Posts Tagged ‘adventure’
Osaka 2011 – Day 3
Sorry for the delay in this post! I returned from Japan on Saturday, and spent most of the weekend catching up on sleep before shooting a wedding yesterday evening. I do have my ‘Scenes from Japan’ collection up on Nonstop Honolulu right now, which features some images from the previous days, as well as previews of the not-yet-posted Day 4, but let’s get on with Day 3!
My day started with walking across the street from our hotel, the Dōtonbori Hotel, to grab a coffee from the Lawsons convenience store. I’ve never seen such a wide selection of canned coffee and tea – for me, it’s heaven. After settling on my coffee of the day, I joined Burt and Mari for a quick stroll around the area. I even stumbled across a Lush, which I’ve also been to in Florence, Dublin, Vancouver, and Auckland, besides the American locations. It’s now on my travel checklist to always try to find an international Lush!
Osaka 2011 – Day 1
I apologize for the tardiness of this post, but this has been the first chance I’ve had to grab a few hours before rushing off to another adventure!
My first day in Osaka began in Honolulu with a chants, song, and dance at Gate 34 as Hawaiian Airlines and the community came together to celebrate the first departure of their inaugural route to Kansai Airport. After the speeches, hula, and traditional Japanese fan dance, a blessing was made and the maile leaf was untied, and our trip was officially underway. The crew gathered for some final photos, and then we all boarded to settle in for the eight hour flight to Japan.
A Yonsei’s First Trip To Japan
I am honored, humbled, and excited beyond belief to have been invited by Hawaiian Airlines for their inaugural flight for their new route to Osaka, Japan. I’m a fourth-generation Japanese-American, or yonsei, and it’s taken me 24 years of life before venturing to what my hapa friends and I refer to as “the fatherland” (as most of us have Japanese fathers and Caucasian mothers!). Though I’m only staying for a few nights, I’m going with one goal in mind: Don’t feel like I didn’t take enough photos.
Okay, maybe a goal-and-a-half: Don’t feel like I didn’t take enough photos, and feel good about the ones I do take.
It’s my photography that got me invited in the first place, which has been a greatly validating feeling. I can’t complain – I’m going somewhere I’ve always wanted to go because of (and for the purpose of doing) what I love most! With fashion as my second passion in life, I admit to having muddled over what clothes to bring, but with Japan having incredibly hot summers, at least much of my Hawaii wardrobe will translate. That’s left me with fussing over what gear to bring and carry on my own, since the husband is sitting this one out.
I’m also lucky enough to be traveling with some of Hawaii’s social media giants:
- Toby Tamaye, @atmarketing, of AT Marketing
- Esme Infante Nii, @esmeinfantenii, of Moms in Hawaii
- Burt Lum, @Bytemarks, of Bytemarks.Org/BytemarksCafe.Org
- Mari Taketa, @NonStopMari, of NonstopHonolulu.Com
Follow any of us on Twitter (I’m @dallasnagata, of course!) or the hastage #HAOsaka to follow our adventures over the next week! I will also be blogging my personal impressions and photos here on this blog, while posting photo galleries of my more artistic scene captures on my Nonstop Honolulu blog, Moments Around.
I got a haircut so I don’t look too unruly, I’ve gained 5lbs in the last week in preparation of eating my way through Osaka, had my dollars exchanged for yen, and I think I’ve decided what camera lenses to bring. I should probably start packing.
San Diego – May 2010
This May found me in San Diego for about a week, visiting my friend Cameron for her birthday and meeting up with my soon-to-be mom and sister-in-law! From seeing the cast of Glee perform live in Hollywood, to photographing the sunset in La Jolla, I found a lot of great photo opportunities while I was there, and here are some of my favorite shots from the trip! Enjoy!
Cameron at her campus, CSU San Marcos.
Architecture at CSU San Marcos.
Adventures on the USS Chung-Hoon
Thanks to my Twitter connections, I was lucky enough to be one of the blogger/tweeter/photographers…well, ‘New Media People’, to be invited by the US Pacific Command’s Public Affairs to the Navy’s Family Cruise day on the USS Chung-Hoon. It was great to share this adventure with my fellow social media people, including Damon Tucker (Who has an amazing detailed blogpost about our day), Kaimana Pine, Burt Lum, Christie Shimabuku, and Shauna Goya.
The day began with meeting up at the Nimitz Gate of Pearl Harbor. Once we got to the docks, we walked around a bit, taking photos of the other ships, including the USS Port Royal.
Finally, we approached the ship we were sailing on for the day, the USS Chung-Hoon, named Rear Admiral Gordon Pai’ea Chung-Hoon, whose Hawaiian ancestry gives this ship a special connection with our state.
After boarding, we were were taken on a tour of the ship led by one of the junior officers. He showed us all over the ship, down steep stairs, through hatches, and even in the command center (where we were not allowed to take photos, unfortunately.
Then, we got some demonstrations of the equipment and weapons kept on board. I got to hold a shotgun, which made all my little FPS gamer dreams come true! (Photo of me with gun courtesy of Burt Lum of Bytemarks.Org!)
Afterward, we checked out the aft of the ship, where some sailors were beginning to prepare lunch, but we left as a promotion ceremony was beginning.
We continued touring around the outside of the ship before making our way to lunch. After lunch, we were fortunate to witness a re-enlistment ceremony.
Finally, we got to meet the ship’s captain, Commander Michael McCartney, who talked to us about the ship’s history and connections to Hawaii, as well as some of the humanitarian projects his crew partakes in while deployed, while we made our way back into Pearl Harbor. On our way in, we passed a submarine that saluted our ship because it outranked theirs. Before we left the ship, the commander presented each of us with a challenge coin!
Though I am marrying an Army man in July, my brother is in the Navy, so it was fun to learn more about that branch of the military. I’d like to thank all involved for giving me this unique opportunity to photograph something like this, and I look forward to the next tweetup of the newly-named #808MilTweeps!
To see more of my photographs from this day, check out the SmugMug Gallery.
© 2010-2012 Dallas Nagata White
