Heading north …

It’s now 6am here in sunny, cool Tokyo and I’ve been up since 4am … jet lag sucks! I’ll probably start packing up my stuff soon before heading down with the guys to have breakfast. “Brother” Noland Conjugacion is also with our Hawai’i delegation and ran into a funny episode while going through security yesterday at the U.S. Embassy. As the guard was checking our IDs against the names on the guest list, he suddenly had a very puzzled look on his face when he came to Noland’s because he was listed as “NOLAND, BROTHER”!! Hahaha! Priceless!!

Oops … gotta run to catch the train … will continue this after we get settled in Iwaki city. Aloha!

Hi there! Remember me?? Sorry I haven’t been able to write the last few days but we’ve been on the go since we arrived in Iwaki city on Thursday. Plus, there is no wireless connection in the rooms – only in the main lobby area which is about a 5-minute walk from our rooms. We are staying at the Spa Resorts Hawaiian which is located right here in Iwaki city, and it just reopened earlier this month even though parts of it are still damaged from the March 11th disaster. On the day we arrived, the first thing I noticed was that there was very little energy or “life” in the air. The city has suffered terribly from the earthquake and tsunami, and it now suffers from the stigma of being nuclear “outcasts” because of the crisis at the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. We paid courtesy calls to various city officials including the mayor, and their message was clear – Iwaki is safe, so please come and visit!

Yesterday we performed at an elementary and a middle school where we shared lots of tears and laughter with the students. We then were taken to the Port of Onohama which was heavily damaged by the tsunami for a moment of remembrance at the port memorial. The stage we performed on was built on the actual debris and it was a real emotional moment for all of us when we performed FEEL THE LIGHT as our tribute to the city of Iwaki and the people of Tohoku. Words cannot even begin to describe the feelings we all felt ….

Today we have a couple of performances here at the resort which I’ll tell you about it in my next blog since I have to get ready to go on stage. My next blog will probably be sometime tomorrow evening after we return from Kessunuma … that is, if the hotel has WiFi.

Aloha, “D”