It's been a while since I had a day off. I still had to teach at Iolani School but that was only from 3:00 - 6:00pm. For me, that's close enough to a day off. hahaha. I woke up this morning at 10:00am. It felt really good to sleep in like that. I took Kylen to the doctor for his regular check up. He really really really doesn't like going to the doctor. hahaha. After that, I had a really really really really big lunch. I couldn't finish it. My wife helped me finish the rest. After lunch I slept for 20 minutes before I went to Iolani. After Iolani I went to dinner with my dad and then back to my house for some weight lifting. I just scheduled myself for a 11:00pm massage tonight. I found a massage place in a condominium that closes at 1:00am. I think this might be the 5th time I'm going there. They're not that expensive too. I think it was $50.00 for an hour. Looks like I'll be up a little late tonight. I'll probably fall asleep there and then drive home and sleep again. Doesn't that sound like fun? hahaha. Anyways, I really enjoyed my morning off today and I'll look forward to another morning off tomorrow. Have a good weekend!!!


今日は久々の休日だよ。　ま〜3:00 から 6:00pmまでイオラニで教えないといけなかったんだけどね。　僕にとってはそれでも休日って感じだったよ。　今日は10時に起きたんだけど久々に遅くまで寝られて気分が良かったよ。　そのあとKylenを健康診断に連れて行ったんだ。　彼は凄く凄く凄く病院に行くのは嫌いなんだ。　はははっ。　その後凄く凄く凄く大きい昼食を食べたよ。　全部食べられなかった。　それで残りは僕の奥さんが終わらせてくれたんだ。　昼食の後20分ぐらい昼寝してそのあとにイオラニに行ったんだ。　イオラニの後は僕の父親と夕食を食べてそれから筋トレをしたんだ。　たった今、夜の11時にマッサージの予約をしたよ。　コンドミニアムの中に夜中の1時までやってるマッサージ屋さんをみつけたんだ。　実はこれで5回目なんだ。　しかもそんなに高くないんだよ。　たしか1時間$50だったような気がする。　今夜は少し遅くまで起きてるかも。　そこで少し寝て、車で帰って、それからまた寝るんだ。　面白そうでしょ?　はははっ。　なにはともあれ、今日の朝、仕事がない日は楽しめたよ。　明日も仕事は朝ないから楽しみなんだ。　皆も良い週末を!!!

I had to celebrate girl's day today instead of yesterday because my wife's present was delivered today. I spent a little over $600.00 on her gift. I hope she uses it. I'm not sure if she even likes it. hahaha. Anyways, I guess it's something I could use too if she doesn't want it. Right now it's just sitting in our garage. We'll see what happens. Maybe I should've just gotten her flowers. It would have been a lot cheaper. hahaha. Well here's some pictures of her gift. To all the other girls out there, I hope you had a happy Girls Day.


今日は桃の節句を昨日じゃなくて今日、奥さんのために祝ったんだ。　なぜなら僕が頼んでいたプレゼントが今日来たからさ。　$600ぐらいのギフトをあげたよ。　彼女が使ってくれるといいんだけど。　正直言うと、彼女が気に入ってくれるかもわからないんだ。　はははっ。　何はともあれ、彼女が使えなくても僕が使えるからいいものなんだ。　今は僕の家の車庫に置きっぱなしになってるよ。　もしかしたら花束を買ってあげればよかったかも。　全然安く買えたしね。　はははっ。　これが彼女のプレゼントの写真だよ。　女の子の皆、いい桃の節句を迎えられたことを祈るよ。


Click here and you MIGHT win a very special gift from Bruce Shimabukuro.

