wow, had such a fun time this morning. just to see the smiles on the kids faces made me so happy. 17 kids from fukushima came to chiba for a surf school and it was amazing to see all the people that supported this event yumie and her friends put on. it was hot, but hot with smiles and laughter. at the end of the day, one of the guys that got the kids together in fukushima said a speech and broke down. yeah, it was pretty emotional. i want to thank toda-san and takami-san for picking me up and driving me to the event. and thank you toda-san for taking all these amazing photos.
every time i get into toda-san’s car, i feel the hawaiian spirit. cool dolls!
after 3/11, the beaches in fukushima aren’t the same. many are still in restricted areas, and many are contaminated with radiation. it must feel good for these kids to be able to play in safe sand.
water fight!
the waves were perfect for a surf school. not too small, not too big, and not too dangerous. just perfect!
i was trying hard to make these kids laugh. some of my jokes worked, some didn’t. haha.
i almost never made it to this event because of my work in hawaii but at the end, everything fell into place and i’m glad to have been here today. one big surf family!
i don’t know why, but little girls like to pick on me. they chase me around trying to throw a stink dead fish on me. then they started throwing seaweed, then sand. i had to run and hide but somehow, they caught me.
the 8 year little girl from fukushima on the right told me i looked like a filipino. haha.
anyway, toda-san took 400 photos and i’ll post it soon. right now, i’m going to shower in my fancy hotel in tokyo, then go eat some sushi! i love japan!
