My Very First Time at House of Kobe All the knives swinging through the air and the sweet aroma of chicken and sushi made my mouth water. This is a day I will never forget. My family and I celebrated my birthday at House of Kobe in the summer of 2011. Do not be afraid to try new things. I had just gotten home from school and I began walking up the steps. The creaking noise of each step made me unable to hear my parents creeping up behind me. My heart jumped as they pounced and gave me a hug. They began telling me about a special restaurant they had planned to take me to. I leaped into the car filled with curiosity and excitement. Finally, we had arrived at a mysterious Japanese restaurant. Although the restaurant did
Soon after Papa’s arrest, Mama relocated the family to the Japanese immigrant ghetto on Terminal Island. For Mama this was a comfort in the company of other Japanese but for Jeanne it was a frightening experience. It was the first time she had lived around other people of Japanese heritage and this fear was also reinforced by the threat that her father would sell her to the “Chinaman” if she behaved badly. In this ghetto Jeanne and he ten year old brother were teased and harassed by the other children in their classes because they could not speak Japanese and were already in the second grade. Jeanne and Kiyo had to avoid the other children’s jeers. After living there for two mo...
Isolation is similar to a puddle of water – it is seemingly dull and colorless, but all it takes is for one drop of paint to change the entire picture. The novel cc is about a ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes through the same cycle. Stephen moves to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locales and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, his relationship with Sachi and his time spent in Matsu’s garden lead him out of solitude.
So as the morning Sun rose. The light beamed on Christopher's face. The warmth of the sun welcomed him to a new day and woke up in a small house in Los Angeles. Christopher is a tall, male, that loves technology and video games. He stretched and went to the restroom it was 9 o'clock and he was thankful it was spring break and didn’t have to go to school. Christopher made his way to the kitchen trying not wake up his parents and made himself breakfast. He served himself cereal Honey Bunches of Oats to be exact with almond milk. Then he took a shower and watched some YouTube videos before doing his homework.
At age 14, his uncle Kalaniopuu adopted him and treated him as his own son. As the years flew by Kamehameha grew to be a strong and skilled warrior thanks to his trainor, Kekuhaupio. With what he learned from Kekuhaupio he went on to conquer all the Hawaiian Island. Kamehameha became the first person to rule the Hawaiian Island under one ruler. Kamehameha was an effective leader because he was intelligent, he adapted to new idea, and because he was caring.
It was the middle of the night when my mother got a phone call. The car ride was silent, my father had a blank stare and my mother was silently crying. I had no idea where we were headed but I knew this empty feeling in my stomach would not go away. Walking through the long bright hallways, passing through an endless amount of doors, we had finally arrived. As we
Japan’s Edo period, lasted from 1603 to 1867, it was the final era of traditional Japanese government, culture, and society before the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the Tokugawa shogun ( political leader) and citizens brought the country into the modern era. For example, Japan during the Edo period feared that Christian missionaries would spread out Christianity in Japan, therefore they decided to isolate themselves to defend their culture, society and religion. The Edo period then began to be challenged as Japan freed itself to the world. How did Edo Japan adapt from its isolation to open itself socially, economically and politically?
The small legs that whisked back and forth in the open space of the vehicle were full of energy. The young girl spent the day with the two people she admired the most. A bigger version of herself sat in the passenger seat with her husband driving next to her. They laughed over conversation. Every so often, the girl would stick thin fingers against her mother’s shoulder to receive her attention. She would say something trivial and obvious, but her mother would still entertain her. She absorbed every phrase her daughter said as if each filled her with a tremendous joy and was the greatest thing ever spoken. Her mother had selected a black dress for her today with a large white ribbon tied around her midsection. Her hair had been combed back in two braids so that the tips were touching her shoulder blades. They were coming home late from a Christmas party at church.
I stood at the end of the driveway with a bag of clothes and my little sisters by my side. My dad pulled up, we got in the truck, and we drove about 10 minutes until we got to his shop. This would seem like a normal day, but things were different this time. We weren 't at the shop to ride the four wheelers around or to play basketball in the garage or to mess with the pinball machines. There was a gloomy feel about everything around us. Even though I didn’t say anything, I knew things were changing.
