Our Hectic and Happy Japanese Tour! Wow!
As you know, the Osmonds think big families are groovy! And we’re going to add two more members to our family–for about three months!
When my brothers were on tour in Japan, two great guys helped them with setting up and transporting of equipment. Their names are Toshi and Ono–they’re both about 20 years old and they can’t wait to get to America! In fact, the whole family is really excited because we’re going to be picking them up at the airport soon!
Toshi and Ono are going to visit us on “visitors visas” and then, hopefully, they can come back on a more permanent thing and help the boys the same way they did in Japan! Their great–I hope you get to meet them! Neither of them speak a lot of English, but my mom says that we’ll help them with English and Toshi and Ono will help us with Japanese. That way, on the next tour to Japan we’ll be able to talk to everyone better!
THEIR THOUGHTFULNESS
Would you believe me if I told you that the last five weeks the Osmond family has been to Japan, Moscow, Paris, Germany, New York, Utah, Acapulco, and California? Sounds unbelievable, huh? But it’s true. We stayed in Japan for one month and then we flew to Germany for the Dutch Gramophone Awards (I think these awards are a lot like the US Grammy awards.) But wait, I’m getting way ahead of the story! Let me tell you about the trip in the order that we traveled, okay?
First we were in Japan, and while we were there, the boys had 18 concerts in 18 different cities. But then the entire Osmond family didn’t mind all the traveling because we love to be on the move! We’ve become expert packers. . .even little Jimmy! He’s got his own small suitcase and he hasn’t forgotten to pack anything in the last few trips! Besides daddy always tells us that traveling is a great education, and we really got to see some great places and meet wonderful people on this tour!
Everyone loved the city, but the boys remember Osaka and Tokyo the best because their fan clubs in those towns organized parties for them! A group of about 500 girls in each town made up a little show for them. They imitated the Osmond Brothers singing “One Bad Apple,” “Sweet and Innocent,” “Moving Along,” “He’s My Brother,” and lots more! The president of the Osmond Fan Club in Tokyo is one of my first and best friends in Japan, Sikora. Her name means Cherry Blossom–pretty, huh?
We came home with six huge boxes and two trunks filled with the presents the Osmond fans gave the boys during those two fan club parties! The boys carefully packed each one of the girl’s gifts, but the thing that impressed the boys the most was the thoughtfulness the girls showed!
FAVORITE GIFT
The boys favorite gift was a series of drawings a girl made of them. She drew a portrait of each of them and on the back she made up little cartoon stories about each of the boys! The sad thing about this gift is that the girl (who is about 14 years old) gave me the drawings to give to the boys just when we were boarding the train to take us to the Tokyo airport to leave Japan. The boys never got to thank her, and I didn’t have time to find out her name! So, wherever she is, let me tell her that the boys framed her drawings and they are hanging on their bedroom walls!
TRAVELING FUN!
Now let me tell you about the traveling fun we had. After we left Japan, our first trip was Moscow. We were there for about 1 1/2 hours. It was sort of a scary stop because the first thing we saw as we stepped off the plane was lots of guards carrying machine guns! But after a while I got over being scared went exploring all over the enormous airport terminal with my adventurous brothers. We found a nice shop and Alan bought me a Russian doll that’s dressed in a cute cap and a heavy coat!
I felt sort of funny walking through such a big airport without at least a small group of girls following us. The big difference between the Japan airport and Moscow was tremendous! I remember in Japan that Jay and Merrill had to do a lot of running… They are the most popular ones in Japan right now because of their age, I think. Most of their fans in Japan are about 15 and 16!
AWARD-TIME
Next stop was Paris! We really didn’t get to stay in Paris as long as we wanted, but what we saw of it was terrific. Donny especially loved Paris. He wants to go back there and just travel through the countryside! As we were flying in we pass the Eiffel Tower. I really don’t blame Donny for wanting to go back. . .because the air there is so clean and smoke free. . .and every plant, blade of grass, and leaf is so green!
After the short trip in Paris, we went straight to Germany for a thee day trip. Actually we had to be there for the awards, but we got lots of sightseeing time in too! We went with a guide for a hike to see the Alps, but the day we went it was raining so we really only saw the bottom half.
Another highlight of the trip to Germany was when we all climbed about 40 flights of steps of the Catholic Monastery that was built in the 1400s! We were laughing so hard that I didn’t think any of us were going to make it to the top! The steps were so narrow, and just when you think you’ve reached the top you peek around the corner and there’s more steps!
We finally made it to the top near the bell tower. . .and just when everyone was getting rested from the long climb up, the bell started to ring! I thought we were all going to be deaf! As we climbed down, with our hands over our ears, we kept telling Wayne it was his fault that we made it to the top just when the bell started ringing! Wayne asked, “Why is it my fault?” We said, “Because you were leading us. . .sort of setting the pace. . .and if you had gone either faster or slower we would have missed the bells!” Of course, we didn’t mean it, but that was a long climb!
Finally we came back to America, the first state we landed at was New York. We had been in New York for what seemed like a few minutes when we found ourselves back on another plane headed for Utah! And by this time all the traveling had made us pretty tired–and our ranch in Utah sounded like a great rest!
HOME SWEET HOME
When we are in Utah, we just relaxed and slept a lot. Wayne, Merrill, and Jay drove the tractors all over the fields with Donny, Jimmy and me as passengers. It was great to see our older brothers Virl and Tommy too! Then when we were rested and ready for the trip to California we decided to take our grandmothers back with us because we had a 4-day vacation in Acapulco to look forward to and we wanted them with us!
When we were in Acapulco, we swam and tried to catch up on all the sleep we’d lost during the hectic days in Japan. Everybody got some terrific sunburns! Poor Donny and Alan got the worst ones, but when we got back to Arleta, California they were nearly cured!
And it’s a good thing they healed fast because almost immediately after we got back to Arleta from Acapulco, plans are being made for lots of concert tours all over the United States. So I guess we’re going to be starting another busy, fun, and wonderful tour! Gee, I hope we get to meet all of you when we have a concert in your town!
Until next month… Think positive… And much happiness to all of you!
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