98.46 yen = $1 USD? OMG!!

North Korea World War III? OMG!!
Good morning 5:30am.
North: 3-5′ and perfect conditions.
South: Waist/chest high and perfect. Diamond Head bigger.
Wind: No wind becoming onshore mid-morning.
Weather: Perfect sunny day.
Plan: Surf/Airport/Japan.
Have a wonderful day!

listen to this story. i book a hotel/condo room for a friend. it’s a big local company so i trusted them and paid in full $800 one week before check in. my friend suddenly had a family emergency and couldn’t come to hawaii. i called the company 6 days before to cancel, nobody answered so i left a message. i also sent an email. i know it would be hard to get a refund but i tried anyway. 4 days past and no response. i call again, no response. so i drive down to the office and talk to the very same staff that took my money. she told me that they are too busy now to get back to me. huh? what? then she just made excuse after excuse how i wasn’t going to get any refund. check in was 2 days ahead and i almost gave up. then as i sit in the office getting pissed, i looked on the wall and saw a Trip Advisor award of 5 stars for excellence service. it was in a nice frame so they must have been proud. no way! so i left the office with no answer. i called the main office manager and no response. yeah, they were avoiding me because they didn’t want to give me a refund. so i called back and insisted to talk to the president of the company. then the vice president came on the phone, i told her that i was going to file a complaint with Trip Advisor, the Better Business Bureau, and everybody i know. that’s when the tide changed. at a snap of a finger, i was treated like a king. they apologized and ended up giving me a full refund. i was happy but not totally happy. so now i have a question for you. should i still go ahead and file a complaint? or should i just forget about it and let that company do that to other customers? i still can’t believe that Trip Advisor gave them 5 stars for excellence. unbelievable!

ok, let’s move on to something more positive. i’m finally going to japan! so excited! hope to see you either in shikoku for the tssc contest, or in yokohama for the love hawaii collection. should be a fun trip! see you soon.
**CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON LOVE HAWAII IN YOKOHAMA

i think every surfer on the island is freaking on how good the waves have been. some of the top professional surfers who came in december and january to the north shore said it was the worst winter season ever. well, i got some bad news for those guys, and for all the photographers who left early. north shore finally awoke! yeah, it’s already april but none of the local boys are complaining. pipeline/backdoor has seen the best waves ever this past week. perfect swell direction, perfect winds, and perfect weather.

2nd reef pipe at 12′ this evening. and guess what? there is another swell rolling our way.

the weather pattern in the world is weird. this has to be the best april on the north shore in the history of surfing. and the month just started. OMG! lucky you live in hawaii.

check out this photo i took yesterday when i was surfing with my friends. i was on the side yelling “stand up! look forward! bend your knees!” imagine there is a girl right on the bottom of where this board is coming down. it was a super dangerous situation but luckily nobody got hurt.
the waves continue in hawaii as my journey goes as planned. tomorrow, hopefully i will get on a flight leaving this beautiful paradise island and heading to another one very far away. my life on the road continues…