The Selfie on our way to the gates our first day! We had a blast and would underestimate the fact that this cart had shuttled us 2 miles that we would have to walk twice the rest of the time we were there. Good times!
times
My Beloved World – US Supreme Court Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor
On Monday, March 10, 2014 I was able to hear United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speak about her life and brand new memoir My Beloved World at the University of Washington’s HUB Ballroom. The event was packed. She gave us many words and lessons to live by and showed us what a world class leader looks like. Although I’m already halfway through her book I really wanted a signed copy. They ran out of copies, but guess who’s face showed up the morning after in the Seattle Times! 😉
-AmbassadorNique
Road To Fuji Blog — Run This Town (Day Ten)
I woke up pretty early and forced myself to go back to sleep. I would wake up, try to organize my belongings into my bags. We would be meeting Snipes who was my fathers first friend in Japan who arrived at Yakota Air-force Base with him back in 1986. He now had a civilian job after retiring. We would get the chance to sit and have coffee with him and speak about old times, what was going on now and our plans for the futures. The last time we’d seen him was when we were living in Japan as children. Facebook is awesome!
After spending some time with him we would have to say goodbye as we were all meting with Kanako and Natsumi at 1pm.
After both arrived we would go to a toy store before eating lunch. We were able to sit for awhile and catch up and learn more about Kanako’s new job working for the ambassador from the US.
After eating we would take the train to a traditional Buddhist temple where we would do a Japanese fortune teller. I was very nervous, Kanako, Natsumi and Rupert pulled good fortunes then crystal pulled a bad one that she tied. I would nervously pull a good one! Dez would pull a bad one right after.
We would wash our hands at a temple toss a coin in a wishing well type thing and pray.
After this we would visit the many small shops in the area and just walk.
This lead us to the train station that we Would take the Harajuku. We would visit more shops for hours.
Next we would head to an arcade place where we would take booth pictures and I would win first place in Mario cart beating Rupert kanako and Natsumi!
After we ate again at a small lounge. We talked more and shared food.
Kanako and Natsumi would walk us back to our train station and we would say our goodbyes and head on our way back to Ginza and sleep.
Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
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DomoVlog: Road To Fuji
Ep. 1 | Ep. 2 | Ep. 3 | Ep. 4 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 6 |
Road To Fuji Blog — Tokyo Turn Up 2! (Day Nine)
I SLEPT FOR 15 HOURS!
I woke up and would go down stairs to take advantage of the Onsen that was on the 5th floor of the the ryokan. I would return an hour later to get dressed repack my bag send a few sunrise pix to friends and family, checkout and take the taxi ride to the train station and head back to Tokyo.
We would arrive back in Tokyo around 1230 to check into our hotel drop off our heavy bags and head to the currency exchange for more yen! My good friends Sayo and Natsumi would meet us at the Ginza building currency exchange. They would get a chance to briefly meet Dez, Madi and Rupert before Natsumi, Sayo and I would head out for lunch.
I wanted Okonomiyaki for a few reasons. It’s very popular, I’ve been asked if I liked it now for YEARS! And a lot of people had asked me if I’d ever tried it. We would go to a spot in Ginza that specialized in okonomiyaki. It would be served with grilled ramen, miso soup, Chinese cabbage salad and rice. One thing I did not know about Okonomiyaki was that the main ingredient was Chinese cabbage. I am not a fan. I asked if they could make it without it but after the puzzled looked by the waiter I decided just to deal with it and eat it anyway. Honestly, it wasn’t bad! Without cabbage it would have been great lol!
Natsumi, Sayo and I talked about our lives, what was going on and what was coming up.Sayo’s husband Nayalan would join us later in the day along with her younger sister Tomo who came all the way from Nagano (2.5 hours via bullet train to spend time with us and see me!).
After eating we would head to Tokyo station to meet Sayo’s younger sister, her husband and my friend Yuki.
I was happy to see them all, especially to meet Sayo’s husband for the first time whom I had heard so much about. Nayalan is a pretty awesome individual. He pretty much knew Tokyo better than all of us. He would help me find souvenirs for my father, and a Japanese DVD player that I hoped would play my region coded Japanese DVDs (it did.. YES!). I was happy to have a chance to catch up with all of them. Nayalan even answered all of my random questions about his family background. He even has a tumblr and pretty awesome YouTube channel about his life in Japan! He is an artist who draws very well too! I didn’t get to ask him what brought him to Japan but i know he taught English for 5 years and ended up meeting Sayo.
After seein taffy being made and going to the domo store in tokyo station I would randomly see a Japanese guy with a Tulane University Greenwave shirt. I asked if one of my friends could ask him if he would take a picture with me. My brother graduated from undergrad at Tulane in New Orleans, Louisiana, so it was very surprising to see a random person with this shirt.
