Internet works .. finally!

Good morning from Tokyo, everyone! We flew in from Sapporo yesterday and immediately headed over to Moon Romantic in Aoyama for our showcase ManoaDNA Live! in front of another packed house, We’ve been literally on the run since arriving a few days ago and we finally have today off to recover! Sapporo was wonderful as always, and the people and the food were FABULOUS!! They always take such good care of me and my boys and we truly appreciate all the love and aloha we receive every time we go there! I’d also like to send a huge mahalo out to Watarai-san and FM Northwave for the wonderful hospitality, and to emcee DJs Pele Reiko and Hiroko of Studio Rim for a job well done!

Ok, I gotta have breakfast now so I have to go before they close the buffet! I will continue this after I get back … lots to tell so stay tuned! Be right back ….

I’m back after another great Japanese breakfast of eggs, sausage, coffee, and … natto! For those of you who haven’t tried this Japanese “delicacy”, it really takes some serious getting used to! Basically, natto is extremely fermented soy beans – very gooey with a pretty nasty smell, but very good for you health wise (do you know of ANYTHING healthy that doesn’t look, smell, or taste nasty?!). Anyway, Nick and I both love the stuff, but Alex and Mark can’t stand it … in fact, they both make sure they’re sitting up wind from us whenever we eat it!

Anyway, let me tell you about our Sapporo experience. By the way, the reason I haven’t blogged you guys since we arrived is because the internet connection in our hotel SUCKED!! It was WiFi but the server must have been connected to a dial-up modem … it either took an hour just to send one email or it it didn’t work at all! In any case, I apologize for the missed blogs as I’m sure you guys were wondering what happened …

We arrived in Sapporo late Saturday night after a very long day flight from Hawaii and were taken by a mini-bus to our hotel near the Sapporo Factory. Hotel check-in went very smoothly until the driver tried to open the door to the luggage compartment … yup, it was stuck! Apparently, someone banged into him while he was at the airport and must’ve jammed the door. So now this poor guy tries calling his office but his cell phone battery dies, and then realizes that no one is there because it’s a 3 day holiday weekend and its almost midnight! He finally ends up calling Japan’s version of AAA to come and bail him out! Oh man, it was hilarious but I really felt sorry for the old guy … Plus, we weren’t in what you would call the best of moods either! We did manage to walk over to a Lawson’s convenience store while we were waiting and got some snacks, water, and a couple of cans of my beloved Sapporo Classic beer! The rest of our trip went pretty smoothly so tomorrow I’ll tell you guys about some of the great Sapporo grinds that we ate and also tell you about the amazing performances we had in Sapporo and last night in Tokyo!

So much to tell … and so little time!

Aloha, “D”