The Tokyo DisneySea Park is the most beautiful amusement park I have ever been to – a Disney nautical fantasy. Additionally, because it was October, the park was covered in festive jack-o-lanterns, autumn colored banners and lots of decor highlighting our favorite Disney villains, such as, Maleficent, Ursula, Hades, Jafar, Captain Hook, and the Evil Queen from Snow White. This year, they are also celebrating the park’s 15th Anniversary.
One important tip would be to purchase tickets online before going to the park. We went an hour early before the park opened and although we already had tickets, there was a huge line. Therefore, I highly recommend purchasing tickets before hand. There are also options if you plan to stay at the Tokyo Disney Resort, and additional options for multi-day and multi-park passes.
There is a shuttle from the Urayasu Train Station to the resort and theme parks.
The early morning crowd pours into the park….and it’s not even their busy time of the year.
Here we are getting ready to ride the Indiana Jones ride. This ride was exhilarating but without loops, and one mild drop – totally my speed! Basically, you get in a jeep and it takes you on a rough ride through caves filled with treasure, skeletons, tons of giant bugs, echoes, screams, and well… you get the idea. Sometimes you’re rollercoaster-ing through pitch black darkness – my kids absolutely loved it!
The Mediterranean Harbor is the centerpiece of the park. It is beautiful from all angles. In the evening they have the Fanstasmic Show here.
Because it was nearing Halloween, the day time show featured a parade of villains!
Agrabah – where Aladdin often got into trouble and fell in love with Princess Jasmine.
The Toy Story ride had a 3 hour wait – very popular, so you might consider getting a Fast Pass for this one.
I could look at this scenery all day. October is the perfect time to go. It’s not as crowded as during the summer and the weather is nice and cool.
Someone is exhausted! Time to go home.
So there it was, I didn’t think much of it at first. I checked his posts the first few days, and soon I began to think about the Facebook challenges that I had participated in. First, there was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and then, the 22 Push-ups for 22 days to bring awareness to those who committed suicide as a result of having PTSD. While these challenges were great because they brought awareness to the need to find a cure, it didn’t involve any action on my part. THEN, I thought, there really isn’t a good reason NOT to do it. In the end, I decided to blog about this because it was easier than I thought it would be, AND the results were absolutely eye-opening. Here are some highlights and insights that I gained from this challenge.
In just the first few days, I decided to focus on family. I surprised my Grandma at the care home with a smoothie and surprised my son with an Icee. Just to see the smiles on their faces from a small gesture felt great, it already made me want to do more.
Observing people who provide a service, cashiers, tellers, and waiters, made me realize that we take for granted that, most of these people, no matter what is going on in their lives, put on a smile and perform acts of Aloha everyday, all day long.
It makes a great difference when you smile and say, “hi” or “thank you” to someone who appears to be having a rough day. They immediately seem lighter and a little happier.
When we have so many material things that clutter our home, a wonderful Action of Aloha is to share your superfluous abundance with others. I cleaned out our bathroom with my kids and gave extra unused toiletries to the YMCA because they were collecting to make goody bags for the homeless. Through this act, we uncluttered our space and helped another person out.
I started to realize that this challenge was helping me to look for the positive in the world around me and look for more ways to create positivity as well.
I often avoid homeless people, but one day, my husband and I ended up helping a very educated and polite homeless man while we were waiting to cross the street. He was in a wheelchair and my husband gave him a push to the nearby library and I shared the breakfast we had just bought to take home. He changed my views and showed me that there are as many nice and scary homeless people as there are nice and scary people who have homes to live in.
A very important Action of Aloha is to live joyfully.
In a situation where someone is annoying you or being rude, the best thing to do is to make the most generous assumption about the person and the situation. For example, if you’re driving and someone cuts you off, you can assume they have to pee really badly.
Forgiveness is a valuable Action of Aloha.
Receiving the unconditional love of a dog is one of my favorite kinds of Aloha.
Taking care of a healing family member reminds us that we need Aloha from one another from time to time.
When Actions of Aloha becomes a habit, bad days don’t get you down because you know you have enjoyed so many days filled with ALOHA!
When I heard, “30 Day Aloha Action Challenge,” I thought it was going to make me tired sharing all this Aloha with everyone. However, that’s not what it’s about. It’s taking whatever you do everyday and making a conscious choice to just do it with a different intention in mind, an intention of Aloha. I also learned that it’s not about trying to get attention for what you do, but thinking about what you are giving your attention to. When you are trying to get attention for what you do, you are trying to figure out what others expect from you. Conversely, I found it much more joyful to give my attention to Aloha from the inside out, simply sharing my own joy with others, independent of their reaction. I found that most times, it makes them happy, at worst, you haven’t made anything worse than it already was. I encourage you to try the challenge for any amount of days and see how it transforms your perception of yourself and the world around you.
SHINE THE LIGHT ON YOUR INTERIOR LIFE – Go inward and identify what prevents you from thriving.
WHAT ARE THE EMOTIONS THAT NEED HEALING? Acknowledge and engage with these emotions. Tell your story of sadness, anger, frustration, resentment, guilt, hurt, jealousy, fear….Whatever! Write your story UNCENSORED.
RECOGNIZE THE BEAUTY IN THE STRUGGLE – What have you learned? How has it made you stronger? How can you do better? What do you want your life to look like going forward?
The above process could take 20 minutes for some challenges and 20 years for others. I’ve seen that, at first, there may be some very painful stories to face that we have not looked at for a very long time. However, over time, the more this process is maintained, the more of a habit it becomes to search for wisdom when we are faced with new obstacles. In other words, don’t expect life to get easier through this process, because, we can never predict the hardships that may come our way. Instead, you will habitually look for the lessons and wisdom when they do come or at least be able to stand in solidarity and compassion with others who share similar hardships.
