when ever i eat at japanese restaurants, i like to maximize my experience each and every time. so the other night i was watching the best sushi chef in hawaii make me a take out futomaki sushi. step by step, breath by breath. omg! it was art!!!

look at this!!! amazing!

the biggest and best handmade futomaki sushi i’ve ever eaten!

it was always one of my dreams to become a sushi chef. even though i don’t practice now, i’m mentally creating sushi in my head. and if i ever become a sushi chef, i want to catch my own seafood, then prepare it step by step. and that is the very reason why i like to sit on the counter in sushi bars, and that’s the very reason why i ask a hundred questions. all this information is getting inputed into my brain. yes, i could probably forget your name, but i will never forget the taste of excellent sushi. haha.

so i go spear some expensive fish today. it’s called Uku and a very hard fish to spear. super smart but i finally figured out the technique. you just can’t look them in the eye! if you do, they won’t come close. so i drop 50′ and look the other way, then i can feel it coming close. i take a side eye peak, and there it was. bam! dinner tonight! next one, same thing! bam! dinner tomorrow night!
here is what Uku is. you will only find this fish in expensive 5 star restaurants here in hawaii.
BLUE-GREEN SNAPPER (UKU) Uku is commonly known as the Hawaii blue-green snapper. This fish shares many of the same qualities that have given opakapaka and onaga their reputations as outstanding table fish.

Gas: $300
Food: $50
Beer: $20
Time: 2 days.
Fish: Zero
I quit fishing!!!!!
Haha!

Sakamoto-san in Hawaii. cool surfer and cool photo.

we had a great time eating lunch. it was Sakamoto-san’s father’s first time ever eating pho and he loved it. he worked his whole life everyday morning till night and now is finally retiring. i’m super stoked that he is enjoying his chapter 2 of life! super genki, super nice, and super kind!

i took them on a 10 min drive up the mountain. everything changed. the view, the air, the people, and the everything. this is the part of hawaii that i want to show everybody. you can enjoy your vacation in waikiki, but take the 10 minute drive and get into the purest nature hawaii has to offer. we get deeper into the mountain, i turn off the radio, i roll down all windows, and drive slowly. this is when you can really feel the fresh cool air, smell the trees and flowers, and listen to the birds chirping. it doesn’t get anymore relaxing than that!

panorama tantalas! super perfect day!