wait, this is not candy, and it’s not some kind of vibrator. these are my earplugs. if it wasn’t for these two orange candy or vibrator looking things, i would have 20 hour less sleep so far on this trip. i got these 2 years ago when staying at the dove house on the north shore. right outside the window, the chickens would go off starting at 3am. without these, you can’t and won’t sleep. ever since then, i started traveling with these. traveling as a surfer, i’m always sleeping next to someone. and if that someone is snoring, i can’t get sleep. tony snoring and seth walking around in his sleep can wake a normal person up. so i just put these in my ears and see you in the morning. i won’t leave home without these…..

wanted to thank akko and mai-chan for the awesome dinner last night. i’ve been eating so much meat and seafood that my body needed some vegetables. so akko went shopping and make this awesome meal. a lot of pupu’s with a big pot of kim chee nabe… it was sooo goood….. thanks akko and mai-chan… this is naoka and tatsuya getting ready to dig in…. itadakimasu!!!

good evening. gosh, did somebody turn on the cold weather again. it’s so cold here again. freezing cold… i’m in my jacket and my feet are numb. surf? no way…. i was searching the internet today looking for some paradise island where i’m going to relax for a few days. no internet, no phone, and no people. can’t wait. trunks, slippers, blue warm water, and my mask. that’s all i’m going to need…. until then, i’m going to freeze here and eat eat and eat…. have a good night…

when i was down in shikoku, the waves were so tiny. so i borrowed tokura-san’s chris kaysen shaped paddle board and caught a few waves. it felt good just to be in the water…. thanks kenji sahara for taking this photo of me. thanks for making me look like i know what i’m doing. but i actually don’t know what the heck i was doing. what ever work right……

good morning. 8:30am here in shonan. still kind of cold. had a super long day on the train yesterday. took almost 5 hours to get back here. but riding the shinkansen is pretty cool. nice to see the city, country, city, and country all the way back here. had an awesome yakiniku dinner with everybody and i still have that horse taste in my mouth. yeah, we ate raw horse liver sashimi. yuck…. anyway, going to check the surf forecast because i want to go surf somewhere this weekend. have a nice day….
this past sunday had the tssc contest at ikumi beach. it was such an awesome contest. a lot of happy faces and a lot of good surfing. the waves were too small for me to surf but the competitors were ripping it up. and the competition? oh my gosh, it was at such a high level. honestly, i wouldn’t have been able to make a heat myself…. check out some snaps from the tssc contest…

early morning check in…..

this contest was well documented. more than most pro contests in japan…. thousands of photos and hours and hours of video. precious memories that will last a lifetime….

seth moniz getting ready for his heat. game on!!!

i wish i had a photo of myself when i was 10 years old getting ready for a heat. wait, i didn’t surf back then….

kids will be kids. play, surf, play, surf…

many happy faces and many peace signs…

this is sato-san from kagawa, shikoku. he came to hawaii last winter and i took him out to pretty big haleiwa. actually, big haleiwa. the current was ripping, the sets were 8′, and he charged. after he came in, sato-san told me he thought that he was going to die. i feel the same way everytime i surf big haleiwa too… it was good to see him in shikoku still alive.. haha… next time, we’re going bigger so be ready sato-san…

this was one of the most exciting finals i’ve ever seen. 4 groms battling out in the kids division. everybody surfed good and they were all winners. but today was shun morikami’s day… congratulations shun on an excellent performance. and congratulations seth for getting 2nd. i was really proud of seth because he never surfed waves that small before and never surfed water as cold as that before. and he never once complained…. unlike his uncle kirby… haha…

and the winner is!!!! shun morikami!!!!

since i started doing my blog, i’ve met so many nice people in japan, especially a lot of young surfers that want to take it to the top. the next generation of surfers in japan are the real deal. with good coaching and training, these kids can take it to the top… i can’t wait to see how things turn out… here is seth, kota, and reika… ganbatte kids….

if one of these kids make it to the top, i’ll be one happy guy. and with the talent in this group, i see a japanese champion coming soon…
**tssc contest gallery and night party photos coming soon…