good morning. i spent 3 days this past weekend almost fainting 5 times from the hot sun. i wouldn’t do it for anything else but i did it because i needed to know where kids surfing was going in japan. from the firewire asp junior pro to the saiko series grom contest, i watched it all and was really impressed….

what impressed me the most was the ’09 shonan saiko cup yesterday. tomo-san couldn’t have done a better job at making kids and their families happy. can you believe that the entree fee was free? and free surf school? and free lunch? and free tshirt? this contest was made for the kids and i think every kid and parent appreciated everything….

who ever signed up for the free surf lesson by pro surfers scored. these opportunities don’t happen too often….

then you have an autograph session for the kids? that was cool….

then you have guys like kenji sakaguchi coming down to support the contest? great for the sport of surfing….

the autograph line was so long that it was going down to the water. i grabbed a poster and tshirt signed by everyone that will be on the go-naminori presents next month. so if you didn’t get the chance to go down there, you will have one more lucky chance to get one… thanks tomo-san for putting on such a great event for the kids. seeing all the smiles made me a happy surfer!!

with the miyazaki groms…

wanted to say hello to cassidy from kaiser high. cool board your boyfriend made for you. rip it up girl!!

speaking of cool. i seen a board in kame-san’s car the other day and it caught my eye. remember those twin plastic fins? if your new to bodyboarding, you probably haven’t seen it before. but if your old school like me, these would look familiar. i had these plastic fins on my moray boogie board when i was a kid. it’s probably a collectors item….

and once again, congratulations to nao-chan for winning the jr. pro the other day. the next carissa moore of japan???

and last, hard reef bar in okinawa has been in business for almost 30 years. in fact, next year will be their 30th year anniversary. seiji-san, an artist out of okinawa painted this on the wall. this painting is my all time favorite and if i ever open a bar, restaurant, or office, i would beg seiji-san to paint this on the wall. this painting makes me happy to see all the happy faces. i love this painting so much that i had to get a photo with me in it. could you tell? haha… anyway, i’ve been hearing a rumor that there’s going to be a huge 30th anniversary party at hard reef next year and i hope i’ll be there….. cheers to the boys down there in okinawa[:?????????:][:?????????:][:?????????:]