good morning. my last day here in japan and heading to the airport now. going to take a little break before heading back to hawaii. this past 4 weeks have been awesome. traveling around, seeing my old friends, meeting new friends, eating good food, i’ll surely miss it. just wanted to thank everybody here that have been so kind to me. i really enjoyed this trip and can’t wait to come back for typhoon season. see you guys soon. doomo arigato gozaimashita…..

got an email from a friend back in hawaii about my tokiwa takako blog. don’t want to say his name because he might get into trouble. anyway, he insists matsushima nanako is hotter. yeah, she’s ok. is she a new face? see, i was hooked on japanese dramas back in the 90’s so if this actress was to walk by me, i wouldn’t even recgonize her. i’m old school… haha…

so wendell, oh, sorry i said your name. hope you don’t get into trouble. haha… what do you think about this actress/singer miho nakayama? she is pretty famous in japan. i use to watch her drama’s and listen to her music a long time ago. then about 4 years ago, i was drinking with some friends at side street inn late at night. this girl walked by the table where i was sitting and i just felt an aura. know what i mean? just felt this power or something. i looked up and there she was, miho nakayama. she gave our table a friendly smile as she walked past. shit! it was a trip to see one of my favorite actresses in some local hole in the wall bar in hawaii where i’ve never seen japanese people before. it took me a few days to calm myself down.. haha….
and speaking about dramas. just found out that you can no longer watch “aishiteru to itte kure” drama on youtube anymore. they cut it off last night. This video has been removed due to terms of use violation. i thought that was pretty funny timing because i was just at episode 4. now i have to buy the dvd.. and you too if you want to see how it ends…. but who ever posted it on youtube 2 weeks ago, thank you very much. i enjoyed it…
**for all you lost gaigin in japan, check out this site for the train time schedules. i use it all the time when looking for a train to the airport…
CLICK HERE FOR NARITA EXPRESS AND SHINKANSEN TIME SCHEDULES….
**and last, the TSSC USERS CONTEST GALLERY is up on GO-NAMINORI.COM…. CHECK IT OUT….

good evening. i was thinking about something today. thinking about the first 2 years i lived in japan. back then, there was no internet and no cellular phones. so the only way to check the waves was to drive down and look for yourself. i use to get up every morning at 6:30am and drive 30min to the nearest beach, which was kugunuma. look there, and drive all the way to some river mouths up the coast. sometimes it took 40min, and sometimes it took 2 hours. depended on the traffic. but i use to do that every day for 2 years. so i was thinking about all the flat days were i would drive all around and go back home at 1pm without even surfing. that sucked. then i would remember the good days where i’d score perfect waves with nobody around. yeah, nobody around. i surfed hanamizu, banyu, and other secret river mouths before all by myself. now the we have good surf forecast websites and everybody with cellular phones, things will never be the same. do i prefer the old days? or the new hi tech days? i think i like it how it was before. just the feeling of not knowing how the waves are until you pull up to the beach was exciting for me. now days, i already know before i leave the house. i think surfers now days are too spoiled. or too lucky. and i feel kind of sorry that they will never experience the feeling i use to experience every morning here in japan. rain, or shine, or snow, just go. and when you score epic waves by yourself, it’s all worth it..

i went back into my inbox folder and started throwing away old emails. then i came across this one gordinho sent me. this was this past winter but it felt like years ago… after being in japan all this time, now i really want to get back to hawaii and get barreled. and spit out… i miss surfing big waves….. ahhhhh….

this is my office. the best office in the world. backdoor…. i remember this wave well. i pulled in this barrel just for the photo. almost got hit in the face by a water housing, and broke my board. not a good day in the office…. but i ain’t complaining…. 7 photographers? nuts….

and check out this guys office. now that’s one office i wouldn’t want to be in. hope his company has a good life insurance plan…..

the other day, i got an email from hawaiian slack guitarist kawika from hawaii. he’s was in the band that opened for jack johnson at his concert in japan last week. he also played 2 songs along the side of jack. anyway, how small is this world. he saw the video i posted on youtube and sent me an email saying mahalo. he knows tony moniz, wade tokoro, and sean yano. all surfers i know too. small world…. anyway, kawika is playing at the kokua festival in hawaii this weekend where jack johnson will be performing too. gosh, wish i was there… anyway, wanted to say thanks to kawika for the email and can’t wait to get back and see you jam somewhere in hawaii….. CHECK OUT THIS CLIP OF JACK INTRODUCING KAWIKA…. ALOHA…
i was so stoked when i heard kawika’s band play before jack. i was really missing hawaii this time and listening to live hawaiian music made so happy. mahalo…