good morning. had an awesome dinner last night in tokyo but forgot to take photos. i was just too busy enjoying it. i would write about it but decided not too because nobody would believe me anyway. just let me say this, “I felt like a King.” well, going to do some last minute shopping, head to the airport, get back to hawaii early tomorrow morning, and go straight for a surf. i know the feeling of catching that first wave in a long time, and i’m looking forward to it!

want to hear a surfer survival story? first, this is the naga laut boat in the mentawai. the same boat we chartered last year. well, a few days ago, a south african team started out their $40,000+ dream charter on the very same boat. on the way out to the mentawai islands, it was very rough. then one of the guys got seasick and went on the deck to throw up over the side. he ended up falling over into the dark rough seas. it was 3am and the nagu laut kept its path to the mentawai islands. it wasn’t until morning when his friends noticed him missing. they turned around and went to look for him with no success. 28 hours later, another surf charter the barrenjoey found him! after dehydration, shark encounters, jellyfish stings, and seagulls pecking his face, he survived! the barrenjoey returned him to the naga laut, and he decided to surf and finish up the charter. what an amazing story. to many people, it is probably a miracle? but to us surfers, it’s just survival. i’m not surprised at all this guy survived and if you are a good surfer, you will survive a lot of obstacles in life. so keep on surfing!

here is the path of this guys survival trip. one of the coolest surfer stories in a while.
and now lets talk about skiing and snowboarding. check out this video of my good friend skiing and snowboarding on Mount Fuji. this is Toda-san! haha!!!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWjI4lTLrPc[/youtube]

16 year old boy catches 759lb. or 344kg Marlin (Kajiki Maguro).
Cool!

yesterday was dark, raining, and snowing in some parts of japan, today was warm, sunny, and beautiful. it was good to be able to walk around with my slippers. my legs are killing me from standing for the past 2 days. i just don’t know how some people do it everyday. i think it’s amazing. well, finally going back to hawaii tomorrow. this trip seemed pretty long but it was filled with memories. from the tokyo to shikoku, to nagoya to philippines, to tokyo to yokohama, and now tokyo to hawaii. i put some miles on my life traveling log and once i go back to hawaii, i’m not planning on going anywhere for a while.

Shin-san and Midori-san have been Go-Naminori supporters from the beginning. Shin-san loves surfing and has been supporting the yugawara boys for a while. we’ve been surfing together for the past few years in hawaii and always have a great time. thank you for coming to the event and see you in hawaii again!

Furuki-san is from ibaraki and has been drawing us some amazing illustrations. i got another batch of stickers of my friends and myself. i’m going to stick them everywhere! and he also came by to the event and gave me some rare hot wheels. yeah, have you ever seen kikaida hot wheels before? well, now i have some and it’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life. thank you for coming all the way from ibaraki!

the Kaneko-san family are amazing. met them surfing in hawaii and look forward to them coming every year. Hiyo-kun is surfing good and i’m sure he will improve with every wave ridden. see you all soon! and tell Rei-kun i said hello too!
many more people came to see me and i’ll be posting their photos as soon as i get back to hawaii and have some time to sit down on my computer. i still have photos from the tssc contest i didn’t even download yet. yes, i’m a very busy man! have a great evening!