End of Year Celebration 2012

End of the Year Celebration from Jamie Itokazu on Vimeo.

This is the End of the Year Celebration Talent Show Competition video that I never uploaded before. Sorry its late, but it's here now. Thanks for waiting for it :)

April Birthdays and we now have officers for the club!

So admittedly, I'm bad at blogging. I won't make any excuses because saying that I'm busy with all the activities would make this even worse! You can even blog from your phone now, but I'm not here to talk about blogging.

We continue our amazing celebration of birthdays with the April babies, there was a big ice cream cake because there were quite a few of them so on April 6th we decided to celebrate them all at once cause we love them all! Here's a list of the April babies in case you didn't know already:
Beau Chang
Paul Takemoto
Ken Oyadomari
Mark Haimoto
Casey Fukuda
Ian Hanakahi
There was also some karaoke time, but let's not talk about that...In addition to celebrating all the birthdays in the month of April we also officially formed the BSC Fellowship Club again and this time we have officers. We have a round of what we hope to be temporary officers until we have an official election in the fall. The current officers are:
President: Wayde Toyama
Vice-President: Jess Galacgac
Treasurers: Koshin Soga and Paul Takemoto
Secretary: Emi Hashi

Thanks for reading and we'll hope that you stayed tuned as we catch up on all the crazy adventures that have been happening so far!

Tetsuya

This is the only picture I have from Tetsuya. It was fun and everyone survived or at least I'm led to believe they survived. The above picture was taken when we were bugging Marcie about not coming after she requested that I buy ice cream. SEE YOU REQUEST, I DELIVER!

There was also home cooked food every night, mostly done by the assistant although Wayde did try out his new crockpot to make us curry. I hear that Spring Tetsuya is going to be amazing, so make plans to join ;)

Finals and End of the Year party

The school year has finally winded to a close and summer is here. Finals week was rough on the students since quite a few of them were suffering through Spring Fever. We had a few students spend the night at the BSC during Tetsuya. On Thursday, I attempted to make fried rice, I suppose it turned out ok, although Wayde Toyama would say it was "Amazing!"We also watched an anime Summer Wars and played the board game settlers.

On Saturday, at UH Graduation Heather Omori and Lynn Nakagawa graduated. Congratulations to you both and good luck in all your future endeavors.

Saturday Night, we toasted to the end of the school year and to summer vacation. We would have toasted to the graduates, but neither of them came :(was more playing of the game settlers ( which may be played a YA Retreat, but I won't spoil that surprise yet).

There were also games of Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, and umm...yeah....perhaps I won't finish.

Alex Shanklin, a representative at BDK Hawaii and student at UH Manoa will be starting at Ryukoku University in the Fall. During the Summer, he plans to travel and visit family. Since I don't know when I would see him next I took him to lunch at W&M BBQ Burger in Kaimuki. He really liked it and it was his first time there :) Best wishes to Alex at Ryukoku University and I hope I get the chance to see you again.

See you all in August or maybe sooner...:)

Random Updates of Note

Hey!

First off, I'd like to note that our hearts go out to the many people of Japan with big hugs and we're showing our support. The Hawaii Kyodan Social Concerns Committee is collecting funds which will be sent to Japan and distributed through Honzan to designated groups. The Jr. YBA is also organizing a project for the people of Japan.

In other news, the YBICSE trip is still scheduled and the participants have been receiving their notices. Some of itinerary has changed to accommodate recent events.

Tetsuya is also right around the corner for UH students. The BSC looks forward to hosting the students and all their studying needs during this week. Remember we're open 24 hours M-F. If you are coming late please remember to call so someone can let you in. Also there's a/c, food, drinks, and we've got sleeping bags too!

The dates and venue for Young Adult Retreat has changed. The new dates are August 12-15 on Oahu, but venue is still being determined at this time.

2011 Summer Session with Dr. David Matsumoto will be June 13trh-June 22. Feel free to join us virtually via Ustream. www.ustream.tv/bschawaii We're not currently broadcasting anything but feel free to take a look around the site, so you get the idea of what it's about :)

There's other updates in Hawaii Kyodan, but I'll probably post more pictures and updates soon. Hope you're doing well.

Jamie

Tetsuya in Review...

