I'm sorry long time no post!

The month of August was crazy! Too much work and play and no time to post! I will post more often so please come back sometime. 

On the 31st of August, Shawn and I went to see Elliott Yamin (see below) at our favorite music venue Billboard Live. Elliott was energetic, down to earth and chatty from the excitement of what a great tour he and his band were having over the last several days. He was so sad that his Japan tour was over because he just loved Japanese fans (some of them followed around the country) and their warm welcome! His performance was amazing (yes, One Word!) as his incredible voice, singing and apparent love of performing for the audience all came together and moved us. Notable songs were Free (he dedicated it to the audience-we can do anything!), Take My Breath Away (dedicated to the ladies in the audience!) and my favorite song Wait for You. He offered to stay for autographing any official Yamin goods sold at the shop. No new songs were performed but he said there would be a release of "The Premium Edition" of his album containing a new song covering a Japanese artist Yusaku Kiyama's "Home" on Oct. 8th.

Elliott Yamin is Comin' to Tokyo!

Does anybody who comes here ever watch the national guilty pleasure "American Idol"? Shawn and I have watched every season. Do you remember the underdog redhead with a goofy smile from Season 5, Elliott Yamin who placed third? I sure do. His soulful and smooth vocals resembling Stevie Wonder were my favorite. He went to the correct route by releasing an album from an independent label and did very well with it. He is coming to Tokyo to perform at our favorite venue "Billboard Live" at the end of August, and we got tickets for a sofa seating for two overlooking the stage. I am so looking forward to seeing him and hearing him perform! If you haven't heard his singing, I recommend his smash hit "Wait for You" and funky fresh "Moving On" on iTunes.

Our first Japanese vacation-NARUTO

Shawn and I managed to have a three night getaway to the Western Island of Shikoku two weeks ago. We stayed at Marriott' Renaissance Naruto Resort in Tokushima prefecture, an hour flight away from Tokyo. Naruto is internationally known for its unique natural ocean whirlpools and home to the second largest bridge in Japan. The hotel is beautifully located on the beach overlooking the bridge and has a pool and two onsen-hot spring baths. We ate all the local goodies at our favorite Japanese buffet restaurant on site almost three meals the day and still did not get tired! Great local produce and variety. At this hotel, people walk around in casual kimono called Yukata provided by the hotel to relax all day. I had Italian dinner in Yukata for the first time! Onsen is so nice it saves the soul. We loved it all!

Celebration dinner!

Shawn got a job at a reputable language school company Berlitz recently. Also, Eri hit over 300% of monthly sales budget last period so we went & had a special celebration dinner. The place we chose was the Japanese traditional tempura counter restaurant at Midtown where 20 different kinds of vegetables (for us) get lightly battered, deep fried and served right in front of you one by one. It was great though not cheap (that's why it's a special celebration dinner). Hi friends and family! Greetings from Tokyo! We miss you.

Finally all the boxes gone!

It has been two months since we moved in to our new apartment in Akasaka, Tokyo. Our couches and several boxes finally arrived several weeks ago but we still had to empty the last boxes of clothes and organize our walking closet. Two days ago, I spent 3 hours doing that and look at the results! I love organization! Let's let the pucture speak the loudest!

Favorite Vacations 3 - Las Vegas Grand Chateau '07

Last June, we vacationed at Marriott's premier vacation ownership resort in Las Vegas, Marriott's Grand Chateau (Check out my photo album-click here). Now, it is one of eight Asia Pacific Club's club resorts. Located a few minutes off the Strip, it is walking distance to other famous destination hotels such as Bellagio, MGM Grand and Planet Hollywood and other attractions. It was my first time in Las Vegas, and since I don't gamble, I wasn't sure whether we were going to have fun. Did we? Yes, indeed. We saw one of Cirque du Soleil's show "KA", and it knocked my socks off! I have seen lot of shows in my life but nothing even came close to their grand athleticism, imaginativeness and excitement! I also like the hours of Vegas, as I am a night person: sleeping in, going out late at night to lots of 24 hours restaurants, bars, etc. Vegas has come a long way to become a world class entertainment city where people from the world and all ages can have fun!

 

Office cubicle make-over!

Recently, I went out and got a few things for my cubicle at the office to make it over. I got a corner shelf to display my trophies, photos and a world map. What do you think? I like it a lot and I started selling more! Also, I got two fluffy cushions for my poor customers who had to sit on hard chairs. I don't know if those things contributed, but as a matter of fact, I have been selling one to two deals 8 working days in a row! Asia Pacific has officially become my favorite product, and I love it!

Are you Wii-ing?

