Showtime!

Woke up at 4:30am here in Sapporo which ain’t too bad considering the jet lag. Japan’s time zone is 19 hours ahead of Hawai’i … or for us simpler folk, Hawai’i is 5 hours ahead yesterday (huh?). Don’t try to figure it out – it’ll only make your head sore. And it’s been pretty cold here, which is kinda nice … it was in the low 40’s last night after we got back from dinner. My UNIQLO down jacket worked great, but the best thing is that it stuffs into a pouch the size of a softball after I’m done using it!

Tonight is our first concert and I can hardly contain my excitement! We’ve been doing various radio, TV, and web promotions since we arrived so it’ll be great to finally take the stage and cut loose. We have a short planning meeting before soundcheck and rehearsal this afternoon, so the morning and early afternoon are pretty much open for now … hmmm, maybe I’ll just hang out in the onsen (hot baths) for a while after breakfast. And speaking of breakfast, you all know that it’s my favorite meal here in Japan and this hotel has a really good one. However, getting to the restaurant is a bit of a trip … it’s located on the 4th floor but you have to take the elevator to the 2nd floor spa, remove your shoes, then walk up two flights of stairs to the restaurant! Most of the guests there were wearing the hotel yukata robe … made me feel like I was dressed for the prom in my jeans and t-shirt!

Yesterday we had one of ManoaDNA’s favorite dishes, miso ramen, at a place called the Ramen Kingdom near the FM Northwave radio station. It’s actually a collection of small restaurants serving different variations of this simple but delicious noodle dish. The one that was recommended to us was packed with locals -.the sign of a good restaurant – and we were not disappointed! There was only one thing a little odd, though … each table had a bowl of hard-boiled eggs that customers could help themselves to. All-you-can-eat hard-boiled eggs! Too bad our bassist Mark wasn’t with us … he loves those eggs and would have eaten the whole bowl and then some. Probably would’ve farted all the way back to the hotel too! Hahaha!

Aloha, “D”