woke up early this morning to surf the north shore. just paddled out to laniakea and waves were better than i thought. only 2 guys at the peak with nice overhead sets. plenty of turtles, plenty of waves, and plenty of sun. had an awesome session. then stopped by wailua bakery on the way home to pick up my favorite pastry.

then stopped by wahiawa to pick up my new Match single fin shape by TSSC. so stoked! i can’t wait to ride it!

something different, something interesting, and something i’m looking forward too. going to wax it up now!

i had a meeting today with a really nice man. Nishikido-san is a professor from Hosei University in Tokyo. he’s been supporting the recovery efforts in Kitakami for the past 3 years and is a good friend of Naomi-san. we had a great meeting and i was so happy to meet such an intellectual man with a great heart. talked about the recovery efforts and remembering our missions almost brought tears to my eyes. over 4 years and Nishikido-san and i have something in common. “we will never forget 3/11” We Are One! can’t wait to teach Nishikido-san how to surf, and can’t wait to talk to his university students someday.

then went to the apple store for another long meeting with an apple genius. took too long so i left my computer there and came home to eat dinner.

been eating pretty healthy recently. fried tofu with bonito flakes from mugi, japan. so good!

got the phone call from apple at 8pm so rushed over to kahala mall for the pick up. want to thank Derek at the genius bar for taking really good care of me these last few visits. a true apple genius! works perfectly again!

now it’s snack time with my favorite treats from hokkaido. thank you Nishikido-san for the wonderful sweets and for the wonderful talk today. it’s always nice to meet people like yourself. have a safe flight back to japan and see you in september!
not it’s 9:10pm and way past my bedtime. south swell tomorrow! going sleep. had a long day, goodnight.

Nice collection!

i’m finally going to europe! throughout my traveling career, i’ve never had the desire to go to europe. i thought i’d wait to get older so i can enjoy the art, museums, and culture. and now since i like wine, i can’t wait to try some fine wine. another reason why i didn’t go was because it was so expensive. well, not anymore! the euros came down to almost an even 100 and supposed to come down even more.

the last time the euros was at this level was in 2003. i’m going to buy some euros when or if it hits 90, put it under my pillow, and finally take the european vacation i’m really looking forward too. Bonjour!

oh, there are many frequent questions that people ask me. i will start addressing them so here’s the first one.
Q: “are you half? or quarter?”
A: “no, i’m not half, or i’m not quarter. i’m 4th generation japanese/american. my great grandparents immigrated from hiroshima and kumamoto. they got married, then my grandma and grandpa were born. they were both 100% 2nd generation japanese/american. then my mom and dad were 100% 3rd generation japanese/american. so i’m the 4th generation and full 100% japanese blood. so when a japanese person asks me “are you half?” i tell them “no, i’m full japanese just like you. the only difference is i was born in hawaii and i speak weird japanese.” haha. by the way, i’m very proud to be 100% japanese. i love the people, food, and culture so much that i feel so japanese.