Name: Back at my Japanese In-Laws House for New Year's
Uploaded: 2026-01-24T18:20:30.000Z
Duration: 26 min 8 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

This is another Japanese New Year at my parents in law's house.

Every year in Japan, our family visits Maiko's parents house in Aichi to celebrate Oshogatsu, the New Year's.

Since the entire country is usually traveling during this time, Shinkansen train seats are usually 100% booked out.

It's so competitive that Maiko usually makes reservations one month in advance, and

she'd do it even earlier, but that's the limit.

This time, the nice green seats were the only option she had, so we went with it.

Like Christmas in the west, it's customary here to go back to your hometown and spend the time with the family.

So we're traveling one day ahead on the 30th.

Okay, so we are on our way to go to the supermarket to get some stuff.

So our supermarket visit is kind of a tradition now and low key.

For the most part, I try to eat something healthy during the year, but

I just get it in my head that I'll just hit the reset button when the new year starts.

Also, in Japan, supermarkets are a madhouse, especially on the 31st.

So we've learned to go a day early and to try to go to a smaller one.

Wolfie is always super excited to come here and see Gigi and Baba, Grandpa and Grandma.

But somehow when he first sees them, he's a bit shy.

This year though, I do notice how he's more comfortable in the environment and that he's able to express his feelings a bit better.

I mean, every year I'll say this, but he's just growing up so fast.

As soon as I arrive, we land the first beer.

Dude, I love this beer so much that I ordered two cases Dente.

They only make a certain amount of these.

I think it's for the winter, so when it's over, it's over.

So over the last few years, it's been Gigi's thing to showcase all of his pickled dishes he makes from his garden.

And this year, he says he's made a special, special kimchi just for me.

I'll never gonna do anything that he makes.

As she says that ever since she was young, her dad would make crazy dishes and use a ton of garlic, which is not her thing, so she avoids his creations.

Sometimes we've had some before that have been kind of bad or that have been a little bit sus, but

If you missed the video when we came here this summer, then you might not know that Junya and Erican had a baby.

It feels more and more like a home away from home.

It is pretty awesome that the family is growing and this year we get all welcome you here.

So, Junya, so what's been the toughest part so far with the baby?

Well, since we have a lot of things planned for New Year's Eve tomorrow, we decided to keep the night safe, simple, catch up with the family, and

So it's 8:30 in the morning right now, and this is how we start our day.

Wolfie was so excited this morning that he woke up early so he could hang out with Gigi in the yard.

We just don't get to do this kind of stuff in Tokyo much because we live in an apartment, so it's one of his favorite things to do here.

GG actually grows a bunch of vegetables in advance and lets Wolfy dig them out of the dirt.

So slow roasted Japanese sweet potatoes are a very typical winter food in the country, even sold on the street similar to Western ice cream trucks.

Its earliest appearance in Japan was in the 1600s and has slowly become one of the nation's comfort foods, as it's easily prepared with the minimal ingredients, while being naturally sweet, filling, and

The thing is, Otosan wants to do this perfectly, so he's actually woken up early and preparing it and doing the test so that when we do it later today, he's going to be ready.

The men are in the kitchen this year, so today Maiko's dad decided to also make Gohei Mochi, which is a local specialty in the mountainous regions of central Japan.

So back in the day, people working in the mountains would press rice onto pieces of wood and grill it over an open fire.

Maiko says that she remembers eating it as a cross kid at special events.

Seriously, it's pretty cool that Gigi goes out of his way to prepare different foods from all parts of Japan that we can try.

And not just food, but Gigi and Baba really make the New Year special with all they do.

It's the one time of the year where we can all count on seeing each other.

Like many families across Japan, it makes sense why the entire country shuts down.

Many shops and restaurants are closed, even banks.

We got this delivered just now on the 31st, so we ordered a bucket of fresh oysters straight from Noto.

I did a video with them just a little bit ago, and we got oysters from them.

So expect an oyster video coming probably in the next few weeks or so.

We got freshly delivered just today, so the flat one stop plump part is bomb.

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Back at my Japanese In-Laws House for New Year's

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