welcome to Ohchi Sushi! we always come here to enjoy the great sushi, great sake, great friends, and a great time. quality food and time at its finest.

my favorite is always the O-toro! melts in the mouth! it’s amazing how good food can make a person so happy. i never realized that until coming to japan. good food with good friends is an unbeatable combination.

after dinner drinks. great to see and spend time with awesome friends in my life. thank you Inaida-san, Yuki-san, and Junya for the great dinner, drinks, laughs, music, and memories in tokyo last night.

i’ve known Junya for 3 years now. he’s a very great musician with so much talent. i could see him singing from the heart more and more and his music is sinking deeper and deeper into my soul. i got chicken skin last night as he sang a song written by Inaida-san to our dear friend that recently passed away.

Kaoru-san was our great friend. the classic designer of japan, the stylist, and a man with a warm heart. i had a lot of happy memories that i will never forget. as i drink from the whisky bottles produced by Inaida-san and designed by Kaoru-san, i can feel a connection. i could see Kaoru-san’s smiles, i could hear his words of wisdom, i could feel the laughter, and it makes me very happy to have met such an amazing man. Cheers my friend!

after traveling for so many years in japan, i still get amazed by the transportation system. so efficient, on time, and very clean. it makes me worry so much about the rail system being built in hawaii right now. being the hawaiian time style of living, i really don’t think it will work.

Matsu and i got a train back from kyoto to yokohama. had lunch at this tantanmen restaurant in the station. omg, my mouth was on fire!!! i had to go eat ice cream after this and everything became all right.

it was really good, but it was really spicy.

a big article on hawaii came out on the surfing mag web. went through the photos and was super stoked to see the kids! Seth Moniz in flight. photo: Noyle

Isaiah Moniz in the big bowl. photo: Heff

and lucky me getting my best photo by far ever on the south shore of hawaii. my best photo by the best water photographer in the world. can’t wait to get back home and get more barrels like this. photo: Noyle

thought i’d check the international news this morning. big volcano eruption in indonesia. lucky i didn’t choose to climb that one.

396 people dead and counting. when traveling in countries like this, you better have an escape plan. every time i board a ferry, i always look for a way out in case something happens. because in countries like china, you are on your own. don’t expect anyone to help you in emergency situations.
well, got up at 4:30am. listening to relaxing music, now getting ready to go back to my home in hawaii. another fast trip, but a very great one. the more i come to japan and spend time with friends, the more i love it. a country that will fascinate and make me happy for the rest of my life. thank you and sayonara to all my friends. see you again soon.

it’s so weird how small this world is. i was getting ready to jump on a train to somewhere yesterday morning when i get a text from my good friend Matsu. he tells me he’s in kyoto! omg, so close. so i decided to cancel all other plans and hang out with Matsu who’s been my friend for the past 23 years. we went to a cool yakitori restaurant about 10 minutes by taxi from kyoto station. it was awesome! had a great time like always talking about the past, present, and future. great timing Matsu!

if you visit kyoto, you should visit this yakiniku restaurant. Sot-ly-laisse is pretty close to kyoto station and one of the best yakitori restaurants i’ve ever been too. good quality food, very clean, and pretty cheap.

but if you go, you better make reservations.


i’m walking in the rain coming back from the temple yesterday when i get a text from Bobby. he said “did you see the surfingmag.com article?” i said “no.” then he sent me a link. i opened it and found me in the blueroom. remember i told you about my 7 hour surf session just a few days ago? i anchor the boat right in front of big rights, paddle to the lineup, and before i could say “hi” to everybody, a super perfect big wave was coming right to me. i keep on paddling, take off, and pull into the nicest Aqua blue barrel. i was deep, i was calm, i was happy, i was right in the place i wanted to be. 5 seconds later, i fly out of the barrel, totally stoked, and totally satisfied. all this in less than a minute. it’s amazing on how a minute can change your whole day and life. luckily, the worlds best water photographer Zac Noyle was out and shot this photo. definitely a keeper for me. now it’s on the most popular surfing website and millions of people get to see my blueroom barrel. it’s just a barrel to many, but it’s more than that to me. thanks Zac for the awesome photo and for letting me relive a great moment in my life.