First, thanks to everyone who wrote messages. I never thoguth we’d get so many congratulations for our first anniversary.
But it’s given me a chance to look back on the past year, so thanks for that.

Like the titles says, I feel like ‘It’s already been a year. It’s only be a year.’ The whole time I’ve been in Oreska, there’s never been a day or a year that was the same.
Every year, every day, I’m living a completely different life in a completely different environment, with different thoughts and issues. Thinking about it that way, I wonder if repeating that over and over with a different ‘now’ is something that lasts ‘forever’.
The band Sambomaster have a song that says
‘If everything starts now/let’s call that eternity’
Even if you want a happy moment to last forever, it won’t last. If you change your way of seeing what makes you happy, you can always be happy.
But as we live our lives day by day, we tend to worry more about our branches than our roots. We lose sight of the meaning and value of the things around us. Of our roots. And then we start thinking things are hard for us, and get depressed, and our head feels like it will split. At least, that’s what happens to me.(LOL)
But then when we see the light again, it’s so brilliant, and we feel so happy. We realize ‘Oh, it was there all the time.’ We’re the ones who built our own walls, as well as the ones who break through them. It happens over and over again. And that’s how we grow.
The year went by quickly, but everything that happened was so rich that I’ve got such vivid memories of it all that it doesn’t seem so quick. Since our debut, I think about Oreska Band a lot.
But that’s normal. We’re professionals now, and there are so many people involved in this, and we’ve encountered so many huge things, and many times we’ve almost broken down because our own smallness and our own stupidity.
But the power of the six of us, and of Terry Dollar is amazing, and they pull out so much strength from me. The 6 of us that are Oreska are working together on that, and it makes me so proud.
Alone, I’m like a beansprout, but it’s different with the six of us. It’s like the bean sprout becomes a burdock. Hmm, I guess that’s not much different. But there’s six of us, so together, we’re six times more powerful.
Not that we were a team like this to begin with. The trust and bonds we have now have been build by a cycle or letting go of our clasped hands and then clasping them tightly again.
It’s because we all love the same thing, and we’ve seen the wonderful view together. They’re wonderful partners. The six of us, and the staff who support us.
And our audience.
Without all of you listening, there’s no reason for us to make music.

I’ve looked back on a lot, but I think that I really grew as a person in this year. I hope that it’s something I can carry into what I do from now on, and that it brings results. The most important thing is to be consciousness and emotion. If you’re not acting because of those, then your consciousness is useless. I realized that, so I’m sure this next year will be a different one!
I hope that we’ll soon be celebrating our two year anniversary with everyone. And I hope that I’m even more proud than I am today.
You are your own worst enemy! Let’s try to be better today than we were yesterday!
The only one you can compare yourself with is yourself. No one else will know what’s really important.
Let’s live a life we’re not embarrassed by!

Sorry!

I said I’d write again last night, but I completely forgot!

It’s Saki. The weather in Osaka is beautiful today. It’s cool and it feels so nice. Hurry for clouds.
After we finished at the studio yesterday, the staff from Terry Dollar brought us cake and flowers. It was such a surprise, and I was so happy! They disappeared when we’d finished at the studio.

They’re so cool.

