Well, see you all today or tomorrow hopefully! My brain isn’t working now because I’m so tired so this blog might not make any sense haha.
Aloha!
AK

The boys & I are getting ready to go up to Japan within the next couple of weeks for Golden Week.  Nick & I will first be heading up to the Sendai and Miyagi areas to visit the evacuation shelters where we’ll do our best to bring as much of the aloha spirit as possible to the people up there.  Upon our return to Tokyo, we’ll join up with Alex and Mark who are flying in after Alex finishes his UH classes to continue our Golden Week tour with HTJ in Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka.  Of course there’s still concern about the ongoing nuclear crisis and aftershocks,  but l need to block all of that from my mind and focus on the task at hand.

And speaking of focus, my golf game SUCKS!  I don’t know what happened … one moment I’m shooting par golf, the next, I’m getting double and triple bogeys!  The golf gods are messing with me again … bastards!

We’re back at Lulu’s tonight and Kani Ka Pila tomorrow, and then we’re off for the next few weekends while we’re in Japan.  Be sure to check our manoadna.com website for our schedules, blogs, and updates!

Aloha, “D”

I picked up some dinner at the original Side Street Inn last night … grilled rib-eye steak w/ mushrooms & onions, and bacon-wrapped prawns.   Along with some fried rice, this was a meal for the gods!  Of course I always end up eating way too much but hey, I’m a local boy … ‘love my grinds!

We’re getting ready to go up to Japan at the end of April for Golden Week, and it now looks like we’ll be performing in Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima.  Since we will be representing Hawai’i Tourism Japan on this trip, we will only have one MDNA solo live concert which will be at Club Ikspiari on April 29th.  I’m really looking forward to seeing all of you, and hope that our music will bring smiles to people’s faces during these very difficult times.

Please take care and be safe, my friends!

Much aloha, “D”

Peace out DNAers!
AK

We ate lunch at this katsu place in the Sapporo Factory and I had katsudon AND my first beer! I didn’t drink anything the day before because I was still sick so this was so delicious! Yes I know the beer is small but it was at 11 in the morning and we had a long day ahead of us.

Katsu Don

My first beer on this tour...OISHII!

Then we had our shows which was pretty awesome! I didn’t get any pictures of our shows but I think my brother did so go check his blog. After our shows we had a small snack at this place that sells pizza cones…yea it sounds weird but it’s so good! We then proceeded to drink a lot more beer right outside of where the stage was. This beer in the picture next to my gourmet pizza cone was bought for us by a great fan! She knows the way to our hearts. This was only the start to our crazy night.

yup...pizza cone

We then went to the FM Northwave reception dinner and got a great greeting from everyone! We sat down and had lots of beer and food while prizes were given away to many of the people in the room. They were also celebrating Sarah’s last radio show with Pele Reiko…so sad! Let me see if I get this right…卒業おつかれさま! Is that correct? It means shes “graduating”, or “moving on” – I don’t know. Anyways, after some hula and a short jam session, we thought the party was over, but no…one last surprise for ManoaDNA. Everyone in the ballroom took out pieces of paper and our song ‘Aloha You – Kizuna’ started playing and everyone stood up and started singing! So awesome!! I hope some people see themselves in the picture below. I have a video of it to so I might try upload it soon.

They're all singing our song!

Sorry, after this, I didn’t take any pictures but that’s because I was super duper shmuper tired! We went to the after party and drank some more beer while getting a small japanese lesson from some new friends we made at our table. Then, after consuming more beer and eating edamame soy beans, we proceed to go to eat miso ramen. I was so angry that I was so tired and not hungry! Since I s sick the day before, I wasn’t too hungry last night so I had to watch as everyone around me ate awesome miso ramen from Sapporo! I had a bite, but thats it…
After that we finally came back to our hotel and passed out.