I bought Nintendo Wii last year after trying it out at their New York City gallery. Neither Shawn or I have been gamers, but this game attracted me because I can play simulated outdoor sports such as Tennis, Golf and Baseball I can't play in real life because of my skin allergy to the sunlight. In Wii, you can create your own avatar called Mii as well as anybody you would want to exist in the Wii world. Here are Eri, Shawn, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise for example. Not bad, are they? If any of you would like me to create your abater and let it play with me in the Wii world, please let me know, and I will send you the photo of it!

The other day, I ordered WiiFit, new software for Wii that makes you work out while you play the games. It also keeps track of your Body Mass Index, etc. But what a bummer, my American game console does Not allow my Japanese software to play!  Amazon will not take it back. Gotta sell in on Yahoo Auction when I get around to it...

Our new vacation rental now available!

Hi friends and family! Our Honolulu condo has now been officially renovated and redecorated and now available for vacation rental! 2 bedroom, 2 bath (one with Jaccuzzi Tub) 6 people max occupancy 1100 sq feet condo on the 12th floor of central Waikiki building. Pool, whirlpool, sauna, puddle tennis and BBQ on site. A very convenient few minutes walking distance to the beach and the exciting shops and restaurants on the main street of Waikiki. Please rent it for yourself, recommend it to your friends, family and customers (and we will give you 10% back to you).  Please check it out and book on the web! $235/day or $1435/week!

click here

A quick catch-up!

Sorry it took me a while to add a new entry to my blog. Shawn and I were in Kyoto for two nights visiting my mother and my brother's family then I got terribly sick with bronchitis and missed work for three days. I have been back at work for two days now. Now poor Shawn is running fever , etc. The work is going well and the apartment is finally put together with our couch and other boxes delivered. Shawn already got a job offer from a recruitment company but the hours were going to be the opposite of mine so he turned it down. The weather has been miserably humid. I had completely forgotten how bad Japan's rainy season feels. Lots of rain and high humidity. It feels like we are in Thailand. I would rather be for sure. We had a huge earthquake a week ago which shook and caused a lot of landslide in Northern Japan. We felt our 10th floor apartment shaking ever-so-slowly for about a minutes. It felt so strange and creepy! Please pray for us that Tokyo not be hit by a large earthquake! Such a scary thought...

Our new apartment

It's been three weeks since we moved into our new apartment in Akasaka, Tokyo. Where our apartment is located is supposed to be one of the most desirable places to live in Tokyo as everyone tells us, and homes there are priced a few million $s. If we weren't renting, we could have never lived here. We love this area. It is a few munites walk to three subway stations, has a rose garden, parks, restaurants and shops gallore within a few minutes walk. And of course, it is only 10 minutes walk to my office which I love!

Shawn built all the furniture we ordered from Ikea and is doing a great job putting together our place. We are still waiting for the large shipment from Hawaii including my beloved couch and Shawn's music computer. Shawn has been great for cooking dinner almost every night, cleaning the house and taking care of things while I work. Of course, we have been slowly but surely exploring our neighborhood cafes, restaurants and bars and other areas of Tokyo. Tokyo has so much to offer-we love it!

The final week-2 Getting together with people

In the final week, we did our best to get together with our friends and former co-workers as much as time allowed. Here are a few pictures from those occasions. You guys, you know who you are. Thank you for your support, friendship and love. Please make sure to stay in touch and visit us soon or at least while we are here in the next few years! Best of luck to all of you! Love, Eri & Shawn

The final week-1 Garage Sale & selling cars

We had to do so much for the last month to finally move here to Tokyo. But the busiest and the most rewarding was the week before we left Hawaii. We would like to share some of the highlights!  Since we lived in Hawaii for 5 years, we accumulated too much stuff we either could not take or didn't need. Goodness knows we dropped off bags of clothes numerous times at Goodwill but we needed to have a garage sale to get rid of it all and get some cash to help with international moving cost. Our good friends Nick & Lael were generous enough to let us have a joint garage sale at their house. We went through everything we had in the house and priced them so low that no one could resist. Our unwanted items are other people's treasure! On that day, we had about 50 people coming to the sale and buying 90% of all we had. We received $600. In turn, we made some people really happy. And nothing went to landfill. Win-win!

Also, we sold Shawn's BMW and Eri's Mini to two very lucky people who got total deals. Talk about reducing one's carbon foot print. Bye bye cars, hello public transportations!

MVCI, Asia Pacific Tokyo Sales Gallery Grand Opening!

