ManoaDNA.com » japan

On The Road Again!

Nick — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:37:05 +0000

Welcome to the 2011 edition of our summer tour! Today was the first day of our July tour in Japan and we started with a private promotional seminar with Hawaii Tourism Japan.

It was really nice to get back on stage and performing after my two weeks off. We saw a lot of our good friends in the audience, and performed some of our usual favorites. Afterwards, we didn’t have time to stop and sign CDs as we had to head straight upstairs for a quick interview at Fm yokohama.

Now, it’s off to the Landmark stage for our final show of the day and close Aloha Yokohama day number one!

MDNA Blog – Day 1

Alex — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:00:37 +0000

Aloha!!!!

We arrived safely to Yokohama late last night and it turns out the flight wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The typhoon passed and the didn’t affect our flight at all. We got in about 10:00pm Japan time and I ended up getting to sleep around 1am which was 6am Hawaii time!! Like always, I woke up around 2am, then went back to sleep, then woke up at 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, then finally woke up at 5:00. I’m pooped today!!!
We have two promotions today in Yokohama but only one of them is public. We are playing at the Landmark stage at 6:30 tonight so please come down if you are around!
Also, our new single “Feel the Light”, which features Jake Shimabukuro is now available for download. All proceeds from this song will be donated to the Tohoku University Hospital, which helps people who were affected by the tsunami and earthquake. Please check it out on iTunes – http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/feel-light-feat.-jake-shimabukuro/id449746420

Thanks everyone!
ALoha,
AK

Aloha Street Supporting Japan

Nick — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:19:58 +0000

Last month, we were featured along with Jake & Bruce Shimabukuro for the Aloha Street online campaign supporting Japan. Click the image below to see the full article.

Chinese celebrities singing for Japan!

Nick — Thu, 12 May 2011 01:16:35 +0000

So much worldwide support for Japan! This time from Chinese celebrities, and very well done!

This is the translation I found on the video, is it correct?:
Be not defeated by the rain, Nor let the wind prove your better.
Succumb not to the snows of winter. Nor be bested by the heat of summer.
Be strong in body. Unfettered by desire. Not enticed to anger. Cultivate a quiet joy.
Count yourself last in everything. Put others before you.
Watch well and listen closely. Hold the learned lessons dear.
A thatch-roof house, in a meadow, nestled in a pine grove’s shade.
A handful of rice, some miso, and a few vegetables to suffice for the day.
If, to the East, a child lies sick: Go forth and nurse him to health.
If, to the West, an old lady stands exhausted: Go forth, and relieve her of burden.
If, to the South, a man lies dying: Go forth with words of courage to dispel his fear.
If, to the North, an argument or fight ensues:
Go forth and beg them stop such a waste of effort and of spirit.

Thanks to Ric for sharing this with me. Does anyone know the where to buy or support this song?

MDNA Blog – Return Home

Alex — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:17:59 +0000

Hello everyone!
We returned home this weekend to family and friends and had a great mothers day celebration!
First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who came out to watch us in japan, it truly was one of the best japan trips I’ve had. Japan needs to smile more these days and I can only hope that our music cheered people up.

After one day of relaxation I had to wake up at 6:30am (1:30am japan time) to take a final exam. Let me tell you that this was not fun at all. I finally went to sleep sometime after 3:30 and woke up tired and groggy. It was a good thing I was pretty prepared for this exam because I was half asleep while taking it. The good news is that I am done with 4/5 of my final classes and am closer to graduation this weekend! I’m so excited!

I’ll be posting more VLOGs this week so be on the lookout for those soon!

Thanks for reading!
Aloha!
AK

Back home … Happy Mother’s Day!

Dad — Sun, 08 May 2011 19:25:28 +0000

Aloha, everyone! We arrived back home yesterday afternoon to gray skies and lots of rain, and it actually felt colder here in Hawai’i than in Japan! Of course, the puppies went NUTS when they saw us … especially when Jazzie saw her Nick! Old man Buster just sort trotted up and nudged us with his wet nose before sniffing the luggage and checking for his “omiyage” … unfortunately, we didn’t have time to get him anything so we had to fake him out and give him some stuff we already had here. So it’s now Sunday morning – Happy Mother’s Day! – and I’m sitting here with my beloved cup of steaming Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, listening to the rain, and watching the puppies running around crazy. It’s so great to be back home, but I’m already starting to miss all of our friends and fans in Japan … mahalo to everyone in Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka for making our trip so wonderful and memorable!

I spent some time yesterday going through the tons of photos which I took during our trip. The little Canon that Ric Noyle gave me worked beautifully … mahalo, Ric! Looking at the photos of Sendai and Miyagi brought back vivid memories of our visit there … the horrible devastation and the crowded shelters … my pictures don’t even come close to telling the story. This photo was taken while we were returning to Tokyo on the Tohoku Expressway and was the scene throughout much of our trip – it actually looked like someone was trying to plant cars instead of crops! You don’t realize how powerful Mother Nature is until you see stuff like this. And before I forget, I want to thank Ichikura-san and his HTJ staff for giving us the opportunity to tag along, and also to Aureana and my son, Nick, for helping to bring back smiles to people’s faces! We are definitely looking forward to going back again in July!

