i’ve eaten such good food in the last week. yesterday’s meals were awesome. we ate the dream Yamari breakfast, then some good quality tonkatsu for lunch. then right before we headed to the airport, we went to get a snack. this is the snack! the fresh izakaya restaurant in wakayama called “En.” look at our sashimi platter! i ended up eating so much yesterday that my body felt like a bloated pig. we barely made it to the airport and the counter was closing. 5 minutes later, we would have had to stay another night in japan. no problem right?

i get on the airplane, sleep, and wake up to this. i could see the big south swells in the ocean and i started to get excited.

driving home is a great feeling after an awesome trip. this past week went by in a flash and if i didn’t take the thousands of photos i did, everything would be forgotten. i surfed this evening and as soon as i jumped into the ocean, i felt reborn again. i really think i’m a fish?

our crew leaving Yamari yesterday. it feels like my home. going back in 3 weeks so see you guys again soon!

i was packing my surfboards and guns for my next trip in september. 5 year old Soutaro was helping me. he kept on asking me when i’m coming back. haha. he’s so cute!

this was about 15 yeas ago. so many great memories since then! i keep this photo on my desktop because it reminds me what great people there are in this world.

this was last night. so many memories still in the making. Kimura-san and Atsuko-san are like my father and mother. they take care of me, they don’t get mad when i get selfish, and the have big hearts. thank you always for treating me like family!

3-5′ and good!!!
So lucky!

Thank you Japan!
Goodnight and see you in Hawaii!