This New Life

Hi Everyone, hope you all are enjoying life as we get ready for the holiday season! This year went by incredibly fast, and I can’t believe I’m staring into Thanksgiving and Christmas already! I guess Christmas can’t come early enough for retailers though, since they are kicking in the holiday season at full strength!

The family just returned from a week-long tour in Japan with ManoaDNA. This tour featured stops in Yokohama, Tokyo (Harajuku), Nagoya, and Sapporo, but also had a ‘Ohana twist with 18 guests from Hawai’i joining us along the way. It was nice to be back on stage with the band, awesome to be traveling with so many friends, and humbling to see the support we continue to receive in Japan. Even with so much change happening internally, we are so lucky to have such dedicated fans to cheer us along the way! I don’t know when we will be back in Japan again, but I can definitely count on our fans being there when we do! That’s awesome!

ManoaDNA Tour Bus

Back at home, the next chapter in the Kawakami family history continues to get moving. Alx returned to Los Angeles on Wednesday to continue his music career, and I kind of had my first day at my new job (I’ll explain why I say “kind of” later). I am actually in San Jose right now, to support Alx with his first mainland solo gig. He will be performing tonight at the Hukilau Grill in San Jose, and then again tomorrow for the University of Hawai’i football game tailgate. I think I’m more excited than he is, and will probably end up screaming like a little girl when he gets on stage!

For me, like I said earlier, I had my first-ish day at my new job with Marcus & Associates Realty. I say first-ish because I only went in for a half day yesterday before my flight to San Jose. It was such a whirlwind summer, getting my license and going on my roadtrip, that I was really excited to get all my paperwork in order and begin my new career. I described as equal parts fear and excitement, since I am an independent contractor and basically on my own for the first time ever! It definitely felt weird to fill out introductory paperwork, since at ‘IOLANI, I was the one who created all the introductory stuff! The one thing that I did take away from the day was, this is now who I am. I am a realtor. “How can I help you today?!”

Other than that personal stuff, ManoaDNA continues to book gigs for the end of the year and into 2015. If you are on the island during the end of December, make your reservations for our Christmas show at Kani Ka Pila on Sunday the 21st. I heard reservations are already going quickly, so I would recommend to make yours earlier rather than later. Unfortunately, with all the change happening, we will be postponing our annual toy drive to 2015, so this is only chance you’ll have to see ManoaDNA this holiday season! Call 808-924-4990 for reservations.

Happy Holidays Everyone! ALOHA!
Nick