Jake doing his voiceover for a yet to be released YESS camp commercial

Josh and Jake playing with swords before filming the commercial

My $1 store Gingerbread House which only lasted a week, actually maybe less

Making the gingerbread house...

If you missed Fall Tetsuya you missed out! As you can see from the pictures there was plenty of fun or at least amusement during that week. I think everyone seemed to recover fine and will be trudging back to school in a matter of days. *sigh* I know. There are lots of things happening at the Hongwanji soon, so if you want to help out or get in contact with me. It'll be good. :)

2011 will be magic!

Spring Hi-jinks with Fabulousness

Spring Tetsuya has come and gone. It has clearly been expressed this year that Tetsuya has definitely changed since it started and perhaps it has come with the times. Here's a few pictures of the day we grilled. Oh that grill is amazing! Thanks David!

Casey looks worried as he cooks the teri burgers. He didn't do so well with the zucchini :/

Wayde helps to get the fire for the grill started. It took forever :( I miss days where there were expert grillers at my finger tips, anyone want to volunteer for me?

At the end of the week, Grant dropped off the Kapi'o with an article on Brass Knuckle Ballad. Click the link below to read the full article. A couple of people from the BSC have been working on this film set to be released at the Fall HIFF. So exciting :)

Story of Brass Knuckle Ballad - Entertainment

Saturday May 15th to conclude the World Jodo Shinshu Conference that was held in Honolulu there was a private tour of the Arizona Memorial with Governor General Tachibana and Shinmonsama, Shinurakatasama.

Wayde takes care of the wreath the Hongwanji placed at the Arizona Memorial.

The older group was unable to get a picture with the dignitaries so we took one with Jake and the wreath. Jake isn't smiling on purpose just to prove he's not having fun and Wayde, who apparently is having fun decided to go a little Captain Morgan on us. Photo courtesy of Alan's camera :)

Shinurakatasama, Shinmonsama and Governor General Tachibana

USS Utah and memorial.

Fact: There are 54 crew members and one civilian that died on Dec. 7th, 1941. One of the crew members was going to give his young child a sea burial and didn't have a chance to do so when the attack occurred.

Fact: The white blocks of concrete scattered around the Arizona Memorial are where the ships were positioned the morning of the attack.

USS Missouri where World War II was declared ended.

Arizona Memorial

A rainbow decided to peak out when we got there

Offering leis into the ocean with flower petals

the leis and flowers floating out to sea.

Unable to post the big group picture because it would have looked really small, since apparently this blog doesn't like big pictures.

Jr. YBA took a picture by the anchor monument.

Don't forget Young Adult Retreat coming up in August. Links on the BSC website and get your forms into Jake as soon as you know. Have a great summer and more coming soon :)

Tetsuya!!!

I know I've spoken the world's most dreaded phrase for a student. FINALS WEEK. Yes, I know that for UH students your fall semester is winding down and as you prepare for Winter Break and time away from school. We here at the BSC understand your needs. We've been there and lived through that and are prepared to help you with all your needs.

During Finals Week (December 13-18, 2009) the BSC:

- is open 24 hours starting on Sunday the 13th

- you can sleep over

- real food and junk food is provided along with refrehsments

-we have old school Nintendo and other game systems to relieve your stress

-cable tv to watch your melodramas or dvds

-wireless internet for when you need it

-it's pretty quiet during the day since everyone is working, studying, or sleeping

So visit us during this time and we wish you well on your finals!

It's Coming...

I know that it's been forever and a day since I actually wrote a blog here. It's mostly because I've been forgetting to take pictures that are blog worthy. Of Note:

Movie Night was good. I wish more of you had come but sometime soon I'll be showing Ponyo for Movie Night or there will be another event.

ACM Night at HIFF was good. Robbie's film was really cute though I think he told me that it didn't win :( For pictures from ACM night that are good check out Robbie's facebook.

TETSUYA! is coming. I know that most of you didn't want to hear that because it will just create added stress to your day. For those who don't know Tetsuya means Cram Session and in short form the BSC will be here for all your studying needs. We provide dinner and assorted junk food. You can also stay over although you'll have to deal with couches and the floor since there are no beds. If you stay over we do have a shower. I'll be here 24/7 during Tetsuya in case there are anything that happens, so you can come bug me. If you come by late make sure that you let me know, so that I can let you in.