good morning from steamy humid hot japan. gosh, when i got off the airplane yesterday, i felt the heat. 30 seconds later, i was sweating!!! but it’s ok because the cold draft beers with sushi taste much better!! i’m on day 1 and i’m getting excited on what’s ahead! i’m going to 7/11 to look for oden. have a nice day!!
when i first came to japan, i couldn’t speak japanese. many people ask me how i learned. here is it:
when i first got to japan, i had no friends, there were no waves, there was no cel phones or computers, or no nothing. i had lots of free time so i use to walk to the video store down the street and rent japanese dramas. why? because i thought the chicks were hot! haha. just joking… watching dramas only in japanese forced me to learn japanese. i started from “moshi moshi” and learned lines such as, “doshite sonno koto shita no?” or “zutto anata no koto ga suki datta!” no those aren’t pick up lines, i rented love dramas on purpose to i could learn everyday japanese and at the same time, keep me entertained….
on my last trip to japan, i found a secret website that shows every single japanese drama ever made. so i started to watch my all time favorite “Hoshi no Kinka” drama and got hooked!!! i ended up watching the whole dam drama. haha..

meet aya, no this is not the famous actress sakai noriko that got arrested. this is aya and the only name i have for this girl. aya is deaf and probably had the worst luck with love in the world. i couldn’t help but feeling sorry for her the whole drama because everything that could go wrong, went wrong for her. she must have cried 100 x in the drama and smiled only a few. it was pretty dam sad….

here she is crying again. haha… the cool thing about this drama website is that there are subtitles!!! yeah, back in the days, i didn’t know what the heck they were talking about because it was only in japanese. now i know everything and finally understand what happened. you might think i have free time to watch a drama? no, i watched it because i’m still learning japanese and this is the best way. if you ever want to learn japanese, i highly recommend watching dramas. ummmm, which one should i watch next??? any recommendations?
as far as aya, i will always feel sorry for her. no matter in fake life or real life, she’s always the poor girl that just couldn’t find love… kawaiso….

getting back to the mentawai crew. got a few more to introduce so i’ll continue. the guy in the back row 4th from the left is Tomoyasu Toda. i met toda-san 20 years ago when surfing the JPSA circut in japan. all i remember is that he was super skinny and dark all the time. he quit surfing to become a snowboarder and now he’s back. back bigger than ever! meaning his stomach.. haha… toda-san is 2x bigger than 20 years ago and surfing with 4x more power…..
hey toda-san,
first, wanted to say thank you always for your big kind heart. the way you support go-naminori and myself is unbelievable. your always there for people and you can truly be counted on. thanks for all the waves you’ve given me at your home break, thanks for making me eat so much food and gaining weight, thanks for entertaining everybody on our trips, and thanks for being a true friend. you might look scary to most people, but i tell them that your a little teddy bear but just don’t get that little teddy bear mad. haha… take care and see you real soon!!
mahalo, kirby


so there we were on our first surf session of the trip at bankvaults in mentawai. we were surfing all alone when this other boat filled up with hungry surfers arrived. like always, there seems to be no manner when they think japanese are in the water. they paddle out and try to catch everything in sight. i get pissed because there is absolutely no respect. japanese surfers are just too nice and won’t drop in. as for me? i go! anyway, then here comes a set, i yell from the dingy, “GO TODA-SAN”, knowing that a guy was trying to snake him from the inside. toda-san went anyway and while i was snapping the 8 shot sequence, i couldn’t stop laughing. toda-san paddled back out and then the guys started respecting the japanese. i want to frame this photo because you don’t see too many of these around…
**CLICK HERE FOR A BIG JAPANESE STAND UP PADDLERS BLOG NAMED TODA…..

good morning. 4 am and i’m looking forward to a nice long day! dawn patrol first, airport second, cel phone off third, champagne fourth, japan fifth, train sixth, cold draft beer seventh, and a good sleep to finish off my 29 hour day. i love days like this!!! see you around….
**i was teaching surfing lessons to the nicest family from tokyo the other day in hawaii. i knew one of the daughters was a fan of kelia so i called up kelia and asked her if she could meet me in the bowls parking lot. i had a flashback when i had the opportunity to get an autograph from tom curren at huntington beach back in the 80’s. i will never forget that day and it made one of my dreams as an aspiring pro surfer come true. until this day, i always have that in the back of my mind and always think about making it happen for others. kelia inspires kids all over the world and i try to do as much as i can to make her fans dreams come true too. anyway, we pull into the parking lot and i didn’t tell the little girl who was going to be there. why? one, because i wanted to surprise her. and two, i was worried if kelia was even going to show up or not. this is hawaii remember???? hawaiian time? hello?


well, kelia not only came to say hello, kelia waxed up her board and took mari-chan for a surf. i was so happy to see the smile of the little girls face. moments like these are priceless….


then kelia takes out mari-chan’s younger sister ai-chan. ai-chan doesn’t know who kelia is. i think she prefers hello kitty instead. i just took this photo anyway so when she gets older, she can tell her friends that kelia moniz took her surfing, not hello kitty….


throughout all my years in the surfing industry, i’ve seen it all. i’ve seen surfing icons totally disrespect their fans by not signing autographs or not posing for photos. that kind of disappoints me. what if tom curren told me “no” back when i was a grom? i probably would have quit surfing. and i probably would have kicked his ass when he came to hawaii. and probably would have never bought a “Op” tshirt. i think that signing autographs and posing for photos is part of the job. if you don’t like it, you shouldn’t become a pro surfer. if i ever see my friends or family turning down a fan of theirs, i would pull them to the side and yell at them for a while. luckily, kelia loves her fans. she’s smart enough to know that if it wasn’t for them, she wouldn’t be kelia moniz… look how happy mari-chan is. what a cutie!!! mari-chan, please treasure that signed poster of kelia because not too many people in this world have one, or will have one. seeing this makes me happy!!! I LOVE MY JOB!!![:?????$B!x(B???:]

anyway, come august 5th starts 10 crazy busy days of promotions!!!
**and to the ueno-san family. your photo CD is in the mail. enjoy!!
**hey, i just got back from bowls and when i checked my computer, i forgot to post this. anyway, the waves were going off!! 4′ and the biggest swell of the summer so far. i paddled out at pitch dark, a set came my way, i took off and as i was doing down the line, i could see the moon and lights of waikiki shining sparkling all over the face of the wave as i did 3 backside snaps. it felt like i was in a dark club with the disco lights going crazy. but only better!!! after that wave, it was enough. i caught one more and came in. it’s 6 am and while the rest of hawaii sleeps, i’m up and ready for my long journey. have a great summer!!!