It was the late August around 2005. I remembered that there were two people came into the house with luggage. I did not have clear images of them, but I believed that it was something that deepened in my bone that told me they were my parents. I thought I could live happily with them but one day, my father took me to a man’s house. The man offered me candies while talking to my father. Although I was a child, I sensed something terrible and I was right. My father left me with the man’s family. I realized that my father was attempting to sell me. The man closed the door and tried to prevent me from escaping. I screamed and cried out loud. “Father, Mother, Grandma, where are you guys? Don’t leave me alone! I do not know them.” I was desperate. I was amazed by how much power I used to push the man and his
As I walked out of the courthouse and down the ramp, I looked at my mom in disappointment and embarrassment. Never wanting to return to that dreadful place, I slowly drug my feet back to the car. I wanted to curl up in a little ball and I didn't want anyone else to know what I had done. Gaining my composure, I finally got into the car. I didn't even want to hear what my mom had to say. My face was beat red and I was trying to hide my face in the palms of my hands because I knew what was about to come; she was going to start asking me questions, all of the questions I had been asking myself. Sure enough, after a short period of being in the car, the questions began.
I never in life want to see you again! Door slams. Mother breaks down and cries again. She lies down in her room. Her son lies beside her to comfort her. Mom rubbed him, kissed, and told him she loved him. She woke him up in the morning; he gathered his pajamas from the edge of the bed and on the floor. Mom today was extremely happy this morning. Dad no longer being around and me taking his place was just the thing that mom needed.
I went upstairs and tried to do something natural in the mirror and looked to see if it was cool. It was shocking. Not only did it look cool my brother gave me a compliment which was like a once in a lifetime thing. I zipped up the jacket up and down and poked the spikes like the moon falling on the Himalayas. I went downstairs to play with my dog Brownie. We rolled around and played in the grass. I was making bird noises and Brownie bit my sleeve. No blood, but there was an L shaped tear. “Stupid dog,” I murmured.
Ok,” with a determined looked on her face. It had been eight years without seeing our dad, we were all excited and in a hurry to cross the Grand Magical River and see our dad again. Mom pulls her back too, and says to her “no mija, no one is going first until the gentlemen say it’s ok to cross.” The river might have looked like a baby sleeping: calm and peaceful, but under those crystal waters a beast was running like a cheetah, smoothly and fast. We turned to look at the two men who were helping us and guiding us through the journey to get to the “Land Of Freedom.” As they were giving us instructions to not let go off of them, because we would disappeared like a needle in a haystack: they started taking their pants off and putting them in plastic bags. The younger looking man decided to go first along with my two siblings, and once again he repeated to my siblings “do not let go off of me, please.” They grabbed onto him like baby monkeys hanging from a tree branch. Then my mom and I turned to the older man waiting for instructions, which he didn’t say anything to us, he only looked straight at us expecting us to know what to do. Without saying a word we grabbed onto him like monkeys too. As we stepped into the river, I felt like a ballerina floating in the clouds: tippy toeing trying to reach the bottom of the river. I remember the water being so warm, I don’t know if it was just me or it was the adrenaline rushing through my veins, the excitement to see my dad again. When we reached the other side of the crystal waters, Mother with tears like the river we had just crossed coming from her eyes, hugged us tightly and whispered to us softly “we did it, just a little more so we can be all together with papa.” We immediately started walking and the whoosh of that river now kept getting farther and farther behind, just like the memories of our lives in
As usual I woke up to the sound of my father pounding on my bedroom door, hollering, “Get up! Get on your feet! You’re burning daylight!” I met my brother in the hallway, and we took our time making it down the stairs, still waking up from last night’s sleep. As we made our way to the kitchen, I thought about what to have for breakfast: fried eggs, pancakes, an omelet, or maybe just some cereal. I started to get hungry. As usual, mom and dad were waiting in the kitchen. Mom was ready to cook whatever we could all agree on, and dad was sitting at the table watching the news. The conversation went as usual, “Good morning.” “How are you today?”
While walking by the shore I was amazed by the soft smooth sand beneath my feet, it seemed like all the worries I had throughout the year were finally erased. There was a rock facing the ocean that it thought was really cool, so I decided to settle there for a moment to appreciate the view, I closed my eyes for a second letting myself comforted by the sounds of the ocean, the sounds the waves were making against the rocks was impressive. Spending a few more minutes on the rock I decided to go back. Tying to help my parents for making breakfast, they sent me and my brother to get bread, and a few croissants at the bakery. My brother was driving while I was still wondering the landscape, I thought it was interesting how this island contained a mix between mountains, and beaches. At the table, conversations were spontaneous and positives, I forgot how fun breakfast could be when spending with family. That day we had has a plan to go to the beach, my mom could guess what me and my father had in mind. It was scuba diving and hunting with harpoons, but before we had to first buy the necessary equipment, and study the fishes we could hunt, since some were protected, and review the fishes that were edible. Finally done with preparation we headed to the beach, me and my dad waited that day for so long, being a big fan of hunting, I was quite impressed by the number of variety the Mediterranean Sea could provide, also what really shocked