good morning. 5am here on this holiday monday morning in japan. gosh, i’ve been down these past days. feels like a major cold but i think it’s still from the poison food i ate. my body feels tired but trying to recover. traveling and living out of your suitcase takes a toll on you but you just have to think positive and go with the flow. yeah, i miss my own bed but i will have that all winter long so i can’t complain. in about 2 weeks, i’ll be home so until then, i’m going to keep moving and enjoy what i chose to do. as for now, i’m heading to the rise and shine users contest to say my bye bye’s to matsuo and everybody there. then i’m on the train out of here. have a great day…

speaking about rise and shine, some guys with huge HD tv cameras came by to shoot for japanese karaoke videos. they even had a girl model but i couldn’t get a good look at her. i didn’t want to look like a stalker or anything. they closed the shop, kicked me out, and did the filming….

so the next time you get all drunk and sing karaoke, look for a guy in the back of the camera sticking tongue. that’s me…. haha…

the day after i got back from the philippines, i had to go to tokyo for a couple of meeting. i’ve been to tokyo over 100 times but everytime i go, i get a little culture shock. just to think, i was in the jungle a couple of days before this. tokyo is one place where a guy like me could never live….

i’m a people watcher. i can sit down all day and watch people go by. and the best place in the world to people watch is in shibuya. thousands of people pass through this intersection evertime the light turns red. i wonder what would happen if this traffic light broke? it would be nuts….

then from hot, to cold. i was wearing trunks, t-shirt, and slippers a few days go. now i’m in jeans, long sleeve shirts, and shoes. but it’s ok because i have new clothes that i always wanted to wear….

this is this falls SPICE CLOTHING collection. spice makes the coolest clothes and i’m stoked because it fits perfect and all my friends back home like it. but they can’t have it. haha….

good morning on this beautiful cold sunday morning in japan. gosh, yesterday was another great day of surfing. it all started off at 3:47am when i awoke to a big earthquake. not the side to side kind, but the up and down kind. my alarm was set at 3:55am anyway so i got up and left forgetting to brush my teeth. nah.. went to tokura-san’s house, loaded up his van, and headed to pick up the yugawara groms….

this was the sunrise on the way. gosh, it’s been so long since i saw the sun. i forgot how happy it makes me feel….

these are the yugawara groms. ryota and shun. both 10 years old or so and rippers. it was shun’s first time to a river mouth so i was stoked to be with him. i guarantee he will never forget this day… i’ve never seen two groms get so many barrels in a day…. ryota and shun are coming to hawaii this winter season. they are going to freak…. can’t wait…

this was the wave when we first pulled up. this is a secret river mouth so i can’t say where it is. just that it’s near a big mountain. anyway, big mountain river mouth was going off…. perfect overhead barreling super long lefts. i’ve been surfing perfect rights all year so it felt good going backside on a wave where you could do anything you want. pull in, or hit the lip. just glassy perfection…. score again. i feel like i got so many good waves this year that some surfers won’t experience in their whole lifetime. just wanted to thank the people that always make it happen for me. i’m sitting on my bed typing this with a pretty big smile on my face. life is good…..

there is a river you have to cross to get to big mountain river mouth. in the river, there are deadly snakes and alligators so you have to be careful where you walk. once you get through the river, there are bushes that have bears and tigers hiding inside. it’s a pretty nuts place so i wouldn’t go there if i were you….
**anyway, wanted to thank toda-san, takami-san, and the big mountain locals for sharing their waves with us. had a great time and can’t wait till next year… doomo arigato gozaimasu….