I don’t know what we’d do without them. Thank you so much!
At our show on the 15th some fans gave us presents for our anniversary. Thank you so much for that!
This year went by crazy fast!
First off, I didn’t think I’d go to Tokyo so much. I’d only been to Tokyo twice, for school trips in Middle School and High School. I never thought I’d ever be going to Tokyo so much. I almost wish I’d gone somewhere else for my school trips. At the times, I was so excited. TOKYO!!
But now I’m like, ‘Oh, Tokyo?’ It’s not such a big thing.
Going to Tokyo and to all different places on our tours, I thought, ‘Wow, Japan maybe be small, but it sure has a lot of prefectures…’
And we’ve put out 6 CDS this year.
We had a tour.
We went to the US.
We were on TV and on the radio.
We went to the US twice.
We went twice!
And our CD is coming out in the US too.
We’re international! (LOL)
We’ve really packed so much into this one year.
We’ve met so many people, that unfortunately, I can’t put together all the names and faces. (LOL)
But maybe I’m okay now. (LOL)
This year was the most fun ever.
And I spent more time with the other members this year than every before.
So we had fights, and we made up, and I realized a lot of things I’d never have realized on my own.
I think I’ll keep on doing that.
I bet this year will be even more fun.
I’m looking forward to so many things I can’t help grinning. (LOL)
Thank you so much to everyone who’s supported us this year.
That makes it sound like we’re breaking up. But we’re not! (LOL)
Please continue to support Oreska Band.
I’m going to grow so that I won’t lose to anyone!

It’s been a while!
Today’s Aug 19th!

It’s the one year anniversary of Oreska’s major debut! Who knew a year could go by so fast!?
I wonder if it was nice out a year ago today? It’s beautiful out today! It’s way too hot!
When I don’t have any plans in the mornings I put on my sweats from high school and go to the studio. But today I actually wanted to change into some clothes, so I did, but I wish I’d worn my gym uniform, because it’s so hot.
So I’m off to the studio now, but I’ll talk to you all later tonight!
Happy 1st Anniversary!
Thanks!
See you tonight!

Hey, it's Ikasu.

I'm off to the guitar store, because when I hooked up the booster I bought to my amp, it went bang bang bang like a machine gun.

Leader and I were having fun with the sound in the studio the other day. We pretended that I was shooting her, and she pretended to get shot and fall down.

It'll be sad not to be able to do that anymore, but if I don't fix this, I can't use it at the show tomorrow.

I was watching a Recchili (Red Chili Peppers) show that happened to be on cable while I ate lunch, and my dad came out and said,
'Isn't this those Chilipes?'

Chilipes?

It's been a while. It's Ikasu.

I've been so focused on song writing that I've cause some problems for some people, I think. It's just that I don't want to think about anything else, even though there's a lot of other things I need to be thinking about.

Darn it.

But we had rehearsal today for our show the day after tomorrow, so I think I'll take a break from song writing until after the show. It's important to be able to switch on and off!

Song writing really is hard. I mean, how can it not be?

There are songs that just come to me first thing in the morning when I pick up a guitar, and some songs where I have to sit in front of the piano, lost in my thoughts until finally, finally I come up with a song.

Times like that, I think 'Man, my brain is so stupid!' but in the end, I come up with songs that I think are good, and what makes me the most happy is that the other members like them too.

Sometimes I catch them humming a tune I've played for them, and I just have to bite back my joy that they really like it.

Oh no, what if they read this entry and stop humming like that?

I took a look at the homepahe and everyone seems to be looking forward to new songs.

That made me really happy.

Because I just write songs because I want to, so it's so coolto think that people are looking forward to them.

I'd like to try to keep this energy and this tension the whole time, so I know I seem flippant, but I really am happy about it.

I'm so happy!

Yay! Woo hoo!!

Not that this is the energy I have when I write songs, really...
2007-07-14 00:43　

We're back!
It's been so long!
I'm home!
Sorry it took me so long to post. It's Saki.
Um, we had a great time in the US. My listening was so much better than the last time we went.

Ikasu and I went crazy at AX taking pictures of cosplayers. You wouldn't have known we were performers! We were anime fans.

And then as far as the show goes, I'd just be saying the same thing as Leader, so I won't.

Yeah.

Now that I'm back and can use change again, I realiz how important change is. I couldn't use 'cents' in the US. It's not that I'm stupid but my memory is bad, so I couldn't remember which was one cent and which was twenty-five cents, etc.

Hahaha.

Like everyone else had said, I don't have jet lag. I got to sleep at 10 pm, and wake up at 8 am.