I’m now getting ready for the jet lag that’s sure to hit me in the next few days (sigh!) … bring it on!

Aloha, “D”

MDNA Blog – My Long Journey to Japan

Alex — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:49:45 +0000

It all began with me waking up to prepare for my last day of class EVER. I’ll be graduating in May so with our Japan trip this week I will miss the last days of school. Little did I know that my joy of being out of school forever would be countered by a crazy day.
After class I had about 3 hours to pack everything and get to the airport. Seems like a long time right? That’s what I thought until I started remembering random things that needed to be done. I ran around and ran around until I finally got everything packed and got to the airport with about an hour to spare.
The airport was pretty empty and our flight was very empty. The flight attendant said that that was the first flight she’s seen that was that empty. I was pretty happy though because that meant that I could get my own row and make myself comfortable. I did just that, and I even managed to take a rare nap while taxiing. I guess I was exhausted..
We got in the air and everything seemed fine until 30 min into the flight when the captain came on the radio and said, “ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking. Umm, we’re experiencing some technical difficulties up here, so we’re gonna have to turn around and head back to Honolulu…”
My heart dropped and my stomach tightened. I’m already scared of flying so this brought my level from “nervous” to “almost shit my pants” scared. The good thing tho was we were with other musicians, Kapono, Ikaika, JRoq, and Will, so we all hung out and partied till we took off again. Needless to say we needed many beers once in the air again.
Our delay made it so we didn’t arrive till after midnight, which means we got to our hotel around 2am. After a stop at the convenience store for water and a quick bite to eat, I showered and got in to bed to try and recover for our show at on Friday.
So nearly 24 hours after waking up for school, I finally made it to Tokyo and I’m very excited to perform!
See you all this weekend, thanks for reading!
AK

We’re off!

Dad — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:29:28 +0000

Aloha, everyone! Nick & I are off to Japan today get a jump start on our Golden Week tour with HTJ. We’re going up early because we plan to go up to Sendai and Miyagi prefecture with some of the HTJ staff to visit the evacuation shelters and try to bring some aloha from Hawai’i to cheer them up. Alex is finishing up his final classes at UH so he and Mark will be coming up on Thursday …

Yesterday we performed at the “Aloha Concert for Hawai’i & Japan” at the Japanese Cultural Center … a great event with great food & entertainment for all. Some of the other featured entertainers besides ManoaDNA were Brother Noland, Paul Shimomoto, Pali, Robert Cazimero, and Satomi & Shinya Yarimizo.

I’ll be keeping you guys posted while we’re on our trip, so stay tuned ….

Aloha, “D”

Yay, it’s Saturday!

Dad — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 17:12:29 +0000

Boy, I’ve got so many things to do today … two meetings and a zillion (yes, a zillion!) errands to run! Nick and I leave for Japan in a couple of days so I gotta get off my butt and start getting my s–t together. Should have started doing a lot of this stuff weeks ago! I just saw some of the new tee shirts that we’ll be bringing up on this trip … pretty cool! All profits from sales of these tees will be donated to one of the relief funds up there … in addition, we’ll also be bringing special ManoaDNA wristbands to give to people who donate something to the relief fund too.

Busy day at IOKS (IOLANI on Kona St.) yesterday … mahalo to kumu Ed Collier for coming in to pick up some shirts for their Merrie Monarch appearance, and also to Kyle and Carole who are in town with friends from the Bay Area … thanks for stopping by everyone! Oh, and by the way – Carole, I want to see a photo of you in your new outfit! I’ll also be taking up IOLANI shirts for our friend, former sumo wrestling star and stablemaster Jesse “Takamiyama” Kuhaulua, and also for the governor of Miyagi Prefecture who Nick and I are scheduled to pay a courtesy visit to when we’re up there next week.

Oh, oh .. here come the puppies … damn, they’re ready for their walk! Ok .. gotta run! Have a great Saturday, everyone!

Aloha, “D”

And the beat goes on ….

Dad — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:13:41 +0000

Another nice, quiet Manoa morning … just finished a breakfast of eggs (over easy), toasted bagel, and of course, a mug of steaming hot Dunkin’ Donuts coffee! Now that my stomach is full, I can start getting ready for another busy day here in the land of aloha! The puppies seem particularly happy this morning … must be because I just let them lick stuff off my plate. I told Carla that we didn’t need a dishwasher .. just let the puppies lick the plates and utensils and voila! – spotless!

Linda went shopping at the Whole Foods store yesterday and brought back some of their freshly-made pizza. I love the stuff – I love pizza – but theirs seems to have more cheese and toppings on it than some of the other pizza joints. My favorite is their pepperoni, although it oozes enough oil to lubricate my entire car! Most of the products sold at Whole Foods is pretty good, although there was an issue a while ago about a lot of their “organic” stuff coming from China.

ManoaDNA is off this weekend – no Lulu’s or Kani Ka Pila – since we’ll be leaving for Japan next week … but we are performing this Sunday afternoon for a Japan fundraiser at the Hawai’i Japanese Cultural Center. It’s also Easter Sunday … AND my mom’s birthday, so I expect us to be quite busy!

Aloha, “D”