good evening. wow, last night was nuts!!! went to the fireworks show at chigasaki and gosh, it was unreal. i went there last year but this year was 10X better. the coordination of the show was amazing. probably the best fireworks show i’ve ever seen. it was an hour long with all different types of fireworks. heart shaped, star shaped, happy faces, and there was even a water mellon one. yeah, it was nuts. we had front row seats and i’m still buzzing from what i saw…

people were screaming and everything. it was loud, bright, and right in your face…

they had this awesome fireworks that shot off to the side and landed in the water. then the thing lit up the whole place. never seen that one before. waterproof fireworks? what’s next?

after every fireworks show, there is a party that follows. this year it was at pop’s. it’s weird how small japan because i felt like everybody knew everybody in that place. daisuki and simple vibrations were jamming live and the vibe was awesome… and to my friends in hawaii, there were more girls than guys. only in japan….

the happy faces of japan….

more happy faces of japan…. gosh, i looked at my camera this morning and these were the only photos i took. i blew it because there were so many of my friends there. guys like u-ske, matsuo, kazuya, and many many more. the only bummer thing was there was no jacksan. so i ended up drinking beers all night and now i’m paying for it. atama itai….

i tried to take a photo of the band and all of the people jumping up and down dancing. and this how it turned out. gosh, i suck at taking photos in the dark. can somebody please step forward and show me how to take these kinds of photos. i know there is a way and i can’t freakin figure it out. it’s killing me…

my last few weeks in hawaii, i was trying to eat healthy foods. why? to get ready to pig out in japan. and i’m already eating like a pig. got a long way to go and at this rate, i might weigh more than kalua when i get back home..

been making the killer smoothies back home. this one is a strawberry/vanilla/honey smoothie. ummmmm….

i went to maguro-ya a few weeks ago. at that time, this sashimi was like gold. but the sashimi i’ve been eating in japan is platinum…

there’s a pretty good hormone yakiniku place in tsujido. went there the other night and had my favorite. raw cow liver with an ice cold beer…

then came out the hormones, heart, tongue, and other body parts of the cow nobody in america eats. well, that’s what most people think. what do you think hotdogs are made of????
**more japanese exotic foods on the way…
**by the way, kelly slater lost early in the wct rip curl contest “somewhere” in indonesia yesterday. they held it at uluwatu’s and finally, somebody else besides kelly slater’s going to win. might be interesting… they are going to finish it up today and the waves should be going off!!!
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most of my friends know i’m a ramen lover. i’d go anywhere for a good bowl of ramen. and with a view like this, the ramen tastes even better. this is yocchan’s beach house in yugawara. you have to try it…

the great thing about having sponsors is getting new product. your supposed to be wearing or using the newest things that just came out. so every time i come back to japan, i stop by to pick up the goods. and every time i leave with the goods, i can’t tell you how lucky i am. till this day, i still feel like a kid getting his first box of product from his sponsor. i’ve been feeling this way for the past 22 years. how lucky is that? so here is the new VONZIPPER lineup. thank you muramatsu-san from VONZIPPER JAPAN….

then akazawa-san from spice dropped off this new back pack. it’s so cool. fits my computer, camera, and a whole lot more. you can only get this at spice. thanks everybody…
**the rise and fall of starbucks. when this coffee crazy hit america about 15 years ago, starbucks was the one to jump on it. they set up shop on almost every corner in hawaii and made billions. not to mention, every corner in the world too. everywhere you go, there’s a starbucks. starbucks making the bucks… but i learned this in college, as fast as things can go up, the can come down…

this is why. why go to starbucks anymore when mcdonalds sells the same thing at half the price? mcdonalds finally smelt the coffee and starbuck stores are closing at a faster rate then they opened. they better do something fast before they smell bankruptcy too. my advice to them? sell 50 cent hamburgers that taste better than mcdonalds. go to war with mcdonalds. if not, expect more starbucks closing around your neighborhood….
**by the way, i was looking for a place to take my next vacation. i think i found it. goodnight….