I just got back from Los Angeles today. I left on Friday, had an event on Saturday and just got back this afternoon. This event was with the Oahu Visitor's Bureau. Everything went well except for the weather. It rained pretty hard in the morning and then it would stop, rain, stop, rain throughout the day. It was at a shopping center so there weren't as many people as they expected. I used Jeff K as my guitar player since Brian's on vacation in San Francisco. Jeff and I recorded my latest album "Live" together. Jeff lives on the mainland now so it wasn't hard for us to meet up in L.A. We had a pretty good time talking stories and catching up. It took a while for Jeff to believe me when I told him I don't drink anymore. hahaha. Oh, we had a really nice hotel too. I slept on the couch though. The bed was a little too soft for me. This whole trip just felt like a really short vacation. I feel very fresh now and ready to start my week tomorrow. Catch you guys later!!!


今日ロサンジェルスから帰ってきたんだ。金曜日に出発して土曜日にイベントをして今日の午後帰ってきたんだ。　このイベントはOahu Visitor's Bureauが主催したんだよ。　天気以外は全て順調に行ったよ。　朝、土砂降りになってそれから一日中降ったり止んだりしたんだ。　ショッピングセンターでイベントをやったんだけど思ったより人が来なくてさ〜。　今回はBrianがサンフランシスコに行ってからJeff Kを呼んでギターを弾いてもらったんだ。　Jeff は僕の”Live”のアルバムでも弾いてくれたんだ。　彼とはいっぱい話して良い時間を過ごせたよ。　僕が彼にもうお酒はやめたって言ったら全然信じてくれなかったんだけど最後には信じてもらえたんだ。　はははっ。　あっ、それと僕達はとてもいいホテルに泊まることができたんだ。　僕は長いすで寝たんだけどね。　僕にとってベットはちょっと柔らかすぎたんだ。　今回の度はちょっとしたバケーションって感じだったね。　今はとっても気分爽快でまた来週からも元気で過ごせるような気がしたよ。　また後でね!!!

I went into the recording studio the other day to record my song on Jake's CD. It was a pretty good session. I might go back tomorrow though to redo some parts. I had a pretty good time hanging out there. I remember when I recorded my last CD, Live. I would go to the recording studio and start recording from about 8:00pm. The session would go to about 3:00 or 4:00am. I would usually leave the recording studio a little drunk from all the beers I'd drink. I can't imagine trying to do that now. I would die. hahaha. The other night my eyes were closing around 10:00pm. Anyways, Here's some pictures from the studio.


この間Jakeの新しいCDの僕のパートを録音するためにレコーディングスタジオに行ってきたよ。　結構うまくいったんだ。　また明日行ってレコーディングするかも。　そこでは楽しい時間を過ごせたよ。　僕がLiveのCDをレコーディングしに行ったときは夜の8時から始めて朝の3,4時に終わってたね。　前はレコーディングスタジオを出る頃には少し酔って出てきたんだけど今はビールは飲まないからそれをやってた頃は信じられないよ。今やったら死んじゃうね。　はははっ。　この前は10時ぐらいから目が重くなってきてたんだ。　何はともあれスタジオでの写真だよ。

I had the day off from Pua Pua today so I did some volunteer work at Brandi's Deli. I used to work there when I was in high school. They closed down a few years ago and recently opened up again. I went there for lunch to visit them and I thought it would be fun to work for an hour or two. I ended up working for about 27 minutes. hahaha. I did have a good time though. It brought back a lot of old memories.


今日はぷあぷあの仕事が休みだったからブランディーズ・デリでボランティアをしたんだ。　高校時代そこでバイトもしてたんだよ。　数年前にお店を閉めたんだけど、最近また明けたんだ。　そこには昼食を食べに行ってついでに楽しそうだったから1、2時間働こうとしたんだ。　結局は27分しか働かなかったけどね。　はははっ。結構楽しい時間をすげせたし、楽しい思い出もよみがえったよ。

I didn't really do anything with my wife. I got her a dozen roses and that's about it. She did her daily things with Kylen. I offered to go out for dinner but I got shot down. I thought I was in high school again. hahaha. Actually, my wife doesn't like to leave the house much. However, shopping is a different story. I guess it's easier to watch Kylen at home. I don't really know since I'm usually working during the day. hahaha. Anyways, since I was in the spirt of Valentine's Day, I still had a pretty fun day. It started with Pua Pua, then lunch, then ukulele lessons at my dad's house, and a short rehearsal with Jody. Finally, I tagged along with Jake and his girlfriend as they went to my cousin's house for dinner. I tried my best not to suck the romance out of their evening. While they were holding hands, I got to carry my cooler of non-alcoholic beer. hahaha. Looooooooooser!!!


