was super happy to see the cleaning efforts up at tantalus the other day. it is one of the most beautiful scenic views in the world, BUT, there was a lot of rubbish everywhere. now it’s clean and i hope it stays that way for a long time. thank you to the tantalus clean up volunteers.

i always advise japanese not to go up to tantalus at night. there have been stabbings, killings, robberies, rapes, and even dead bodies found in the bushes. i’m not trying to scare you, i’m just telling you the news that you will never see outside of hawaii.

glad to see the news on this story. maybe it will encourage more people to volunteer, or more people to keep hawaii clean.

mahalo nui loa i ke kokua ana mai!

had a great time with these 2 surfer girls from osaka. they were friends from high school and are still friends till this day. that’s so cool to share a surfing moment in hawaii together.

Rie-san is from osaka and after asking a few questions about her surfing history, i put the pieces of the puzzle together and found out she is a member of a surf shop my friend owns. Barrels in osaka! what a small world!

Shizuka-san surfed for the first time and did great. stoked to see her enjoying a new sport!

Rie-san, thank you for the great surf and nature day. keep blue ocean, and keep green mountain.

Shizuka-san, thank you for the smiles and laughs. glad you enjoyed the awesome day in the ocean and mountain.

test, test. i always have to test my camera to see if i’m actually shooting. cheese!

another awesome day, another awesome girls, and another awesome memory. surf your dreams…

Sashimi?
Good morning 6am.
North shore 2-4′ and clean,
South shore 1-2′ and clean.
No wind this morning becoming trade winds at 20mph later.
Clouds, sun, showers, and maybe a rainbow this afternoon?
Surfing all day.
Have a wonderful day!

slept at 8:30pm last night. my world record for earliest sleep. got up at 5:30am feeling like a teenager. tonight i hope to do the same.

well, i think i can finally put away my 2mm rubber wetsuit top away for the year. today all of sudden turned into summer. the weather blazing hot, and the water very warm again. thank you Dove Wetsuits for keeping me warm throughout the coldest winter in hawaii’s history.

the Hitachi Tree? only japanese knows about this famous tree. us locals don’t know and never understood why so many people come to see this tree. well, since all the tourists started coming here all these years, the park decided to start collecting an admission fee. $3/per person. that’s sucks.

yes, i’m a very busy man. just look at the truck and you will see that i don’t have much time to play anymore. haha. but had such a wonderful time with the Ocean’s Love crew this morning. the kids are getting more confident in the ocean and surfing so much better. huge smiles and big hearts. i’m going to miss those kids.

picked up Moriguchi-san this afternoon. had such a great surf with nobody around. good waves and excellent rides. when Moriguchi-san told me she’s from Kochi, Shikoku, i had a feeling that we would have mutual friends. come to find out, she knows a lot of the surfers i know. i told her the story of me surfing a local kochi river mouth 23 years ago. i borrowed a car, drove the coastline, don’t know anybody, pulled up to a river mouth (didn’t know it was totally localized), got out my board, paddled out to the peak, caught a wave, then a local started telling me something. i just waved and gave him a shaka. then the next wave, i broke my board so had to go in. come to find out, the local guy was telling me to go in. they must have been tripping out on me as a foreigner surfing their local break. fast forward 23 years, those guys are now my friends and i was just surfing with them last year. funny story huh? anyway, can’t wait to go back. and thank you Moriguchi-san for the great surf session and all the laughs. see you tomorrow morning bright and early.

and thank you Junjun for the treats from Shizuoka! love it all! going to eat some for dinner tonight. itadakimasu!