it’s cool how patient and understanding you have to be when chasing a typhoon swell. no matter what the forecasters or internet site models predict, the best way is going to check for yourself. this morning, that’s exactly what we did.

i set my alarm for 5am but i heard somebody tooting his horn from outside my room at 4:20am. i get up and find Matchi waiting in the pitch dark storming rain. i get in his car, we drive for 4 hours all over checking spot after spot. we knew there won’t be any waves today because the swell should start showing tomorrow and peak on friday. but like how we use to do it 20 years ago with no phone and no internet, we went on instinct. checked out everywhere so when the swell shows tomorrow, we will know exactly where to go. thanks Match for driving me around hours and hours for the past 23 years. always good to catch up on things.

i don’t come to japan typhoon season to surf reef breaks. i come here to surf river mouths. why? because there is nowhere in the world like here. the most perfect setups you can ever imagine. today was a little too small, but things will start growing rapidly.

typhoon 12 is right on course. i have thursday, friday, and saturday to surf it before it hits japan. then i have to scramble around to get a flight back to hawaii because i work next week.

if you ask google, here i am.

i’m sitting in my room overlooking the beautiful pacific ocean. come tomorrow, i’ll be moving around to a very far place. a place where my google map won’t work.

i still feel so weird after that bus ride last night. i still wasn’t hungry this morning but forced an udon into my stomach because i was feeling weak. $250, can’t beat this!
going to relax today and get my equipment ready for the next 3 days of surfing. can’t wait!

  
Too small. Go back sleep

i woke up this morning and was flipping through the japanese channels. seen a familiar face??? is this Tokiwa Takako? she’s like my all time favorite actress in japan. i had to look good because she looked different in this drama. is it really her? the image i have of Tokiwa Takako is still the young girl in “Aishiteru to utte kure.” the cutest ever.

had the best ever sukiyaki for lunch today. omg, i couldn’t believe it! i love sukiyaki and this was the top of the top quality!

i’m supposed to catch the 2:20pm bus to Mugi. i get off the train at 2:13pm in osaka, run my ass around the confusing station asking everybody where the bus terminal was. i thought it was in one direction but it was in the other. when i found out were, i ran through the big streets of osaka, through red lights, and almost getting hit by cars. i see it in the distance, it is 2:19pm. one more street to cross and i get there at exactly 2pm and 10 seconds. i ask the staff “i’m here to catch the 2:20pm bus to Mugi?” he tells me “sorry, you are too late, the bus left 10 seconds ago.” OMG! i forgot japan is the most on time country in the world. even 10 seconds and you are too late.

so after all that running and hustle in the 100 degree hot weather, i was sweating head to toe. i try to cool off but couldn’t. 15 more minutes of sweat until my body temperature was back to normal. now i had 2 hours to wait before the next bus comes. free time to read the new Hawaii Skin Diver magazine.

i finally board the bus. finish up reading the magazine, then start texting on my iPhone. 3 hours into the trip, i look outside and start to feel sick. i was sitting in the back of the bus next to the toilet reading and texting? not the smartest thing and not the best smell and smoothest ride. i felt like throwing up!

so i move up, doesn’t help at all. i still have 1 hour to go and i was about to throw up in the plastic bag they provide. my first ever time getting car sick. then i thought i should get off the bus bus but i knew there was no way the bus would wait for me. and being where i was in the most remote country of shikoku, i just curled up into a ball and started doing my deep breaths. finally arrive in Mugi, Yassan picks me up in the pouring rain, i felt sick, i had to cancel dinner (sorry Yassan and Tomokosan for waiting for me), and now all i want to do is lie down and hope this feeling goes away. the first time in many years i’m skipping dinner. that’s how shitty i feel. tomorrow going surfing and hopefully feel 100% right when i hit the water. but before that, a long 2.5-3 hour drive to the beach. omg. goodnight.