Things are going well now. I'm going to pick weeds in Daisen Park now to refresh myself.

Bye bye!

I said I was going to sleep, but I can’t fall asleep. I just e-mailed Vickie and Chio, who I met at AX, because I got their e-mail addresses from Yaz today.

E-mail is such a great thing. You can remember all sorts of things as you write it, and you can write it slowly. You can choose just the right words.

We finished another song yesterday. The arrangement still isn’t something that really brings out the best in the song yet, but it’s a song. I just want to make a lot of songs now, since I can fix them up later. It’s the fixing up that I enjoy the most. It’s just so much fun to watch a song getting better and better.

So I’ve been thinking about songs everyday. No matter what tries to distract me.

But I hope I’m making the most of my time.

Lately, I’ve decided that there’s never just one answer. The decided that because there were a lot of times when I couldn’t decide what to do. But I never feel unsure if I’m supposed to be in this band. I know what I’m supposed to be doing so clearly that there’s no need for hesitation.
There are no real answers.
When you’re unsure of something, it’s because you’ve got dozens of possible answers, and you can’t decide what’s most important. The earth will keep on turning, so I don’t think there’s any reason to rush things. I want to live for myself right now, for the moment. I don’t want to just leave the future up to chance. If I don’t do something now, then I don’t know what the future will bring. I have to work hard.
I’m having my teeth fixed, but I haven’t been going to the dentist because I didn’t know what my schedule was going to be. So the day before yesterday, my mom yelled at me. She said, “You’re just thinking something will happen. But you need to do something about it yourself or it’s never going to happen.”
I couldn’t agree with her at the time, but thanks to what she said, I realized I’d been living in a fool’s paradise.
As a member of ORESKABAND, I’m able to touch so many different things, and I definitely have changed as a result, but my faults still remain, and I have a lot of them. I really do have to fix them, one at a time. I’ve always relied on the people around me to get things done. And it is the people around me and the time I spent that made things happen.

I can only do what I can, and I can’t really do anyone but what I really want to do. Nothing will happen for you if you don’t make the first move.
It’s really quite simple.
I love things like that.
What is right changing by the minute, and by the second, so it’s impossible to find an answer. Just like everything can change because of one opinion or just through timing, saying ‘There’s nothing we can do about that’ is what people call ‘normal’.
So even if I regret doing something I thought was right at the time, or even if I come to think it was a mistake or it was weird, at the time, it was my answer. You can’t call something in the past ‘good’ or ‘bad’ if it’s something that you thought was right at the time.
So that all got a little long-winded, but basically what I’m saying is…
All we can do is make our way through life without any lies.
Right?
That’s what I believe.
I don’t want any lies.

We're home.
We had such a good time in the US!
I didn't feel pressured or stressed at all. Maybe it was partially because it all felt so new because we don't live there, but I think it was thanks to the staff over there. The same way that the staff have fun when we have fun, we always enjoy it when our staff is smiling.

If I write my impressions of the US, they'll just be exactly what Leader said, which isn't any fun to write or read, so I'm not going to.
I will just say that since there was no stress this time, I was able to concentrate on the photo shoot when we were at a photo studop, the studio in the studio and our show during the show. So I want to say a big thank you to the staff who made an environment where all that was possible. Thank you so much!

I'm so thankful to everyone because I had such a good time during the show. I wish I could have shown everyone who was watching the way all those cell phones looked during 'Almond'. At first there weren't many at all, but when I looked up later on there were so many! I felt like everyone was telling us what they felt at that moment. It was like I was in outer space.

Try to imagine it! The hall is dark, all the dozens of likes shine like stars, and the spotlights on our stage are red like the sun. It makes me want to make those stars shine even more. It was amazing!

We really met so many amazing people on this trip.

Today we had a day off, and we went to Disneyland. We played around there from 10 am to 12 pm. It had been a long time since I'd gone on so many rides.

