Aloha, everyone! It’s Thursday here in Tokyo and I’ve just returned from the Ginza where I spent the last couple of hours walking around in the heat and humidity. Although it’s not scorching hot, it is pretty humid and a bit uncomfortable. The last two days have been pretty mellow except for a dinner performance at the Westin on Tuesday, and visits to two ministry officials yesterday. The Westin event was interesting … it was a private dinner show for about 50-60 guests and when we walked in, I recognized almost all of them! Even our two keiki dancers, Hamoa and Kana, were there! Our fans are the best!
We also visited two government officials yesterday – Mr. Sekiguchi, the Sr. Vice-Minister of Land,Transportation, and Tourism, and Mr. Eda, the Minister of Environment. Mr. Eda’s section initiated the “Cool Biz” promotion to try and get people to wear lighter clothing to work, ie, aloha shirts. They’re really gonna need it if this hot and humid weather starts getting worse! After that, I went to visit my good friend, Kapono-san, over at his new ramen shop on the other end of Tokyo. I never realized how big Tokyo was … it took almost an hour to get there! It was well worth it, however, because his Kumamoto-style ramen was delicious, and I was so happy to see my old friend again! The name of his shop translated means “Turtle Dream” and he has the honu (turtles) logo displayed all around his restaurant with Hawaiian music playing in the background.
We have a meeting later this afternoon and then have a dinner over at the Tsukiji fish market. We then leave for Nagoya tomorrow and have a live show at Paradise Cafe tomorrow night and Hula Le’a’s Happy Hawaiian Day on Saturday. We then return to Tokyo after the show where we have two more performances at Haneda on Sunday before returning home later that night. Another busy trip!
Aloha, “D”