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….

good morning. shock!! planned a surf trip down south but got the report early this morning. FLAT!!! eeh?? now what? gosh, i feel like surfing so bad. shonan is completely flat. these are the times i miss hawaii. it’s never flat there. oh well, i’m going to head to 7/11 and eat some oden. then sweat. have a nice hot 100 degree day….

tipi from bali sent me this update from padang. and you know what? it doesn’t look too good. i hope the heavy boat didn’t damage the reef too much. if it changed that perfect wave, i myself will go strangle the captain that screwed up….

things like this happens all over the world. even in hawaii. and this isn’t the first time. i’ve seen boats stuck in the lineup at diamond head lighthouse, bowls, and kewalo’s. what a disaster to our beautiful reefs….

we stopped by takami-san and toda-san’s hula hawaii shop in the huge mall at shizuoka. gosh, that shop is awesome. good feeling, good people, and good location. all that equals to good business. last year, they were talking about this dream. this year, it came true. congratulations on such a huge accomplishment.
**by the way, the ASP WCT contest is being held at uluwatu’s if you didn’t know. ripcurl is trying to keep it like a secret location or something by calling it “somewhere in bali”. that somewhere is ulu’s…
*also, my sister is looking for a home for “lucky” the little pig. they won’t be able to raise him along with kalua so if you want to provide a loving home for one dam lucky little pig, please let me know. oink oink… mahalo..

i was in shizuoka the other day surfing with some local friends. for lunch, they took us to this awesome restaurant/cafe.

here’s the menu. for $14, you can order an entree of food, along with all you can eat desert and drinks. and all gourmet food and deserts..

all fresh gourmet deserts made right there..

take your pick…

i started off with the blueberry cream cheese and custard pie. and this is before my lunch comes. it’s the first time in my entire life that i ate desert before my meal. my mom would have scolded me….

then my meal comes. rice on the bottom, topped with curry and a raw egg, covered with cheese… oh my gosh. so good…

then i go for the cream puff and rare cheese cake…

then end it off with a brownie and fresh vanilla ice cream. along with the 5 fresh squeezed orange juices i drank. all for $14. are you kidding me? what a deal..

the shizuoka locals took us there and when i asked toda-san why he didn’t take me there the times i went there before, he said “kirby, little by little, not all at once”… i thought that was pretty classic. now i can’t wait to go back and discover more of japan’s hidden secrets…. thanks toda-san and takami-san for the awesome lunch…
**and the next time my friends come to hawaii, i’m going to start them off at mcdonald’s. and if they ask me why, i’ll tell them what toda-san told me, “little by little, not all at once”…. haha….