i passed by this corner of a pretty safe neighborhood a few times last week. day by day, parts of this bicycle are missing. somebody stole the back tire, and somebody stole the seat. i bet you anything that the front tire will be gone the next time i pass by this corner. now days, a lock doesn’t work. and if you don’t believe me, just wait till you see this bike 1 week later. there will be only a frame locked to the pole. welcome to paradise! haha.

i had an awesome time with Kaori-san yesterday afternoon. the waves were pretty hard, but she managed some great long rides. a very energetic girl, and a very fast learner. also great at english. i ask her where she learned her english? she said “your english blog.” haha. i thought that was funny. Kaori-san knows me better than i know my own self. and after talking to her, i was impressed on how she could clearly understand my pigeon english. Kaori-san has been to hawaii 20 times. most places she already knows. so i had to think deep where to take her after surfing. we ended up going to kaka’ako and watched hawaii’s up and coming artists do their thing.

street art is coming back strong. i could have sat there for days just watching and watching. art is something i suck at so i really envy artists. wanted to say thank you to Kaori-san for a wonderful afternoon. great surfing, great talk, and great laughs. and i also wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday! another great year where your dreams will come true! enjoy the rest of your stay in hawaii and see you again!

War is ugly.
Good morning 6:20am.
North shore 10′ and still ugly.
South shore chest high and very pretty! Some spots head high and perfect! Winds weird. No wind now but becoming East? South/West? Surf early. Cloudy and some rain. Hopefully sunny later.
Have a wonderful day!

i took this photo exactly 4 years ago when it was the first time i met Team 3373 or Team Sazanami. Murakami-san and the old school boys formed this awesome team. waking up early morning in tokyo, jumping 3 vans, and heading to chiba to surf, surf, and surf. ever since then, i’ve been meeting more members of Team 3373 and they are all such great hard core surfers.

even though it was 4 years ago, i remember that day clearly. just a bunch of friends having a wonderful time with each other. the true meaning of soul surfing.

fast forward 4 years later to today. Sato-san is another member of the team. i had a great time with him this morning surfing and talking. the surf was pretty hard core. when we got out to bowls, Sato-san told me “wow, it’s uncrowded!” yes, there was only 1 other guy out. i told Sato-san, “the reason it’s so uncrowded is because most people can’t make it out here.” it was overhead, windy onshore, and 50 waves per minute. only the strong can survive. and at age 57, Sato-san survived!

Team 3373 surfed 70 times together in 2014. every weekend doing the same thing over and over. just a bunch of cool guys in their mid 50-‘s heading to 60’s and full of power. surfing created an unbreakable bond with these guys. the smiles will last forever. Sato-san, thank you for a wonderful morning surf and fun. i’m so happy listening to your stories about your team. i think that is the essence of surfing and i can totally relate to your dreams! surfing with my friends gives me pure joy, i’ve been doing it for 35 years and i still love it. getting closer to old friends and meeting new friends. that’s what surfing is all about. keep on surfing and keep on smiling!

and thank you for the Team Sazanami stickers! to Murakami-san and rest of the team, keep on surfing. forever young! hope to see you guys in hawaii!
then had a wonderful time this afternoon with a birthday girl. another awesome story that will have to wait for tomorrow. it’s 8:30pm and i’m getting ready for bed. it was a very long but wonderful hard core surfing day! good night.