YOKE Symposium on the San Diego trip

I went to the symposium that was put on by my friends today at the YOKE office. I arrived a little late because last night made me tired. I didn’t get home till late and I had to get up kinda early to get to the YOKE office on time. But as I found out after the symposium, I wasn’t the only one who was late. All the members were supposed to report to the office by 8am, but it turned out that they just arrived before I did. And I was late. The symposium itself was pretty interesting. The presentation of things wasn’t the greatest of performances, but then again, I wasn’t expecting them to be like Tony Robbins or anything. They got their point across and said what they needed to say. They did the best job that they could have and I think that the audience members appreciated all their work and the information that they provided for the city. I think all and all it was a success and something that will spark into another thing for the future.

I can feel something brewing and that it will start to make an impact. My friend from college, KenHma, made the biggest splash at the event. I think people look to him for leadership, which is kinda scary. But he’s the only one with the balls to really say what he feels. It’s not really Japanese like to rock the boat, but he told me that he felt that it needed to be said and that something results from it. Everyone knew that he was right too and applauded him for the guts to say it.

After the symposium, I took off with my friend from the San Diego 2002 group and we just hung out. We did a lot of walking like we did last time. First we started walking towards Yokohama station. We wanted to go to the Jack’s Mall and the one next to it. We went into the Toys ‘r’ Us store there and look at the toys. It was pretty interesting to see the toys that they have. It was fun, and we stayed there for a little time before we both got hungry. So then we looked for something to eat. We went into a pizza place, but it was packed, so then we went back to the Landmark Tower. She took me to a curry udon shop. I know that doesn’t sound great, but actually it’s really good stuff. And the funny part is that you wear a bib. Makes you feel like a kid again, but since everyone is doing it, it’s cool. I should have taken a picture or something. But the food is actually delicious. I really liked it and I will probably go again.

After a late lunch, we walked around some more and grabbed some dessert. All the while, we were talking a lot. It’s hard to imagine because she only speaks Japanese and my Japanese isn’t near the point where I can effectively speak, but we still were able to communicate with each other. We were talking a lot about many things. I thought that it was fun, but after awhile it got a bit tiring. I think that one can only handle so much of a foreign language before they burn out. I walked her back to Yokohama station because she was going to meet her mother and go shopping. I wanted to go back to meet the rest of the members after they had finished from the second symposium. The other members were stuck doing another discussion type of thing with members of city officials.

When they had finished with their symposium, we went to a bar type of restaurant to get some grub and just hang out. The food was actually quite nice. The atmosphere is one of the best that I’ve been in the restaurant style after work celebration. I liked the people that I was sitting by too. So it was a combination of all things that really made it feel pretty good. The decorations for the place was nice, and KHma was pretty f*ed up. It was pretty funny to see him plastered. He’s one of those crazy drunks. But after the 2 hours that we were limited to, we went on to do more and go to a karaoke bar. It was nice because I was able to talk to some members that I haven’t talked to. I’ve learned some good things from them too. It’s a shame that I’ve waited this long to talk to them too. It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to do it earlier, but at least we talked. I think that there is something inside of each of them that wants to make a difference, but they just don’t know how to apply it. So, hopefully we’ll be able to come up with something that will work with everyone and that everyone can pitch in to get it accomplished.