what a fun day today. the waves look junk from the beach but as soon as we got in the water, it got better and better and there were only a few others out. lucky!

this is the coolest surf couple. Kosuke-san and Na-chan, I had a great day with you! good surfing, good pho, good surfboard shopping, and good surfing again. Thank you and keep on surfing!

i have a hard time deciding which pho is the best on the island. but the combination pho from hale vietnam has to be in my top 2.

the vog is so bad that you can barely see diamond head. it’s hot, it’s muggy, and it’s ugly. hawaii looks like LA. yikes! and the sad thing that it’s going to be like this for a few more days. and more and more days this winter when the south/west winds kicks up the volcanic smog from the big island.

well, Aoki’s shave ice will be closing! a part of old haleiwa will be gone forever. sad.

a tourist came to hawaii the other day, jumped off this cliff, and died. well, he’s not the first one. i grew up about 5 minutes from here and we use to hang out here a lot. over the years, people die here all the time. tourists, locals, and even kids. when you stand on the top, it looks scary. then when you jump, it’s even scarier because you jump into a little bay. one bad judgement, then you’ll be sashimi on the rocks. or if you mis-time the wave, you will hit bottom. and if you land right, that’s only the easy part. you still have to climb back out. that’s how the tourist died there the other day. i jumped here before and when i think back, i’m lucky to be alive. will i do it again? probably. the adrenaline rush is just too rewarding! would i recommend it to anybody, heck no! the odds of dying is just too high at this place.
anyway, big waves on the north shore came today. i’m going to crawl under my house tonight and get my north shore guns ready.

Surf all day with Kosuke-san and Na-chan.
Hot summer day!

what does south/west winds mean? weird weather. even the airplanes don’t know which way to come in. if you look up in the sky in the morning and wonder why so many airplanes are flying in from diamond head over waikiki, it’s the wind. just a few more days and the regular cool tradewinds will be back to blow away this volcanic fog and make our waves nice and off shore. until then, enjoy the early morning glassy waves and airplanes flying over waikiki.

thank you Ikezawa-san for sending me this photo. i can’t wait to see you next month! let’s go surfing!

my next dream car. i would love to run around hawaii with this little toyota. must be so good on gas!

last time i was in tokyo, i was tripping out on the prices of things. $120 for some grapes? are you kidding me?

and $60 for this small mellon? with the yen/dollar rate now days, everything in japan is so expensive, and everything in hawaii is so cheap!

i’m so happy when i get news about the progress in tohoku. takami-san, ryoko-san, and matsu have been keeping me posted. i already knew that they already started the foundation of the We Are One Market, but when i see photos of it actually happening, i get tears of joy!!!! it’s supposed to be completed in december and that would be the greatest gift from santa! i can’t wait to go back to Kitakami! Naomi-san, ganbatte!!! see you soon!