It was the 6 of us from Oreska, Name and Tsutomu from Terry Dollar, and Yaz from Tofu Records, and her son, Kou.

We had so much fun. This guy named Pierce, who had been to our shows at SXSW and Anime Expo works at Disney, so he showed us around. Pierce is 20, but he's really down to earth. He loves Japanese bands, especially the bands on Tofu Records, and he's a good friend of Yaz.

He was really nice to us, and we had a great time. He said he'd come to see us on Warped Tour, so I'll be looking forward to that. Yaz said she had a great time too. It was really a wonderful day off.

Yesterday was our last day with Chiyo and Vicki (they're sisters, btw) the girls who Anime Expo hired to translate for us and show us around. For the past four days, they've been part of the Oreska staff, so even though four days isn't that long, we spent every day with them.They were wonderful. I'm so glad I met them. I was sad to say good bye, but I'm sure we'll see them again.

And all the Anime Expo staff were so nice to us. They said they would all come to Warped Tour to see us. A lot of the people who came to see us at Anime Expo said they're going to come to Warped too, and that made me really happy.

We said good-bye to Michelle, one of the American staff members from Tofu Records, the day before yesterday. She'd worked with all the whole time in the US, since SXSW, so we'd spent a lot of wonderful times with her. Michelle was moving to Chicago, so she was saying good-bye to all the LA staff. I was really sad because I loved her a lot.

What with all the good-byes, it's been a very moving couple of days.

But Michelle is going to help us out on Warped, so we'll actually see her next month.

Meetings always bring farewells. But as long as you remember each other, you can always meet again. You can always see each other again.

Until that day.
Thank you all for a wonderful four days!
We love you!

Until we meet again!

Sorry it's taken me so long to update.
It costs $9.99 to connect to the internet at the hotel we're in, so it was just a big hassle. I'm using a staff members computer right now.
Explaination aside...

We had our show today!
It was an amazing time with amazing people and an amazing vibe. Thanks to all that, today was such a fun day! I feel so happy! Even during rehearsal, some of the staff members were dancing, and according to the Sony staff from over here, it's unsual for everyone to be smiling during a rehearsal. Seriously, that made me really happy.

After the rehearsal we didn't really have anythign planned, so we had some time off, and then it was time for the show. This show had a different feeling from our last shows in the US. How can I put it?
Last time, it really felt like people were connected by their desire to rock. Like, I knew it was a place where people who love music come together, and we were at live houses, so the audience was very close.

But for this show, it was more like everyone was connected by the feeling 'Let's be happy!'. It was in a huge hall, before tons of people. But it was fun too!

Like the title says, we met a lot of wonderful people through anime today. Although apparently there were a lot of people who came to Anime Expo just to see Oreska Band, which made me really happy.

It made me think, it doesn't matter why people are here. There were a lot of new things, like a Meet & Greet, but I was just happy to be able to really interact with our audience. But I think the Meet & Greet and interview after the show was the most fun.

Real is best.

It makes me so happy to meet people who have come to our shows to see us and learn about us in the flesh.

The staff said our English has improved, and we were actually speaking in complete sentences this time. (LOL) That's awesome.

'Don't forget about us.
Don't forget about tonight.'

I was so proud that I could say that! I knew I would want to, so I asked the staff beforehand how to say it. Good for me.

After we had a bunch of interviews, we had an after-party with all the Staff who'd helped us out at Anime Expo, and all the members of the Sony staff and their families! It was so much fun!It was especially fun hanging around the mischievious son of the staff member who was like a big sister to us. I love when I get to feel like a kid. I guess it's my AB blood type personality.

I'd been thinking about how when we get back to Japan, I want to see my friends, and watch the movies I've been wanting to see, but I think I've got a lot more important things to do. I guess I'll have to hold off until we at least finish our world tour!

Well, I'm gonna sign off now!

Everybody,I love you！！