Mural Project Finished and School Starts

Hello everyone!

Sorry I haven't been keeping the blog up-to-date. The Mural Project was awesome and I would totally do it again.. just not for a while.. I need to rest up.

The Mural is safety packed away, waiting for the members to choose the best place for it to be on display.
I would like to say thanks to everyone that help out and supported the project as well...

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School has started up again and I'm taking a rather heavy load... Need to focus and be organized..
Keep all my papers together and be able to balance my time..... and sleep... 0__0"

Josai International from the H building

Another little bit of news.... My Precious ( Electronic Dictionary) has kicked the bucket.. well.. partly... the screen is working fine, but the handwriting pad has died..  (CRY)*

I'll be fine. I'll just need to save up for a new one or try and get this one fixed... Ugh..


I'm out , have a good night


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Location:Togane,Japan

Mural Project - Overtime

Hello everyone!

Sorry, I didn't keep my promise to clean up the last post... I'll do it later....

Anyways, today has been really busy.
Going from here to there.. Helping here and there, I feel I'm getting some really good experience (^-^)

Dick Nakamura, my friend from the Nikkei Society, along with a Morioka artist designed and made a Salmon carving. Which was placed on the river near Sanaka Cho on Victoria road.

I was asked last minute to translate for one of the people speaking about the carving.... I really tense up in front of a crowed... Need more practice..









I got a picture of Dick and Roy with big smiles .


After that, Dick, Henry, Roy and Harj along with all the other members went for Wanka Soba.



















I was able to get 100 bowls in before I felt like I was going to blow up... But I couldn't lose to Henry .. He ate an amazing 93 bowls!!!!!

After that, the Step 21 members along with members of both Morioka and Victoria city got together with some of the public and said a few words.


Standing in front of the Mural taking pictures..
Mr. Murayama







Members of the Creative Peace Mural Society







Satoko, Noreen and Lily





Dancers from Victoria






What a busy day.... (>_<)

Time to sleep.....
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

- Tom ♪(´ε｀ )
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Location:宇登坂長根,Morioka,Japan

Mural Project - Openning

Hi there, I'm live blogging on site.








Dean Fortin riding in on a Morioka Chagu Chagu Horse.






Dancing







Shaking hands of Mayor Fortin and Mayor Tanifuji





















Traditional Dancing










Sansa dances





















Taking pictures






Closing

I will clean up this blog tomorrow

(^^)／~~~



- Tom ♪(´ε｀ )
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Mural Project - Welcoming at the station

After a bit of work on the mural today Satoko and I stepped out to welcome the guests from Victoria along with a large welcoming party.

The parties came separated in two groups, one riding Japan Air Lines and the other riding on Air Canada.  Most of the Friendship members were on JAL and the city members on Air Canada, they came about 2 hours apart....
After welcoming everyone, we took the luggage to the hotel and a few of us were able to sit and chat over ice cream.  ^___^

The last reminding members sticked out the last two hours till the mayors party (Victoria's Mayor) arrived..  They all looked pretty tried but they were all seemed happy have a welcoming. 

It was lots of fun to be welcoming both parties...but I'm a little pooped....I think that's the first time I've have gone to two welcomings on the same day.






Funny enough, as I was waiting for them, Roy surprised me from be hide, camera in hand.
After trying to get all the members to gather around, we took a few pictures and headed off to the hotel.
Here are a few shots from today.

Location:Morioka Station

Mural Project - Getting near the end

9


Pins and needles! This project is flying!

Over the last two days we made all the final touches on all the panels and have started sewing. Here at Umakko Park, we have been burning the oil lamps all thru the night.
Even I have been helping sew!!!





We all needed a bit of a break and Ms.Yoshimi pulled out her guitar and we had live entertainment!!
- Tom ♪(´ε｀)
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Location:砂込,Takizawa,Japan

Back to school for the day.

Hey there, sorry to those reading about the Mural Project in Morioka. I had to go back to Tokyo to finish some paperwork and get my grades for next semester.
It's amazing how the school runs on an almost entirely paper based system to enter courses and grades... In one word, "Nightmare" comes to mind.

To be honest, I would really like to make offer to remake the schools database.

Anywho, I'm bought this new book from the store about Iwate Culture and such .... Anywho... it came in a paper envelope with some warning....












If you can't see it, here's a close up...













It's a warning basically saying "Hey! Stop buying dead tree books!! The book you bought was made of some animals irreplaceable house...."

I felt real good about my self after that... Hahaha . In the authors defense ... I think he/she wanted to express something completely different if at all....

I was able to finish up all the paperwork for school today so, I we be returning to Morioka tonight. Look forward to a post tomorrow (^^)／~~~


- Tom ♪(´ε｀ )
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Location:２丁目,Shinjuku Ward,Japan

Mural Project - Day nine and ten - Hand prints and Sewing Machines

SEWING MACHINES!!!

The machines have been pull from the closets and are been oiled and cleaned.  Apart from finding that a few machines were missing parts, the group have gather 3 speedy machines that are up to the task.

Spooling thread

Working out the placing of the fish

Out on the streets, members have been gathering support and promoting our cause.  A friend of a friend was able to get us a spot right in front of a major department store.  It proves there is only "Six degrees of separation" between us.

In front of Kawatoku - Morioka

Setting up

Hollering out on the street

Good friends of mine ^__^

High Five!!

Stack of hand prints

We gather more then 200!! hand prints in a few hours.




- Tom ♪(´ε｀ )
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Location:砂込,Takizawa Village,Japan

Mural Project - Day eight

Good Morning!

Today is Thursday and the weather forecast isn't looking the best. Morioka is having very unusually hot weather this year, around 8c above normal.

We're fighting the hot weather with ice cold drinks and 4 fans and so far have had only one casualty.






The project is still under way, Lily and Noreen have been helping the volunteers with the placing of the buildings and what not, trying to see the big picture.




The Morioka side has really taken shape.

That's it for today (^^)／~~~


- Tom ♪(´ε｀ )
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場所:砂込,滝沢村,日本

Mural Project - Six and Seven

Hi everyone!!
Its been a long week and we're all a little tired.
Last night we all jumped in a car and headed to a Japanese Hot Springs.

Our guest from Victoria seemed to be a little shy but came along with a bit of a worried look.
（ーー；）

I wasn't sure where Ms. Yoshimi had booked, but by guessing, I thought it was some place nice.




Yea... It was.
But after putting in to the parking lot, I realized that this was the same お温泉 Hot Spring that I was taken to almost 4 years ago.
Link to Hot Springs Post - 2007

Tired from a long days work and from the drive we all wandered in slowly and unpacked our bags.

I jumped in the tube with Mr.Masuda and Mr.Murayama and had a good soak.

Then we went on the search for food... Hunting the different floors for where we were having dinner. It was rather confusing because Ms. Yoshimi had prepared a private room for our group of 15 or so...






It was quite the room....








Dinner.

Anywho, to sum it up, we all enjoyed a picked night and stumbled back to our rooms.

- Tom ♪(´ε｀ )
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Location:長栄館 雫石