As for today, we are heading to Tokyo to start the great JATA weekend! I love this weekend it’s going to be so fun! I’ll post more photos and blogs later. I’m excited to see all our friends in Tokyo too!

Peace out friends,
AK

Here’s our schedule (日本語でここをクリック！), and what you can expect!
Thursday, September 23rd: Sapporo Factory, Sapporo, Japan
11:00, Discover Aloha Hawaii Stage – Interview on FM Northwave w/ ManoaDNA & Aureana Tseu
13:00, Discover Aloha Hawaii Stage – ManoaDNA performance & mini hula lesson w/ Aureana Tseu
15:00, Discover Aloha Hawaii Stage – ManoaDNA performance w/ special surprise for all guests!
16:00, Discover Aloha Hawaii Stage – Final Aloha & “Hawai’i Aloha” w/ ManoaDNA & FM Northwave

Friday, September 24th: Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan
18:00, Private Event for Hawai’i Tourism Japan

Saturday, September 25th: Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan
12:20, JATA World Travel Fair Main Stage – ManoaDNA performance w/ Sarah Noyle
13:45, JATA World Travel Fair Hawai’i Booth – ManoaDNA performance
16:55, JATA World Travel Fair Hawai’i Booth – ManoaDNA performance

Sunday, September 26th: Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan
12:45, JATA World Travel Fair Hawai’i Booth – ManoaDNA performance
16:00, JATA World Travel Fair Hawai’i Booth – ManoaDNA performance & “Hawai’i Aloha”

Monday, September 27th: Thumbs Up! Yokohama, Japan
19:00, Thumbs Up! Bar – ManoaDNA Live! Hana Hou! (サムズアップ⇒WEBSITE)

I had a terrible golf score yesterday – 93!  For some reason my drives off the tee were hooking so badly that it looked like I was throwing a boomerang!  Luckily, the other guys weren’t doing much better so I pretty much broke even on my bets and escaped a lot of abuse!  I was invited to play tomorrow morning at Hoakalei, a new Ernie Els-designed golf course  out in Ewa.  My friend told me that the courset has something like 130+ sand traps … YIKES!  Sand is my worst #@*%# enemy!  Now, now … think positive, Lloyd …

The University of Hawaii football season kicks off tonight with our U.H. team taking on Central Arkansas out at Aloha Stadium.  We won’t be able to go since we’re playing at Lulu’s, but we’ll be rooting for our beloved Warriors!  Go get ‘em coach Mack!!

Aloha, Lloy”D”

With 9 shows down and 11 or so more to go, we have been jammin’ round Tokyo. First two days we spent in Narita, performing at the Narita Airport’s “Oasis Music Week.” I’ll be honest, I thought it was going to be pretty bad, but it turned out to be ok. Good turn out for all five performances, and everyone really seemed to be in a good mood! Luckily, the last show was mostly people going to Hawai’i anyway, so I think they appreciated getting in the mood.

Yesterday was our first full day performing in Tokyo. We got up and headed to four different show locations, performing for travel industry types and people booking tours! It was really an interesting experience considering we had to play three of the four gigs acoustic. I felt like the old-time Hawai’i performers, showing our craft for anyone who would listen. Really humbling, and brought me back to our beginning days of Manoa DNA!

Well, we’re off to two more gigs in Tokyo, then on to Sendai. Hope everyone is doing well, and thank you to all those readers who came down and supported us!

Aloha,
Nick

We performed for Nittele TV’s 55th Anniversary show, which wasn’t really a show as it was a festival. This stage was sweet! Sandwiched between the giant Nittele TV building and the Shiseido (makeup) building, they had booths, demonstrations, live shows, music, and of course THIS GUY:

He was the MC for the whole entire show and the hardest working man there. He did everything from MC the shows, to sing the festival theme song, to broadcast live on the radio! He’s my hero.

Anyway, we enjoyed four short shows over two days and were featured twice on Nittele TV’s weather report. Thanks Tokyo! We’ll be back soon!