I started work at the brand new sales gallery for Marriott's new Asia Pacific Club on the 33rd floor of Tokyo Midtown Tower on May 15th. My new manager Mr.Kanda walked me through the office, introduced me to everyone including 19 other sales execs, and went over necessary stuff with me. I was exempt from attending a three week training, it was my first time to meet everyone. Gallery entrance is beautiful, using dark wood trimmings and natural stone accents. The meet and greet area is huge and has large windows looking down on surrounding buildings. The room has maybe 30 tables and 80 chairs. On one side, there are drink fountains and many kind of food is served. The walls have pictures and texts about Marriott company profile, history and our properties around the world. Then you escort them to your own cubicle next door. I miss my nicer office at Ko Olina! In the first 5 days, we welcomed more than 300 tours and sold 50! I took 12 tours and sold 4. The volume is lower than Ko Olina per sale as the lowest points you can buy is $12600. The important thing is that first week went well and I am very encouraged and relieved that we have plenty of tours and I have been able to sell 1/3 tours so far.

New photo album uploaded!

I just uploaded a new photo album called "Hong Kong & Vietnam '08". Please click here or the link on your right to see it.

Favorite Vacations 2 - Hong Kong & Vietnam '08

After three days in Hong Kong, we flew to Ho Chi Minh City, the fast-growing capitol of Vietnam. Despite the Vietnam War, they are very friendly to Americans (tourism from America is an important industry now). This city is one of the most lively place we have ever experienced in the world. The city has a lot to offer-beautiful French influenced architecture, cheap eats and great shopping (we have never had our money go that far before!) The only thing we didn't like was the low air quality because of crazy numbers of mopeds in and around the city. I guess dealing with pollution is a problem every growing country has experienced before. We also enjoyed a one day guided tour to Mekong Delta where we saw old Vietnam and its countryside.

After six days in Vietnam, we went back to Hong Kong and spent a day at Hong Kong Disneyland. It was our first Disneyland in decades and boy we had a blast! Did all the rides and saw all the shows. We had to have our picture taken with Hawaii's own Stitch. I wish I could be a kid again...

Favorite Vacations 2 - Hong Kong & Vietnam '08

In late February and early March this year, we vacationed in Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for 10 days. (Please see more pictures in the Photo Albums-link on the right). Although Hong Kong was a bit chilly and rainy, we had a great time going sightseeing, eating fabulous food, checking out antique shops, etc. It has been a part of China for 10 years now-but still is the most westernized and friendly place for us foreigners. We stayed at the world class JW Marriott Hong Kong-a great hotel in all areas! Our favorite sights were Peak Tram, the historical cable car that takes you to the breath taking view of the city. Also, Kowloon is a quick ride on a ferry to the other side of Hong Kong where things are less touristy and more knitty gritty, if you know what I mean.....

NEW-photo albums

I created a new section on this blog called "Photo Albums". Please click on the link on the right side to see most recent photo albums. I will be adding photo albums for our past vacations, etc. soon!

Tokyo Report-3

While we were in Tokyo, we stayed at Courtyard Marriott Ginza Tobu Hotel. They just finished renovating, and although it is a small hotel, it is a nice hotel (not nice enough to be Category 6 in my opinion). Its Ginza location is fabulous for window and real shopping (Ginza is like the 5th avenue of Manhattan) and Kabuki Theater going, and is close to two subway stations. Speaking of Tokyo subway system, it is the best I've seen in the world. You can go virtually anywhere as numerous subway and railway lines are intertwined in and around Tokyo like a spider web. Ginza street is open to pedestrians on every Sunday, making it a pleasure to walk around the area. We had yummy soba noodle (buckwheat) dish with vegetable tempura for lunch. Ginza is a must place to visit when you guys come see us here.

Tokyo Report-2

We went furniture shopping to IKEA the day after we put in our application for the new apartment. IKEA is located outside of Tokyo in Chiba prefecture in Minami-Funabashi, four JR (Japan Railways) train stations away from Tokyo Disneyland.

Fancy furniture has never been our thing, so IKEA was perfect. We bought a coffee table, a TV stand, a bed and a frame, night stands and a microwave cart, lanai table and chairs, sheets, pillows, an area rug, a duvet and a cover all for just $2300!!! Judging by how crowded it was by people of all ages, IKEA is embraced by Japanese well. What could be better, you can go to Disneyland and stop by IKEA for living happily ever after (the furniture break down)!

*You can click any highlighted words to get directed to the links.

Tokyo Report-1

What a week! We just came back from Tokyo, and it was very productive. First thing first, yes, we have a new apartment! We totally fell in love with this one. It's on the border of Akasaka and Roppongi, 10 minutes walk from my office, and it has a killer view (of Roppongi Midtown), a high ceiling and a sliding door-wall that allows us to connect the living room with the bedroom, giving us an "illusion" the place is bigger (it's 550 sq.ft). It's a brand new 18 story, 92 unit building, and since only 10 units were rented we could pick the one we liked. We started on the 4th floor. Then we saw the 6th, 7th, you get the idea. Rent kept going up but since they charged us no gift money and only two months of security deposit so we figured we could pay a little more so we got the 10th. Wow, our new life in Tokyo is becoming a reality little by little...Stay tuned!