僕の奥さんとは何もしなかったんだ。　彼女にはバラを買ってあげただけだったんだ。　彼女は日ごろと同じことをKylenと一緒にしただけだったしね。　一応食事には誘ったんだけど振られちゃってさ。　なんか学生気分になったって感じだったね。　はははっ。　実際は僕の奥さんは外出があまり好きじゃなくてさ。　だけどショッピングは別の話だけどね。　Kylenの面倒を家で見てたほうが楽みたいなんだ。　僕は昼間は働いてるから何が起こってるかわからないんだよね。　はははっ。　なにはともあれ、今日は楽しい一日だったよ。　ぷあぷあで今日が始まって、昼食を食べて、僕の父親の家でウクレレレッスンして、Jodyと一緒に練習して、Jakeと彼の彼女と一緒にいとこの家に行ってディナーにしたんだ。　僕は彼らのムードを壊さないようにしたんだ。　彼らが手を握りあってる間、僕は一人でアルコールの入っていないビールのビンを持ってたんだ。　はははっ。　Looooooooooser!!!

I've been here for just a little over two months now. I think I'm getting the hang of it. I still don't know how to do certain things though. I don't know what to do when a customer wants to purchase a ukulele with 2 credit cards instead of one. I don't know how to do refunds and exchanges. It's mostly using the cash register that I'm still trying to get the hang of. My favorite part about Pua Pua now is the monthly concert they started holding. They call this event "Ukulele Anonymous". I didn't realize that everyone here plays an instrument. The next event is on February 23rd. You should definitely check it out if you're in Hawaii. It's a very comfortable venue. We have Tyler on ukulele/vocals, Gavin on ukulele/vocals/bass, myself on ipu and Yu-san takes care of all the sound equipment. Yu-san was the sound engineer for my first album, Incognito. He also works part time at Pua Pua. So the songs we play range from traditional hawaiian, oldies, contemporary local favorites, j-pop, the old surf tunes, some originals and.................that's about it. You can go to the Pua Pua website for more info. I found some random pictures of myself at Pua Pua in my computer. Some are old and some are new. Enjoy!!!


ここで働き始めてから約２ヶ月弱になるかな。　少しは慣れてきたよ。　だけどまだ色々な事がわからないかな。　例えばお客さまがクレジットカードを1枚じゃなくて２枚使っての支払い方法の処理とか、商品の返品や交換の処理方法とかわからないんだ。　大体はレジの事についてなんだけどね。　僕のぷあぷあの好きなところは今、月1で行なわれているイベント、”ウクレレ・アノニマス”なんだよね。　実はここで働いてる人、皆が楽器を弾けるとは思わなかったんだ。　次のイベントは2月23日の予定です。　その間ハワイにいるんだったら是非来て見てよ。　ボーカル/ウクレレはタイラー、ウクレレ/ボーカル/ベースはギャビン、イプは僕でユーさんは音の調整をしてるんだ。　彼は僕のファーストアルバム”Incognito”でも音をやってくれたし、ぷあぷあでも働いてるよ。　僕達のやるジャンルはトラディショナルハワイアンからオールディーズ、ローカルソング、J-pop、サーフィングソング、オリジナルなどなど………………。　ぷあぷあのサイトに行くともっと情報がわかるよ。　自分のパソコンの中に色々な写真を見つけたんだ。　古いのもあるし新しいのもあるよ。　楽しんで!!!


