While things like school graduations still happen, masks and restrictions are in place to curb the spread of Corona.

People are still able to enjoy some aspects of normal life though, such as our neighborhood restaurants and parks, but how much longer will that last?

It’s an early spring in Japan — but will there be an early end to Corona?

It’s all in this episode of Life in Japan.

All ready to go out and play in the falling snow!

Almost a month ago, public schools, events and conferences were cancelled in Japan.

Business people were encouraged to stay with their families and work from home.

Japan was one of the first countries to take decisive action to stop Corona from spreading.

But no one knew how effective it would be.

Ah! Oh no!

You're getting ready for your last day of youchien ever, huh? Yeah!

Oh my goodness! Two years, and now...

It's time for graduation.

Any words of wisdom at all?

The super fun thing, I think, was doing my undoukai (sports day).

Oh, the undoukai was super fun?

Well you'll do undoukai still in shyogakou (elementary)

What did we make here, Joshua?

I don't know what it is. Oh ho!

OK careful, don't knock it over. Alright.

Are we about to take some pictures Sarah? Yes?

Well, she got her diploma.

We are going to celebrate Sarah's graduation!

So where did you choose to go?

I choose... I chose...

I chose to [go to] a pizza place that has a play place.

A pizza place with a play place — Shakey's pizza, huh?

Look! That one's all white... It's starting...

The other ones are budding, do you see any others?

These are starting to [bud]. Yeah, they're starting.

Oh, here's some white ones that are going.

Wow - so pretty! I love it!

So we're here at Yumiuriland, of course it's closed, but Shakey's Pizza is here, and it's still open.

So at least we're able to celebrate in this way.

We have a great video about Yumiuriland, so I'll leave a link and you can check it out if you want.

Ok, here we go. Are you ready dude?

Alright.

You guys getting your stuff? Oh, pasta, French fries — yummy! And all kinds of yummy pizza.

These soda machines are awesome. You can put in the lemon, or different flavors, or mix them all together as our kids like to do.

Great variety of pizza, salad, stuff... pasta...

Drinks! Yea? Oh boy. Oh boy.

Hello miss. This was a very good suggestion.

Hello camera.

You got vanilla and marshmallows.

Becca? Chocolate.

Chocolate. Mixing it.

You're mixing it together, huh? It will be like a milkshake — yummy.

Chocolate and ice cream too. Nice!

Oh, it's a beautiful day! It is a gorgeous day.

Like a bunny, feet together, feet together.

Now turn around and walk backwards.

Walk backwards. Can you walk backwards? Oh, Joshua can.

Whoa, don't fall over! Spin, spin, turn around, spin!

Spin, turn around, spin...

Oh my goodness, right after lunch.

Shake your booty, shake it good.

Shake it, shake it, bam bam bam.

There's two things that I did here. What did you do here?

Number one, my school went here. Uh huh.

And then number two, I had a picnic here with Rio chan.

Oh, that's fun. Yeah, and then we went into the water with each other.

Fun.

Wow — look at this Sakura tree, guys. Take a picture of it.

I'm taking a video of it.

Oh, let's play together? Oh, there they go!

While famous public spaces, landmarks, museums and arenas were closed these last couple of weeks,

neighborhood parks stayed open and people were free to move about.

But now, as corona lingers on and infections continue to rise, these generous concessions are in question.

Wow, good job.

This is so easy. It's like a mountain, huh?

You did it!

Common' Big... whoa!

Ow! That didn't even hurt.

Pretty soon, ichi nensei (first grade)

Then you'll have homework, you'll be in school longer, and you'll go with Becca and Anna to school.

Yeah.

These kids here set up there bikes so that it would be a net here while they play tennis.

That's pretty creative.

It's like a banana-twist slide.

I have a camera... camera/banana juice!

Oh ho gosh.

Is it pretty sunny there, Ruth?

Yea, it is.

Gotta do something about that sun.

OK, ready?

All the cousins are here now — or a lot of them!

Are you going to do the slide?

Here he comes, Hey Joey!

Hey big guy!

Good job! Dismount.

Time to walk back to the car, oh my.

You guys played a lot.

Good job, here comes Uncle Ben.

Say "bye bye" Evie. Bye Evs.

Bye bye! We'll see you later!

It was fun.

It's a nice warm spring day. It's a perfect day to do some spring cleaning.

And get my desk all organized here.

Ruth is in her element.

Woodworking- baking - desk fixing.

What is that?

We're fixing Daddy's desk here.

Gonna make it so it doesn't bow so much.

It was sagging in the middle.

Becca, you have 5 points?

Yep, we're tied. Oh my.

Give her the die.

OK, let's go? Ok, let's go!

Where's Joshua?

Where's Joshua? Rah!!

Good hiding place, Dude! Look at your cute jacket.

Ruth keeps busy at Paz Coffee Shop by baking all kinds of delicious baked goods to sell, even developing more items for take-out.

Ok, we're here at our Coffee Shop — yeah!

Oh, is this your new mixer? My new mixer!

So nice.

What are you making this morning? Chocolate scones. Well, chocolate chip scones.

Who needs to lift weights when you work this muscle.

I don't even know what muscle it is, but it gets worked.

A beast of a whip.

Whip it good!

The secret to a good scone: beat it really well, un til you put your wet ingredients in. And then you barely mix it.

What do you think, everyone? Should Ruth do a cooking channel on YouTube?

Let us know in the comments, she's thinking about it.

Twenty minutes.

Hi, hi, camera, camera!

Simon says "Stop taking a video."

What do you think, Big J? Does Daddy's (food) look so good?

Yep. I want to taste one.

I bet you do, but it's Daddy's.

(Imitates eating) I eat all of it!

You ate all of it, no!

These cinnamon rolls are Ruth's specialty and they are so, so, so, so good.

Here we go.

Now some coffee.

Oooh, perfect combination. I love it.

Our scones, baby.

That is what we're talking about. Look at those beauties.

I know I'm eating a cinnamon roll right now, but it kind of makes me want to eat a scone.

Oh, you're sharing so well, that's good.

Could the camera have one more drink? Yeah.

Oh, thank you.

You want a bite of Daddy's? Yeah, yeah.

Ok, a bite of Daddy's. Ready?

You'll have the big one.

How is it? Good.

So Joshua, we're getting ready for you to go into preschool...

So how do you say "toilet, please."

"I want to go to the bathroom."

Toire, onegaishimasu.

Right! Do you know how to say "I want to drink water?"

I don't know! Should I just tell you a secret?

(Whispers)

Omizu nomitai. Yeah.

"Mizu nomitai."

(Repeats)

Just like school, the girls cram school, or jyuku, was also cancelled for several weeks

But now it's getting back to normal, they're going to go tonight.

Right girls? Yeah!

They might not be too excited about going but they have a good attitude about going anyway.

Going to jyuku and look who's here! It's Uncle Tim!

Working hard on our homework that we got from Kenji sensei.

Look how much homework- pages.

All the way to here.

We just got news that the Tokyo olympics were postponed until next year.

Tokyo itself is considering strict lockdown measures.

So by the time this video comes out, our situation could be a lot different than what you see in this video.

Whatever the government suggests, that's what we'll do.

If you like these videos, show your support by subscribing to our channel.

And we pray for your health, for your well-being, and until next time we'll see you on Life in Japan.