satoru-san is treating me to a special treat of his own creation at his house today.

日本といえば寿司です

One thing I've noticed about a lot of Japanese men is that they can cook so well.

サトルさんが創作料理の 腕を振るってくれました

Satoru's European cafe.

日本の男性は 料理が上手です

Salt and olive oil.

マグロのステーキです

Interesting? Is it good?

ヨーロッパの…

It's my first time having sushi with olive oil.

サトルカフェ？

Wow, wonderful! Congratulations.

なるほどね

So it was such a good lunch and now I'm going to head off to my niece - it's her birthday party.

塩とオリーブ（オイル）で

Little Evie is turning 2 so we are going to go celebrate.

面白い？いいでしょ？

Happy birthday!

初めて… 寿司とオリーブオイル

How old are you Evie? Two!

素晴らしい！

Hey, guess what I heard? You didn't cry at all today at kindergarten. That's awesome!

最高の昼食の後は 姪の誕生日会です

When we get together, you'll find food from all of over the world — we like it all!

エビーが2歳になります

Good food and fellowship help make a person whole!

誕生日おめでとう！

If more people in the world developed healthy families and fellowship, there would be far less problems in society.

- 何歳になった？ - 2歳！

Thank goodness we can start meeting together again!

幼稚園で泣かなかったんだって？ えらいね！

Oh my, you are a good student Anna.

私達のパーティーでは 世界中の食事が楽しめます

Did you bring your homework to a birthday party, huh?

食事と仲間との時間は 良いですね

Wow, alright.

健康な家族や集まりが増えれば 社会問題も減少しますね

I got this. I got it! I do not get any points!

また皆に会えるようになって 良かったです

No points? Not yet. You gotta work for them.

アナは優等生だね

Ok, go again Joshua. George. George!

宿題持ってきたの？

Finally! Finally you got a match.

すごいな

My turn. Oh, Sarah got a second match, huh?

- 取ったよ！ - 0点だよ

Studying for your kanji test?

0点？頑張って！

Oh, you are almost there and then you can go to bed. I'm so tired.

ジョシュアの番よ！

The kanji tests. Two of them on the second day of school!

ジョージ… またジョージ！

It's been months since these tennis courts have been filled

- やった！ - 出来たね！

and it's been months since this parking lot has been filled here.

- 私の番！ - 2つ目のペアだね

It's super cool to see it start happening again.

漢字テストの勉強？

And I think it's been months since it has been mowed.

- もう少しだよ - 疲れたよ

Woah girls, you are being very studious.

漢字テスト… 学校再開2日で2回だよ！

What does that mean?

遂にコート再開です

Studious means you have been a good student in studying, getting your homework done, being diligent.

駐車場も 久々に埋まってます

What is diligent?

社会が再始動しています

Diligent means you are being consistent. What is consistent?

数か月で 草も伸び放題です

You keep trying, you keep pushing forward

みんな"勉強家"だね

I have a lot of questions. What is consistent.

”勉強家”？

So what's the idea here? What are we doing?

真面目に勉強に取り組む ”勤勉”な姿勢の事だよ

Ok, so you are going to push against the door handle for 30 seconds as hard as you can with your arms like this.

"勤勉"って？

And then you step out and relax and your arms just go...float up!

そうだな… ”首尾一貫”って感じかな

3, 2, 1. Walk away.

"首尾一貫"？

It's so weird, its so weird!

真っ直ぐに取り組む事

Ok, Nate do it first. Yeah, Nate, Nate.

質問が沢山…

3, 2, 1!

"シュビ…イッカン"？

Just relax.

これから何するの？

That is crazy!

ドアの枠に30秒間 こうやって手を押し付けるの

You push it hard. As hard as you can.

その後歩いて力を抜くと 手が自然に上がるの！

Like you are trying to push the panels apart.

3・2・1 いいよ！

Oh weird. For one minute.

すっごく変だよ！

Then when you walk out, you step out, you just let your arms relax and you wait a moment,

ネイトが先にやって！

because you have to wait a couple of seconds and then then arms start going up!

3・2・1

3, 2, 1.

リラックスして

It's Ben's birthday,

何てこった！

Daichi, can you tell me what we are eating tonight.

- 強くやって - 出来る限りね

What are we eating today?

枠を押し出す感じで

We are eating yakiniku all together.

- 変な感じ - 1分だよ

Is yakiniku famous in Japan?

歩いて リラックスして 少し待ちます

It is the most famous food.

数秒待つと 自然に腕が上がります

It's more famous than sushi.

3・2・1

Here is how you get everyone's attention to order.

ベンの誕生日です！

Oh yeah! Load it up!

ダイチ 今夜の食事は？

Boy, that is like an instant brain freeze!

今日何食べるかって？

Their yakiniku is here. You get it, put it on the grill,

今日は皆で… 焼肉を食べます！

You pray over it and say "itadakemasu" and go for it!

焼肉は日本で 有名ですか？

It might seem like we have birthday parties all the time, but the truth is that June is just full of them.

一番有名！

Ben decided to celebrate with some Yakiniku, Japan's version of BBQ.

寿司より上！

Here we go...

これでオーダーします

Lots and lots of sauces. We got hot sauces and soy sauces, sweet sauces...

- いいね！ - 並々だ！

Too many to choose from

頭キーン！ってなりそう

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!

焼肉が来ました！ グリルで焼きます

It looks delicious! It is.

"いただきます" で準備万端です！

Ramen, sushi, yakiniku!

6月に誕生日の人が多いので 誕生日会三昧でした

Beef tongue. Beef tongue?

ベンのリクエストは 日本式焼肉です

Is it just like when you bite into your tongue and go "ah man!" Yeah!

いくよ

What do you have there, Daichi?

ソースが沢山あります 辛口に醤油味…

Reiman — cold ramen.

- 甘口も… - 選ぶのが大変だ

Cold ramen?! Ice cube in it?!

ソースが分けられる皿です 焼けたらソースを付けて食べます

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.

美味しそう！

What are you making?

ラーメン

I'm making some little bread rolls. This one's pepperoni and cheese and that one's ham and cheese.

牛タン

Today Ruth is taking the bento idea and applying it to homemade sandwich rolls for our beach outing.

自分の"タン”で味わう"タン"は…

It's easy picnic food.

それは？

Our bentos are going with us to Yokosuka, a city at the inlet of Tokyo Bay.

冷麺… コールドラーメン？

We're going to a park that has a beach where the kids can play and swim and we can enjoy the views.

コールドラーメン？ 氷入り？！

Here's the park Kannonzaki.

何でだろうね？

It's a big area.

"弁当"を抜きに 日本の食文化は語れません

Bentos are the perfect companion when exploring Japan's beautiful cities, oceans and mountains — all of which are in close proximity.

定番はお米とおかずです

Good food and companionship is a blessing.

今日は何？

Oh my goodness!

"パン巻"よ ぺパロニとチーズ

We're exploring the little bit of beach you can get in here.

あれは ハムとチーズ

What did you find Sarah? A starfish!

ルースの"パン巻"弁当を持って 海に出掛けます

Oh my goodness.

簡単レシピよ

My first time ever!

お弁当を持って 横須賀に向かいます

Did I leave out your favorite food to eat in Japan?

子供が楽しめる 海岸のある公園に行きます

If so, comment below, and as always, thanks for watching!

観音崎公園に到着です