good morning! i got on the airplane yesterday and was squished up in the back on a small seat in economy class. had one kind of medium/large lady on my right, and the isle on the left. my legs hitting the seat in front, my body straight up, and no support for my neck. i look at the time to japan, 8.5 hours? OMG! it was a long flight ahead and after getting bumped by the lady on the right and the people and carts going up and down the isle on the left, i didn’t get any sleep at all. welcome back to reality! haha. but hey, i watched 4 great movies.
i arrive in japan, stiff neck, sore back, and super jet lagged. i was very fortunate to have gotten picked up by and taken to tokyo. i was hungry and super tired. jumped in the shower, got a great massage, and headed out to dinner.

ouch, itai, ouch, itai!!! the best massage therapist in the world Katsura-san works on my body and gets me back to normal. the pain always feels good! no pain, no gain right?

then have a wonderful japanese dinner with Inaida-san and Yuki-san. they took me to a Grandma style restaurant where you choose what you want to eat. it was sooooo good and reminded me of my grandma’s awesome cooking.

and yes, a cold japanese draft beer after a long flight is like drinking gold.

then a nice glass of whisky from the best collection in the world. you’re looking at around $30k of fine whisky. the funny thing is with all this top grade whisky sitting right in front of me, i started off with a jack and coke. haha. but after that, i sipped on a couple glasses of Bowmore and felt like i was floating on the clouds. whisky and jet lag doesn’t go well. haha.

have you ever tried this? Tokyo carmel crackers that Matsu gave me. super good!

and all the wonderful snacks that Toda-san and Takami-san gave me all waiting for me to eat once i get back to hawaii.
i’m super happy to be in japan now. i’m here for 6 days and the main reason was to go to tohoku. Saito-san is picking me up at 11am, and we’re heading on a 4-5 hour drive to sendai. it’s been a while so i’m getting nervous. i’m just hoping to see good things happening since the last time i was up there. wish us luck!

Welcome to beautiful Tokyo!

what’s a samurai? to me, a samurai is a person that is strong, smart, loyal, trusting, and will do anything for honor. for my whole life, i was infatuated with samurai’s and when the last samurai movie came out, i was sold that the samurai still lives. some people believe they still exists, some people don’t. for me, i totally believe they still exists in some form. for example, my Grandpa Osaki was a samurai to me. i can write a book on his values, morals, trust, respect, strength, and honor. no, my grandpa didn’t have a ponytail or carry a sword, but just his presence was enough. the reason why i bring up the samurai topic is because a few of my friends here in hawaii tell me i’m dreaming and samurai’s don’t exist. i’m going to prove them wrong and maybe someday they will turn from american girls to japanese geisha girls. haha.

ok, the time has come. since 3/11, we went on 7 missions to tohoku. we made many friends, many experiences, and many memories. i went back last night to look at all the photos we took because i wanted to put myself back in that time. some tears of sadness were rolling out, and also tears of joy. i remember the nights we slept in the freezing cold in tents or cars, and i remember the nights we were in total darkness in places that were totally destroyed. it was a time that changed my view on life forever. all we needed was each other and that’s what got us all through this.

and seeing photos like this made me smile. just a simple bunch of green onion making this man happy. it were these smiles that made us keep going and going. after we unloaded our first 3 vans of supplies, there was no doubt in our minds that we had to go back.

and to especially see the kids smile was priceless.

from hawaii elementary kids to oshika hanto kids. we hand delivered personal letters the 4th graders in hokulani elementary to the 4th graders at this school right up the street from the tsunamis path. for most of these kids, it was their first time experiencing some aloha.

and getting back to the samurai topic. i’m a true believer that samurai’s exist. there are only a few samurai’s in my life and Kimura-san is one of them. i still can’t explain the feeling i got when i met this amazing man.

watching movies of japanese battles is one thing, but watching Kimura-san sparring was another. it was in awe! i was covered with chicken skin seeing this part of japanese culture right in front of my eyes. i will never forget it.
so to my friends in tohoku, i will finally see again you very very soon!