Just like yoga, meditation, exercise, and a healthy diet, expressive writing is a another wellness tool to assist in taking care of our whole selves. This has become a spring board for many new projects I am creating to strengthen our emotional intelligence that involve taking this expressive writing into the creative genres of poetry and storytelling. It is the beginning of a brand new journey, and I am full of excitement to see what the universe has in “store-y” for all of us!
For more information and upcoming workshops go to the One Lucky Local Facebook page.
Each gesture is an expression. Movements put together are a story. The music is a narration. Collectively they create Okinawan dance – a connection to ancient culture and ancestry. Come experience, for a day, the rich Ryukuan culture expressed through music and dance. Since 1997, Master Instructor Frances Nakachi has nurtured her students by teaching the values and traditions of Okinawan dance while teaching discipline and self-worth in a positive environment.
On Saturday, July 2, 2016, from 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Mission Memorial Auditorium there will be a rare opportunity to experience an Okinawan dance lesson for FREE. Tamagusuku Ryu Senjukai Frances Nakachi Ryubu Dojo will present an Open House to all who are interested in learning to dance.
Nakachi Sensei was born and raised in Okinawa, Japan. From the age of three, she began learning Ryukyu dance under the dual instruction of the acclaimed sisters, Yoshiko Tanita Sensei and Mieko Kinjo Sensei, co-directors of the Tamagusuku Ryu Senju Kai and are certified as the Preservers of Important Intangible Cultural Properties also known as Juyo Mukei Bunkazai Hojisha.
After graduating from high school in Okinawa, she moved to Hawaii to attend Chaminade University. Nonetheless, she traveled back and forth to continue her studies of dance and completed all three certifications of testing administered by the Ryukyu Shimpo Newspaper Company in Okinawa called the Geino Konkuru, performing Arts Contest. The Geino Konkuru is an annual event where students of all branches of Okinawan traditional performing arts are judged by a panel of distinguished artists from each respective art form. There are three levels of testing that each student must pass, which are Shinjin sho, Newcomers’ Award, Yushusho, Award of Excellence, and Saikosho, Highest Award. Frances Sensei has taken all the certifications for not only for the perpetuation of the Ryukyuan Arts and but for her mother who was the biggest fan. Frances Sensei’s mother also used to dance Okinawan dance and it was her dream to have her older sister, Kathy and her to become teachers just like her senseis, Yoshiko sensei and Mieko Sensei.
In 1997, Frances started teaching Okinawan dance due to many inquires to learn Okinawan dance from her. She was moved by their seeking spirit to learn about the culture. She felt that teaching will help her continue with her practice and contribute to the community through her dance.
On January 9, 1999, Frances had passed her certification exam in Okinawa and earned her Kyoshi license in Dance from her instructors, Yoshiko Tanita Sensei and Mieko Kinjo Sensei. To commemorate her accreditation and to formally introduce the Tamagusuku Ryu Senju Kai Frances Nakachi Ryubu Dojo to the community, she held her first recital at the Hawaii Theatre together with the centennial celebration of the Okinawan immigration to Hawaii entitled, Chu Hisa Na , Fulfilling Dreams, One Step at a Time.
On June 5, 2005, Frances had passed the highest level of teaching certification exam in Okinawa and earned a Shihan license, Master Instructor license in Dance. She mentioned that this certification gave her a deeper sense of commitment in preserving the culture and understanding that there are so much more to learn and share . She mentions that the dance is always evolving and we must not stop learning.
Frances Sensei had performed and held recitals in numerous places in Hawaii such at the Hawaii Theatre, also known as the “Carnegie Hall of the Pacific”, Neal Blaisedell Center, Mamiya Theatre at Chaminade University, Orvis Auditorium at University of Hawaii just to name a few. She has also performed at a National Theatre of Japan in Okinawa, Fukuoka and many other places in Japan for cultural exchange. In 2009, she was invited to perform at the Carnegie Hall in New York and in 2014, she is dancing with her students at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC.
Also, Frances Sensei’s goal is to have students take their certification testing in Okinawa like how she has taken the testing in Okinawa. She wants to have her students experience what she had learned and train both body and mind. The students have the opportunity to be trained by the Grand Masters of Senjukai and other senior instructors. The training in Okinawa helps develop character, discipline, self confidence and a develop deeper sense of appreciation towards the culture. It is an life altering experience which helps the culture to be perpetuated and continued for many generations.
Currently, she teaches both children and adult classes at the Kilauea Community Center every Monday and Wednesday nights and performs at various community functions.
For more information about Tamagusuku Ryu Senjukai Hawaii, check out their website: www.senjukaihawaii.com.
Another shooting. Is this becoming some common occurrence in our country? It hurts me to think that much like our Honolulu, Orlando is a place people go to for vacation, have fun in the sun, and celebrate life. Also, about 20 years ago, I had a close friend who left Honolulu, and moved to the east coast, to avoid being shamed and judged by his family for his sexual orientation. Going to a nightclub, much like the one where the shooting occurred,was the only place where he felt free and accepted. It was a place where others could exist in solidarity and not fear judgement. The act of this shooting is a vile message of hate. One of my Facebook friends commented that, “..removing guns from the world isn’t going to keep violent F’d up people from killing. They will use knives, syringes, homemade bombs.” I agree that if people are “F’d up,” they will continue to kill and F’d up people need help, mental help.
Seriously, it angers me that we even need statistics to show whether or not gun violence is a mental health issue. Common sense would tell you that if you’re killing mass amounts of innocent people, something is wrong with your brain! Right?