good morning. it’s saturday here in japan and it’s been 6 days since i’ve been here. it’s been hot, humid, rainy, and muggy the whole time. but you know what? it’s ok. i’m having a great time eating good food, working, and meeting new family members that i didn’t even know existed.
did you see the new surfer girls yet? better get your copy because i went to 2 stores near my house and it’s sold out already. yes that’s kelia, and yes, that’s blue hawaii. gosh, i miss that place….
how’s the lighting on this photo? here’s the story. i just bought a new reflector for $10. i pull up to kelia’s house and tell seth to be my lighting assistant. it was backlit so seth stands 10′ behind and aims the reflector straight to kelia’s face. it was blinding her eyes but i kept on saying “open your eyes!!” kelia opened her eyes for 1 second and i got the shot. they both did a great job and the photos lighting is pretty cool…. that’s the story…
**yesterday was pretty heavy for me. i went to tokyo to visit somebody i’ve always wanted to meet. my grandpa osaki’s younger brother. my dearest grandpa osaki passed away 3 years ago. he meant the world to me. grandpa osaki is the one who shaped me into the person i am today. it would take me hundreds of blogs to even come close to expressing my feelings toward him. i’ll save that for later. i really miss him and think about him all the time. not sad memories, but all good ones. nobody till this day supported me in my education, and my dreams more than my grandpa osaki. so going to tokyo and finally meeting his younger brother he always talked about was a big event in my life.
i pulled up to kichijoji station in tokyo in the mid-morning. my aunty sumiko (who i also met for the first time) came to pick me up in a taxi. when i walked into the room where my grandpa’s younger brother(92 years old) was in, i was so nervous that my legs were shaking. as i walked up, i introduced myself to my new grandpa masao. i pulled up a chair and when it was just him and i, i said “grandpa masao, my name is kirby. i am your older brothers grandson. i just want to tell you what a great man my grandpa was. he worked very hard his whole life and the took care of our whole family. you would be so proud of him…” i choked up and stopped. i think grandpa masao knew what a great man my grandpa was. in the meantime, i couldn’t stop staring at grandpa masao’s eyes because it looked so much like my grandpa’s. i just kept on smiling because it was like seeing my grandpa again. it was pretty heavy… and all the way home on the train, i kept on thinking about my grandpa. i really miss him a lot…
meet my new aunty and cousins. thank you for the wonderful time and wonderful lunch in tokyo. hope to see you all again soon!!!
**now i know that i’m a real japanese. i don’t have citizenship, but my roots here good deep! i don’t know why but when i was growing up, i thought i didn’t have any relatives living in japan. was it denial? was it stupidity? was it lack of knowledge? i don’t know but what ever it was, i don’t care. the past is the past. now is now and because i know i have family in japan, i’m going to find out more on my roots. my piece of paper i wrote my little family tree two weeks ago is growing and growing. and i’m getting more and more excited!!! what’s next?
