feeling as much at ease in English as they do in Japanese.

我が家の子供は 日本語と文化を学ぶ為 地元の公立校に通っています

So we put them into the Japanese school system from the start.

しかし 小学校卒業は 大きな分岐点でもありました

However, this year as elementary school graduation approached, so did a big choice.

将来的に母国の大学に行く為に 英語主体の教育に切り替えるか

Do we change over to an International or English-speaking school to prepare them for college in the States,

日本の中学校に通うか？

or let them continue in Japanese middle school?

日本の教育制度は のんびりとした幼稚園から始まり

[Life in Japan Theme Song]

中高に進学するにつれ 勉強も難しくなります

If you know about Japanese school culture, you know that it begins super laid back in kindergarten

教育制度を通して 社会人になる為の教養を身に付けます

and then gets more and more intense as students move towards Junior High and High School.

多文化の背景を持つ家庭では どんな課題があるでしょうか？

The goal of the system is to produce students who will become shyakaidin,

行こう！

or contributing members of society.

出発！

But how does that work for international families, who have feet in multiple worlds?

皆が知りたがってるけど

Here we go!

部活に入った？

Let's go!

入ってない

So girls, everyone wants to know...

入らない？

Are you doing bukatsu (school clubs)?

いくつかあったよね？

No.

この夏 海外に行くかもしれないから

No?!

その場合

You had a choice, right?

まだ場所は秘密

This summer we want to go on a big trip

お楽しみだね

But if we did that...

そうだね？

We won't tell you where.

旅に出ると 部活と被るのが課題だったね

We won't tell you where just yet, you'll have to wait and see.

- だから… - 大きな旅！

Right? Yep.

大きな旅だね！

But if we did the big trip then we couldn't do bukatsu, so we let you guys choose, huh?

運動会は楽しかった？

And you chose? To go on the big trip!

うん

To go on the big trip!

- トロフィーをもらった！ - すごい！

So did you have an awesome time at the school sports day?

応援合戦

Yep.

4つもらったよ！

I got a trophy! Awesome.

応援で勝ったの！

It's like a "ouengasen."

アナもだね

I got four trophies. What does it mean?

- 私は4枚 - 賞状を4枚

That means I won the ouen. Yeah!

- すごい！ - 勝ったからね

And you did too Anna. I got four. She got four like papers.

まだ飾っていませんでした

Oh nice! Papers that she won thingies.

最高だね！

We've had this for a while and have done nothing with it.

いいね

Oh that would be very good like that.

小学生の登校だね！

I think so.

行こう！

It's the little Reutter kids. It's our turn to go to school, right?

ママにバイバイして！

Here they come! Say bye Momma-chan, love you.

愛している！

Love you!

いいね

Alright. And wait I want to show everybody. Oh yes!

これを皆に見せたいの

Your pet lizard, huh?

ペットのトカゲだね

Meet, pet lizard.

私のトカゲちゃん

Wow, does he have a name?

名前は？

Um, sometimes I call him Lizzie.

リジーだよ

Lizzie? Well that's cool.

リジー？いいね！

Oh fun. And there's his little home.

小さな家もあるね

Ok, let's keep going. We don't want to be late for school.

遅刻しないように

Oh my goodness dude. What is going on there?

ジョシュア どうしたの？

What are you practicing for now?

何の練習してる？

Um, undoukai. Undoukai?

運動会

Are you excited? Yeah.

楽しみ？

How about you Joshua? Did you start undoukai practice? Yep.

うん

You did. Well, it's for the dance.

ジョシュアも運動会の練習してる？

Japanese schools have been great for our kids,

いいね

and even though we all work hard to bridge the language and cultural barrier,

ダンスの練習

it helps us be more connected to our local community.

日本の公教育は素晴らしいです

But not all of it is perfect for International families,

言葉の壁は大きなチャレンジでしたが 地域の皆さんと繋がる上で重要です

especially when your lifestyle requires more flexibility than is typically offered in the school system.

柔軟性が必要な 国際的な家庭においては 様々な課題に向き合ってきた事も事実です

We're living here in Japan, our kids go to school,

日本の学校では "部活" が大きな位置を占めています

Bukatsu is a big part of school life. It's not required,

放課後や週末 休暇の多くで 部活があります

But, it fills up their after school time, it fills up their weekends,

我が家では課題です

And it fill up all their vacations.

長期休暇は 母国に帰国したり プライベートでやるべき事が多くあります

And that for us just didn't work well because,

そこで娘達は 部活には入らない事にしました

As an international family, there's lot of trips we need to take, there's lot of things we need to do,

学校はどうだった？

So the girls decided not to do bukatsu because they want to go with us on these trips.

宿題？

How was school today guys?

夢の為に勉強！

Homework?

先週も言ってなかった？

Homework makes the dream work.

"夢の為に勉強！"

Didn't you say that in the last episode?

"大変だよ"

Homework makes the dream work!

"大変？"

Homework makes me sad.

"賢くなるよ"

Makes you sad?!

”成長痛だね”

Homework makes you smart.

”今度話そう”

A bit of sorrow now for a lifetime of joy.

ジョシュア

Preach it, Dad.

"さ"

Oh Joshua, 'sa'. That was was your hiragana of the day?

今日の平仮名だね

Way to roll dude. Way to roll.

頑張ってるね！

I know, Anna has beautiful handwriting.