Click here and you MIGHT win half a ticket to our next concert.



















This is the only picture I had of Gavin. hahaha.

I'm not sure if you guys watch American Football in Japan, but it's pretty popular here in America. Yesterday was the championship match between New Orleans and Indianapolis. After working at Pua Pua, I rushed out and made it over to a friend's working place. He threw a big party there and had a couple of really big televisions. I've never watched a football game on a big screen like that before. I think one was 103 inches and the other was 180 inches. I heard that the 103 inch television goes for around $30,000.00. My math isn't that good but I think $30,000.00 equals more then 20 lunches. hahaha. After the game we played a little music and then I made it home in time to wrestle with Kylen. He almost won. Anyways, enjoy the pictures.


日本ではアメリカンフットーボールを見るかわからないけど、アメリカでは凄く人気なんだ。　昨日は決勝戦があってニューオリーンズとインディアナポリスの試合があったんだ。　ぷあぷあで働いた後、友達の仕事場にすぐ入ったんだ。　そこで友達がパーティーを開いていて大きいテレビも何台かあったんだ。　今までにあんな大きな画面でフットボールの試合を見たことはなかったよ。　一個は103インチで一個は180インチだったんだ。　聞いた話だと103インチの方は$30,000.00（約\300万）ぐらいらしいよ。　僕の計算はあまりよくないけど$30,000.00 は昼食20回分ぐらいだと思うね。　はははっ。　試合の後は少し音楽をやって家に帰ってKylenとレスリングをしたんだ。　もう少しで彼が勝ちそうだったんだ。　なにはともあれ、写真を楽しんでね。

I didn't really do anything new in the last few days. It was basically working at Pua Pua, eating great lunches, teaching at Iolani and then trying to keep my wife and son happy. However, today was my day off. Well I just had the morning off from Pua Pua. I woke up around 8:00am, returned all my emails, got a hair cut, then a one hour massage, ate a pretty big lunch, took a 2 hour nap, taught at Iolani and finally played music at Chai's Island Bistro. It was actually a pretty busy but very enjoyable day. At Pua Pua, I'm trying to learn how to play the ipu. The ipu is a instrument that's used a lot in hula. Many customers ask me about the ipus but it's kind of hard to explain how to use it without actually playing it correctly in front of them. My goal is to play the ipu for a customer one day and have him or her say, "Wow!!! That's amazing!!! Can I buy 10 of those?" hahaha. I'll be practicing. Jake joined us at Chai's tonight. It was a lot of fun. I don't have any pictures though. I tried taking a couple of pictures but it was too hard to press the button while I was strumming the ukulele. hahaha. About 20 minutes ago, I took a picture of myself so that I could show you guys my new hair cut. Everyone's sleeping though so I had to take the picture myself. It's kind of fun. I ended up taking 37 pictures. That's when my arm started getting tired. hahaha. Anyways, I should get some sleep. It's exactly 1:09am right now. My bedtime was almost 3 hours ago. Oyasumi!!!


この数日間実はなにもしてないんだ。　ただぷあぷあで働いて、素晴らしい昼食を食べて、イオラニで教えて、奥さんと息子を楽しませてたんだ。　今日は僕の父親の休日だったんだ。　僕は今日ぷあぷあでは働かなかったんだ。　朝の8時ぐらいに起きて、メールをチェックして、散髪して、1時間マッサージを受けて、いっぱい昼食を食べて、2時間昼寝して、イオラニで教えて、チャイズアイランドビストロでライブをしたんだ。　今日は結構忙しかった日だけど、楽しかった一日だったよ。　ぷあぷあでは実はイプのたたき方を勉強してるんだ。　イプはフラでよく使われる楽器なんだ。　お店では色々な人にイプについて質問されるんだけど実際にちゃんとたたけないと説明できないからね。　僕の目標はイプをお客さまにたたいてあげて「ワォー!!!凄い!!!それを10個買っていい?」って言わせることなんだ。　はははっ。　だからいっぱい練習するよ。　チャイズではJakeも一緒に弾いたんだ。　楽しかったよ。　だけど写真が一個も無いんだ。　いくつか写真を撮ろうとしたんだけど、弾きながら写真を取るのは結構難しいんだ。　はははっ。　皆に僕の新しい髪形を見せるために20分前ぐらいに自分で写真を撮ったんだ。　みんなはもう寝ちゃってたから自分で写真を撮る事になったんだ。　結構たのしかったから37枚も自分で撮っちゃった。　そしたら腕が疲れてきちゃってさ。　はははっ。　なにはともあれ早く寝ないと。　今は丁度1:09am なんだ。　僕の本当の就寝時間は3時間前だったんだ。　Oyasumi!!!


