{"id":143226,"date":"2026-07-04T05:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T20:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/?p=143226"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:47:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T00:47:23","slug":"japan-surfing-world-1-my-happy-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/?p=143226","title":{"rendered":"Japan Surfing World 1: My Happy Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I want to thank Yana-san for just sending me some old photos out of his Japanese surf magazine collection. \u00a0It brought back all the wonderful memories. \u00a0This one was 25 years go at Backdoor. \u00a0Backdoor was my happy place. \u00a0It was the hardest spot in the world to catch a wave. \u00a0The locals back then were different than the ones today. \u00a0Fights and violence every single day. \u00a0You have to hunt and when you find that perfect barrel, you better be smiling because that doesn’t happen often. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

If Backdoor was too small, I would go to Rocky Point. \u00a0A different local crowd there. \u00a0Less organized and very aggressive. \u00a0Add in the strong current and it’s also hard to get a good wave out there. \u00a0I think surfing those kind of spots taught me how to hunt for waves anywhere in the world. \u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Surfing Backdoor is all about commitment. \u00a0You have to paddle your hardest and when you stand up, you better be ready for what’s ahead. \u00a0Some of the waves will breathe into the barrel and then breathe out. \u00a0So you will feel the air pulling you back, then a split second later, blowing you out. \u00a0That’s when you know you’re as deep as can be. \u00a0It’s the best feeling in the world. \"\"<\/p>\n

When you’re young, you don’t think about the risks. \u00a0One mistake could end your life out there. \u00a0So what made me overcome the fear is becoming comfortable in the uncomfortable. \u00a0I actually felt more comfortable in the barrel than out of it. \u00a0Lots of barrel riders will agree. \"\"<\/p>\n

First swell Japan: \u00a0I would spend my summers in Hawaii and wait for the call. \u00a0Tokura-san would call my home phone and say “get ready, a typhoon is coming.” \u00a0I would immediately call my travel agent and book the next flight to Japan. \u00a0The next day, the barrels will begin. \u00a0I still can’t believe that was my job for many years. \u00a0Getting paid to travel and get barreled? \u00a0That sounds like a joke.<\/p>\n

Thank you again Yana-san for bringing back the wonderful memories. \u00a0Without any photos, I would have forgotten all of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I want to thank Yana-san for just sending me some old photos out of his Japanese surf magazine collection. \u00a0It brought back all the wonderful memories. \u00a0This one was 25 years go at Backdoor. \u00a0Backdoor was my happy place. \u00a0It was the hardest spot in the world to catch a wave. \u00a0The locals back then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-kirbyblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=143226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143232,"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143226\/revisions\/143232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=143226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=143226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=143226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}