アナは字が綺麗

Did it.

できた

Oh boy. There it is. It's going up.

できたね

Is that better? Oh yeah.

- どう？ - いいね

That looks fantastic. We finally did something.

最高だね！

Now there is still space for the gold plaque.

ゴールドアワードは隣の予定

That's right!

いいね！

1 million subscribers, here we come.

100万人目指すわよ！

Daddy look.

パパ 見て！

It's like the clouds are blue. Then the bottom of the clouds is yellow.

青い雲だけど 底は黄色なの

See over there? Oh you're right.

- 見える？ - そうだね！

Aren't those super pretty?

綺麗だね

They're sunflowers' tiny version.

小さなひまわりみたい

Yeah. Ok, let's take a picture.

写真を撮ろう

There's two mosquitos by me?

蚊がいるかな

We got some good pictures though. Ok, let's go.

でも良い写真！

Choosing the right learning environment for your children is an important decision,

子供の学習環境は大切です

and at this point we are glad we have our kids in the local Japanese schools.

その意味で 日本の公教育に感謝しています

But our older kids in Junior High are now at a stage where they may need to switch over to an English-based education

中学に進学した娘達にとっては 英語主体の教育に切り替えるか 悩ましい時期でもあります

in order to prepare them for their future, but the choice is not an easy one.

難しい問題です

Honestly we've been surprised by how good the local schools have been for them

何故なら 日本の中学校も素晴らしく 多くの利点もあるからです

and it makes the decision that much harder.

橋を渡ると東京

When you're on this bridge, it crosses over to Tokyo.

ここからが

This side over here

ここからが東京

This side over here, that's Tokyo.

橋の半分？

So half of the bridge?

そう

Yeah.

橋の真ん中に標識があるよ

Yeah, there's a plaque on the bridge that shows you where it starts.

見つけた！

Found it found it found it! You found it Sarah?

こっちは東京

Here. This one side is Tokyo,

これが家がある場所

And this you should know. This is where we live.

"カナジャワ"

"Kanajawa"

"カナガワ"

Kanagawa!

私も "カナジャワ" って言ってた

Oh, I actually called it "Kanajawa"

指の次は 手の全体を描くの？

So Anna, we went from doing a finger to doing a whole hand, huh?

そう

Yep. My goodness!

すごい

I see giraffes and pandas here

キリンとパンダ

You have been busy, huh? Yep.

忙しそうだね？

What are you guys doing here tonight?

何してるの？

We're putting on glowing stars in our room

星を飾って

And it's going to be so like space!

宇宙にするの！

Ready 3, 2, 1

3・2・1！

Go space!

宇宙だよ！

Whoa!

やめて！

OK stop!

- 戦いは苦手 - 僕は得意！

I'm not good at fighting. I'm good at it.

すごいな！

Wow, look at this in here!

ちゃんと見たい

Wait, I want to see the view.

明るくしたい？

You want to see the view?

すごいよ！

You look so funny!

どんな顔？

Do I look like a happy face?

サラの顔？

Yea, is that your face?! Yeah.

ステッカーを沢山使ったね！

Oh my goodness, you guys used so many stickers!

明かりをつける？

OK, you going to turn it on?

3・2・1！

[In a funny accent] 3, 2, 1

楽しそうだったね！

Whoa, that was cool guys. Very cool.

アナ 手は描けた？

So Anna, did you finish your hand?

ちゃんと模写した？

All of it. The drawing of your hand?

A評価取れそう？

You going to get an A?

うん

Definitely

Aは大丈夫だと思う

Yea, I'm definitely going to get an A,

Aマルかは分からない

But I don't know if I'm going to get an "A Maru,"

そう？

Oh yea?

Aプラスがいいな

I hope I get an A plus.

私はAだったから大丈夫

I got an A, so she's definitely going to get an A.

すごいね

Oh yea, awesome.

ベッカより上手く出来た

Because I did it better than Becca.

そうか すごいね！

You really went for it, that was awesome.

YouTuberに会います

Alright, we're on our way to meet with another YouTuber

タカシさんに会います

This is really fun, we're going to meet Takashi from Japan

インタビューを受けます

He's got a fun channel and he asked us to do an interview

うれしいです

So we were happy to meet up with him.

ベッカとアナ

Becca & Anna

こんにちは タカシ！

Yea! Hello Takashi!

タカシからインタビューを受けます

Today we're going to do an interview with Takashi san!

楽しみです！

Very fun!

楽しみです

I am really excited. Yes, I am too!

ありがとう！

Thanks for inviting us out here.

準備完了です

Alright, we're getting all setup.

どう？

Yea! Yea, right?

タカシのカメラ いいね！

Takashi, he's got good tastes in cameras.

- ありがとう！ - ソニーだね

Thanks! He's using a Sony Camera.

アルファ 7C

Alpha 7C

いい機種だね

Oh yes, very good.

これもソニーだよ

Sony camera right here too

良いレンズ

This is a really good lens.

異文化での教育に関する経験談があれば ぜひコメントで教えて下さい

If you've been in a multi-cultural school situation,

良い事や大変な事

please let us know what your experience was like in the comments.

皆さんのご経験は？

Good? Bad? Ugly?

"チャンネル登録" をお忘れなく！

Would you have done things differently?

登録してもらえると 励みになります！

And please don't forget to subscribe,

it's still one of the absolute best ways to show your support

and only takes a moment to do.