The goodbyes at Tokyo airport were not easy. Layla Kolbe shared a touching post on Instagram this week, capturing the moment her three children said farewell to their father as Springboks full back Cheslin Kolbe prepares to leave Japan after three seasons with Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath.
The family has been based in Tokyo for three years, with Layla, Cheslin and their children — Kylah, 6, Mila Sky, 3, and Cayden, 1 — building a life in a country that clearly left a deep impression on all of them. I have never felt so free anywhere in the world before, Layla wrote, and seeing our children live so freely and happily here is something we will treasure forever.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
The decision behind the return
Layla was careful to frame the decision not as a sacrifice but as a deliberate choice rooted in what the family values most. The everyday moments — school pickups, birthday parties, bedtime cuddles, milestones, the little things that become the big things. These are the years you never get back, she wrote.
For Cheslin, the announcement was equally emotional. In his own statement, he described Japan as having become a true home — not just a place to play rugby but a place of deep personal connection. The people, the culture, the friendships, and the memories we have made with Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath will stay with us forever, he said.
The team he will join on his return to South Africa has not yet been announced, but the decision itself — made, as Layla put it, from love and truly being obedient to God’s calling — reflects a family choosing togetherness at a particular stage of their children’s lives. Here is to new memories back home, she added, and hopefully one day, we will return to Japan together as a family again — older, wiser and with even more appreciation for the place that gave us so much.
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Featured Image: Instagram
