this might look like a normal photo to most people. but to me, this photo is one of the few photos that make it on the wall of my house. why? this photo was taken 22 years ago on niijima island. i was there for the world amateur contest in 1990, the same year kelly slater, shane dorian, ross williams, taylor knox, rob machado, and many others competed in. i worked hard to get there, i sacrificed a lot, and also spent my own hard earned money.
it was competition day and my turn to compete. the dream i’ve been working so hard to get to. then right before my heat, our team manager decided to pull me out and put in somebody else, which happened to be his nephew. his nephew was my friend so i had mixed emotions. i wanted him to do good, but at the same time, i felt like i’ve been robbed. i started boiling hot inside and back then, i had trouble holding in my emotions. yeah, the manager was 20 years older than me, but that didn’t matter. so instead of going crazy and starting a riot in the town, i walked straight up the the contest official area, i called out our manager from the office, i stood straight in his face, and told him that i wanted to fight, and fight right now. i was jumping up and down ready to fight a guy older, stronger, and probably more crazy than me. but that didn’t matter. everybody came out of the office and watched as a young boy was about to lose control. then one japanese man came and tapped me on the shoulder and said “kirby, please calm down.” i looked at him and was ready to snap at him too. but his voice, his manner, and his way he walked up to me put out the fire in me. and till this day, i don’t know how he did it. his name was Keizo Kawabe. Keizo-san is the guy on the top right, standing behind me. yeah, that is me. the dark guy with the mustache. haha.
somehow i cooled down but still couldn’t take the fact that i got robbed. when i got back to our minshiku, i called up the contest director in hawaii long distance and told him what happened. he told me to calm down and i told him that i had to get off this island asap or i might do something i might regret. he knew how i was back then so i booked the next ferry out of there and didn’t know where to go, or what to do. i just knew i had to get off that island. right before i left, Keizo-san introduced me to another guy named Charlie Church who had his brother Tom living in yokohama. then my younger brother told me to call his former host family in tokyo. things started to come together as i was on my lonely 8 hour ferry ride back to tokyo. i got picked up, i got well taken care of, i got shown around tokyo, i met my first japanese girlfriend, and the rest is history.
i still think about it till this day how Keizo-san turned my life around. if he didn’t calm me down that day, i would have done something stupid. i would have fought in an unknown country, probably get arrested, hated japan, and my surfing career would have ended. but because of him, i got to see the beautiful culture of japan, meet the kindest japanese people, and had so many experiences that made me want to go back to live there.
this was a huge turning point in my life and i want to thank Keizo Kawabe for being there for someone he didn’t even know. true japanese spirit!
**i just want to say something that i learned in japan. i learned to respect my elders. i learned how to look up to my elders. there is no way in the world i would have done what i did that day in niijima if i was raised in japan. i am truly impressed with the respect the japanese people have for their elders, and for the people around them. traveling to japan and meeting so many amazing people has taught me how to forgive. i still have a hard time forgetting but i’m working on that. haha.