After this the randomness continued when we saw an electric bull outside the station. We all wondered why it was there and Nayalan showed some interest. I told him I’d pay the ¥200 it cost to ride it to video him doing it! He said he’d pay half and I could pay the other. After seeing his bravery I had to try it to! Why? Well I’m in Japan! I don’t know any of these people watching me and could care less what they think, plus who else could say they road their first electric bull in the middle of Tokyo outside in front of staring Japanese people? Nayalan would stay on for 24 seconds before getting tossed off. It really didn’t seem to be going so fast until I was the one in the helmet with one hand up. It was pretty shaky and getting clipped kind of hurt especially after being sore from Fuji! I stayed on for 27 seconds. And yes I have the video!
As the sunset we (Natsu, Sayo, Tomo, Yuki, and Nayalan) headed to Yoyogi Park which has historical relevance to being one of the first parks where bboys would practice in the 80s after wild style came out. We got off the train at Hyrajuku and walked a ways to the park and just sat and people watched and took pictures before searching for the snoop dog tribute Mural. on our way we would stumble upon a festival in the park. We drank beer, got snow cones and watched Hawaiian performers, and just enjoyed each others company for a few hours.
After this we would head to shinjiku where the hachiko dog statute and the busiest cross walk in the world is. The sidewalk wasn’t so busy to say it was Saturday night but we would walk through twice and take pictures from one of the busiest Starbucks in the world.
We would walk Yuki to her train station before going to really cool spot in the basement of some building in Tokyo. The restaurant was in the basement of a building and was almost a mini food court with about 5 restaurants. We would sit down and be given 5 menu’s from all of the restaurants and we were able to order from anywhere we wanted.
They convinced me to try raw horse meat and swore to me it was good. I watched them all prove it before I would try.
After dinner we would all head home. I had such a fun day and a great time with all of them and enjoyed their company. Sayo’s younger sister Tomo who will possibly be attending Gunma university and studying abroad at Central Washington, even baked me homemade cookies and individually wrapped them! 🙂
After making it back to my hotel I would share my day with my Brodie’s reach out to my dads old Air Force buddy about meeting in the morning shower and sleep.
Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
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DomoVlog: Road To Fuji
Ep. 1 | Ep. 2 | Ep. 3 | Ep. 4 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 6 |
Fast-growing Asian hub in California
In California
Swedenâs Closet Racists
When a minister defended racial profiling, I told her to take a walk in my skin.
THIS… was kind of a sad read. It was something that I feel like most people of color here in America can relate to. More specifically more people of color trying to make our ways through this capitalist society doing what it takes to go along to get along, pay bills, and wanting to be accepted, fairly judged by the creed of our character, and the hard work. While many of us are guilty of code switching and going out of our way to fit in and not cause waves, often times none this matters.
Living With Less. A Lot Less.
This article was a very good. While the man in the article made a ton of money at a young age in Seattle during the .com boom, he tells a story that will make one take a closer look in the mirror. I know when I get to my apartment tonight I will be looking around closer at the materials I have asking myself how much of it is necessary?
I am a firm disbeliever of the punch clock logic and common misconceptions from people my age that since I am 25 we are now somehow old, stuck, and should be getting ready for child rearing, settling down, and looking for a mortgage and a car payment. However, I hope to continue to pursue happiness, travel, take advantage of nature and what’s here in my own backyard, move toward better health, managing my money better and continue to educate myself through media, communication and most importantly life experiences.
I think what I took from it, was a personal look of how I could do better. Carbon footprint aside, I have to do a better job of getting rid of clutter, junk and items that I do not use that take up space.
Mexican teen shot 8 times or more at Ariz. border
Latest reports are saying the 16 year old was shot 11 times! Really? For throwing rocks? “ITS THE WORLD!!”
I suppose…
Report Criticizes School Discipline Measures Used in Mississippi
This was a really good article. The ‘Know Your Rights’ workshop that I put on back in September with the City of Seattle Human Services Department was primarily focused around this topic. The conference was primarily about informing community organizations, youth service providers, and community members about what was going on and what rights students and their parents had. Along with how Washington State is a right to educate state. Every student has the right to be educated even if they are expelled the state must provide a way for them to continue to be educated either by giving them the work they will miss, night school, online classes and/or an alternative school.
Furthermore… The reason this is more important than ever… is bc Obama just passed a law putting more armed guards in schools. If they are already putting elementary school kids in jump suits and throwing them in the back of police cars for not wearing belts in schools imagine what will come…
“The report comes as lawmakers in many states, including Mississippi, are considering plans to place armed officers or guards in every school, a measure that has gained traction since the shootings in Newtown, Conn. While this report does not focus on that issue specifically, its authors suggest that the presence of more police officers could make a bad problem worse.”
Report Criticizes School Discipline Measures Used in Mississippi
Sheriff makes policy changes after man shot 16 times in bed
What a crazy story. Especially hearing the news that there was a shooting at a high school in California this morning. We will see if VP Biden will get legislation passed on these issues.
AmbassadorNique 