Click here and you MIGHT win a custom-made sign that's almost as nice as Pua Pua's.



I designed this sign at Pua Pua. Can you tell that I'm a professional sign designer? hahaha. I teach all of the 10:00am lessons though. Come by if you're in Hawaii.

I really believe that this will be my year of greatness. I've gone through a lot of big changes lately, but I really think the exercises I've been doing has kept me positive. I've never felt this good about myself since I was 10 years old on Christmas Day. hahaha. I haven't touched a beer in over 2 months, I really enjoy my job at Pua Pua and I almost gained 10 pounds. That was my New Year's resolution. I went to visit my new doctor a couple of days ago and my weight was 130 pounds (58.9 kg). I just need to reach 132 pounds (59.8 kg). I'm excited to set a new goal after I reach this one. I might need about 2 more weeks. Ever since I quit drinking, I find it a lot easier to focus on things I really want to do. Keep in mind that I used to drink between 50 - 60 beers a week. Believe me, I can definitely feel a difference. It's not just in my mind. hahaha. Of course as I start to feel better, so does my music and my attitude as a ukulele instructor. As of right now, I feel pretty invincible. Nobody can see me. hahaha. American joke. Anyways, the highlight of this blog will have to be my New Year's resolution. In exactly one month, I gained about 8 pounds. I have a picture of me on January 1st and February 1st. Just remember..........

Meat, rice, pasta and desserts + weight lifting + tennis = almost 10 pounds


僕にとって今年は偉大な年になると思うよ。　最近は生活の中で色々な事を変えてるんだけど、一番大きかったのは運動で僕を前向きに考えさせてくれたんだ。　こんなに気持ちがいいなんて思えるのは10歳のクリスマス以来だよ。　はははっ。　2ヶ月間以上はお酒はやめてるし、ぷあぷあでの仕事は最高だし、10パウンドは増えたからね。　それが僕の新年の抱負だったんだけどね。　数日前、僕の新しいお医者さんの所に行ったんだけど僕の体重は130 パウンド (58.9 kg)だったんだ。　僕の目標は 132 パウンド (59.8 kg)だから後もう少し。　この目標に達成したらまた新しい目標を建てないと。　後2週間ぐらい必要かな。　お酒を飲むのをやめて以来、物事に集中するのが簡単になったんだ。　念のために言っておくけど、僕はビールを週に50〜60本飲んでたんだ。　マジで違いが分るよ。　僕の思い込みじゃないからね。　はははっ。　凄く体の調子もいいし、音楽もよくなってるし、講師としてもよくなってるんだ。　何はともあれ、このブログのハイライトは僕の新年の抱負についてだね。　丁度一ヶ月で8パウンド増えたよ。　1月1日から2月1日までの僕の写真もアップしてあるからね。　覚えておいて…………

肉、米、パスタと、デザート　＋　筋トレ　＋　テニス　＝　約10パウンド


Click here and you MIGHT win a lunch date with Arnold Brucezenegger.



JANUARY 1st, 2010






































































FEBRUARY 1st, 2010