good morning. 7:30am here in uchizuma. seems like the south swell is still going but it’s come down a bit. i’m going to relax today. maybe jump in the water for a snorkel later. gosh, shikoku is so beautiful. japan paradise…. have a beautiful day….[:??????:]

here is akayan-san and matchi talking story after a surf. we were sitting here for 30 minutes and my body started to overheat. it was 100 degrees and burning hot. i needed to get some water so i was out of there. gosh, i must be drinking about three 2L bottles of water a day. at $2/each, that’s $6/day. so my water bill in japan comes out to $180/month. you people back in hawaii better appreciate the clean fresh free tap water….

this was my long drive back home yesterday. i had my ipod on listening to kalapana and singing karaoke in the car. haha. it was such a happy drive back home. i guess any drive back home is happy when you score epic waves….

this guy was flying on his bike following this car. if the car was to slam the breaks, the bicycle guy is history….

ok, i’ve drove down this road over 100 times with matchi. every single time, he tells me about seeing monkeys here. i don’t believe him because i’ve never seen them for myself. and i think he knows i don’t believe him. anyway, on the way back the other day, i was in a deep sleep in the passenger seat of his car. all of a sudden, matchi yells out loud “kirby, kirby” and slams his breaks. he scared the shit out of me. i thought we were going to get into an accident or something. i almost had a freakin heart attack. he stopped in the middle of the road and said “look, monkeys”…. my heart was pumping so fast but my mind was still asleep. there were 2 monkeys running in the middle of road. was it a dream???? no, it was real. after that, it took a while for my heart beat to go back to normal. thanks matchi for showing me the monkeys. now i believe you…. but next time, don’t freak me out again… i’m getting too old for that…. haha….

what’s up guys, just got back from a 2 day surf your brains out road trip. left here yesterday at 3:30am by myself and headed to were the waves are. took 2 hours but finally got in the water at 5:30am. barrels? yes…. jumped in my car and headed to another spot. barrels? yes, yes, and yes…. the waves were freaking going off all day long. the morning was in the 2′ range and by evening, it was 6′ and going off. i finally broke my brand new 6’4 at about 4pm. i came back on the beach and was going to call it a day because i didn’t want to break my other board. but after watching the waves going off, i couldn’t handle it. i grabbed my other 6’4 and paddled out around 5:30pm. everybody out there was getting barreled. seen hayato maki and hideyoshi tanaka get some sick ones. the waves were going off that nobody wanted to go in. and it was almost pitch dark. i tried to go on a wave but it was so dark that couldn’t see the bottom so i pulled back. then it was only me and hideyoshi out the back when this big black mountain set came in. i couldn’t see anything but i just paddled hard into it, pretty much closed my eyes, and luckily made the drop. i bottom turned and it was so dark that i don’t even know where the barrel was. i pulled in anyway, stood there, rode it for a while, and felt the spit on my back. i was stoked. that was my best wave of this year so far. no camera, no photo, nobody saw. but i don’t give a shit. it was such an awesome feeling…..

this is one of the secret river mouths here in japan. oh, i mean china. i hope it stays a secret for as long as i’m surfing….

i surfed for 8 hours yesterday. i’m tired, sunburned, surfed out, but feeling pretty happy. it was drive 3 hours back to where i’m staying and wake up again at 3am to drive back. or sleep in the car, refresh, and get it on it early again. i chose to sleep in the car. you can’t drink beer in japan and drive so i was wondering how i was going to drink cold beers. i figured it out. i parked and slept in the 7/11 parking lot. i bought one beer, drank it, went back in, bought another one, ate some tofu and tako wasabi, and had a little party by myself. and get this, there happened to be a big fireworks event right there so i was stoked. what a lucky ass day…. well, besides sweating all night and getting bit all over by mosquitos….

my $2 brand new slippers broke but i still had to wear them. walking on the sand barefoot in japan is like walking on fire. if you don’t have slippers, you can’t surf. and when i came in from surfing yesterday evening, i had a hard time finding these in the dark. black slippers on black sand? i got down and acted like a dog. after i smelt my slippers, i grabbed it and was out of there…..

anyway, i’m back in uchizuma now and looking out my window. this is what the waves look right out front. i’m going to take a nap and maybe go for an evening surf. i’ll post more photos later…. have a nice evening…
**and sorry if i haven’t responded to your emails yet. i didn’t have internet connection. i just opened my inbox and i had too many in there. i’m too tired so i’ll get to it later. when there’s waves, don’t expect any email from me.. haha….

check out this bug i saw the other day at tokushima. this one must be in the early 1950’s. all original in and out. i think japan does the best at restoring volkswagons. gosh, i wish this one was mine…..

we call this a baby window or oval window. and those little lights in the back are called “heart-shaped egg lights”. those lights cost big bucks and are so hard to find….

right between the windows are the blinkers or “semi-fours”. when you turn on the blinker, it pops out and the light flashes. old school… and get this, this bug was sitting there all day with the windows down. this wouldn’t last 10 minutes in a parking lot in hawaii. once you turn your head, it would be gone. somebody would rip it off and you will never see your baby again…..