It’s hard to express how to feel when you hear news of Michael Jackson’s death. He was a world-renowned legend who contributed greatly to the music community and broke a lot of barriers for the African American community.

I grew up listening to his music and watching his videos. I remember when “Thriller” first came out on MTV - I was in awe watching it. I remember my mom telling me stories of how she saw the Jackson 5 performing on the streets of New York prior to their hitting stardom.

Radio stations are playing his music non-stop right now. (more…)

What are you doing this weekend? Are you planning anything fun and exciting? Perhaps it’s one of those weekends to catch up with friends? Or maybe even better is finding time for yourself. That’s the kind of weekend I’m going to have.

My first priority is to start each morning on the mat, doing yoga of course. Then, my goal is to finish a painting I started months or perhaps even a year ago – I can’t remember. At any rate, I am determined to put the final touches on it. The painting is of a plant that my mother was very proud of. Whenever I visit her, I often find her tending the garden. This particular plant, whose name escapes me at the moment (it’s been that long), started coming into bloom. From the way she spoke of it, it’s almost a rarity that this happens. So we took a photo, capturing the shades of green of its leaves and the almost fluorescent appearance of its petals with the deep lavender tones and vibrant coloration.
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Don’t you love it when you wake up in the morning and it’s Spring? I find that my day goes so much better when I start it off seeing sunlight. I love the feeling of a bit of sun touching my skin. Do you feel that way too?
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Let me take a moment to gripe. Well, maybe gripe is too strong a word. Let me take a moment to niggle.

Thus far, I think I can commend myself for having kept an open mind about Yoga. I went, I saw, I surprisingly enjoyed it. But that doesn’t mean I appreciated every aspect of yoga. (more…)

In my last blog, I talked about my grandmother, who had just passed away.

What I didn’t mention was the tiny problem I had trying to get back to Japan for the funeral. This sad event was going to be held in Japan, but I was in Los Angeles – 5,500 miles away from Tokyo and an additional 30 miles from Tokyo to my hometown. Overall, it would take me 17 hours to get from the airport in Los Angeles to the one in Sapporo. (more…)

My grandmother passed away last month. She lived to be 99 years old. Yes, ONE CENTURY! - Unbelievable.

She died of natural causes – and when I learned that, it made me realize that I’d never seen her sick. Not once. I remember her having surgeries a couple of times for her eyes and back, but never for any illness. (more…)

Let me just start by saying that everyone participating on this hike did not – I repeat – did not expect the two-hour hike to turn into 8.5 hours. But the important thing is that we survived it. And to me, it was still a pretty awesome day that left me with great memories (see photos).

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Recently within my circle of friends, there has been a resurgence of the “Master Cleanser.”

The “Master Cleanser” is a detoxification program that was created by Stanley Burroughs in 1941 and made popular by Peter Glickman through his book  “Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days.” (more…)

I’ve been hearing that the weather this year, at about this time, all around the world is different from the last decade, or colder than ever before. Do you notice this in your town too? Here in LA, I was prepared for a huge storm on Christmas, but we just had a little bit of rain in my area that day. It still felt cooler than previous winters. (more…)

Change is on the horizon. That much is evident. This past Tuesday marks not only a change in the American regime, but a fundamental shift in the way this country is viewed from the outside, as well as the inside. Barack Obama’s election brings hope, and with it, an understanding that that hope must be buried in firm socio-economic platforms to see any tangible results. Obama himself stated that it might even take more than one term to achieve real, meaningful change. As a side note, one could make the argument the charismatically savvy democrat has started his re-election campaign before he even sets foot in the Oval office. Get ready America. This is definitely a man with a plan. (more…)