9'3" donation board for Waves Forever charity auction for Japan

On Saturday, April 2, from 6 p.m.-10 p.m., Surfindian will host a special event to benefit earthquake and tsunami-ravaged Japan. The fundraiser will include live and silent auctions, live music from The Red Fox Tails, food, drinks and other surprises. Surfboards, art and other items will be auctioned off from shapers, artists and businesses including Skip Frye, Michael Miller, Steven Mast, Jim Phillips, Manuel C. Caro, Mike Hynson, Koji Toyoda, Yusuke Hanai, Damian Fulton, Devon Howard, Julie Cox, Skye Walker, Jay Watson, Jamie Watson, Cher Pendarvis, Elise Kirkpatrick, Meegan Feori, Seitaku ”Tak” Aoyama, Susan Wickstrand, Christine Brailsford, Kassia Meador, Tyler Warren, Taylor Dunfee, Sam Cody and many more. All money raised from the auctions or otherwise donated will be given to the U.S.-Japan Council, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Surfindian is a surf shop and gallery located in Pacific Beach, California. Surfindian features art-driven, small batch products that reflect an individualized approach to the art of surfing.

4652/4658 Mission Blvd.

Pacific Beach, CA 92109

858-412-5334

Surfindian

on saturday evening, april 2, surfindian will host a special event to benefit earthquake and tsunami-ravaged japan. we will have live and silent auctions, live music, food, drink and other surprises. we have board donations from skip frye, michael miller and steve mast, and many other items. more details soon. but please save saturday evening, april 2, and plan to attend this event to help the people of japan.

**from Surfindian's Facebook**

on the train

Cho-san

Jacks

Kohei's new fish

Gallon

Toby

Me and Cho

on the train

It's private beyond this point.

Axxe wetsuits Factory tour yesterday with Takahashi-san.

It was a fun tour and interesting how a custom suit is made. Custom wetsuits are the best.

Taking this train everyday.

This is how I'm getting around.

Bike and train seem to be the most used ways to get there.

This is the great Buddha in Kamakura.

TsuriBori - indoor fishing

I caught a shark.

Suzuki-sans Skil repair and parts store in Fujisawa.

These are some pictures of the first few days of Japan. There are more but I don't want to spend too much time on the computer. So far everything is fun. Learning how to ride the train and not get lost has been fun. I think I got it now. The waves have been small here and raining so just sight seeing and trying to stay dry. More later.

I am in Japan from May 21st to May 30th.

I will be staying in the Zushi area for the first part and then going to the Fish Fry in Shizunami beach on the 29th. I'll post some photos later.

Naomi

Maira

Yakiniku the last night

After the Fish Fry my friend Kohei needed to leave for China for a job. So I was looking for another place to stay for the rest of the trip. I was thinking to go to Kansai area but it didn't work out. Some friends tried to help me with a place to stay if I needed it around Zushi area.

So i went back to Zushi with Kohei. By chance I checked my email at Kohei's house.(normally I don't check email on vacation) I received an email from Naomi saying if I need someone to show me around or a place to stay let me know. She lives in the Shonan area in Yuigahama. It's so close to Kohei's house. I told her my situation and she said I could stay with her, no problem.

Naomi helped me with the rest of my trip. She took good care of me and made it easy for me. She took me to surf Yoshizaki which was more fun than Shizunami wave and less crowded. I got to ride bikes to get around a little this time. That was fun because usually I'm taking the train or bus or taxi. I got lost on the train by myself a couple of times this trip though. That was a little tough but everyone was really nice to me and helped me a lot. So many stories, I can't say it all here. Thanks for helping me get through --> Kohei, Kohei's parents, Naomi, Juri and her husband, Masayo, Koga-san, Murikami and his wife, Koichi, Daisuke, and Maira. It was fun.

I just returned from Japan. It was a lot of fun this time. I stayed in Zushi for the first few days at my friend Kohei's house with his parents. It was fun because they don't speak much english and it was fun to practice Japanese with them. We went to the fish fry in Shizunami together and I got to meet a lot of new people. I was surprised how many people already knew me either from my blog or Yuichi's. The waves in Shizunani were fun but really crowded because of the event. Everyone seemed to be having a good time though. I met the shaper/glasser from MAR surfboards at the Fish Fry. He had some good glassing, good lap cuts. I really like that he does all of his own work too. So many people just want to be a famous shaper. This is nice to see. I met some other shapers too that do the same but I'm sorry I did not have your card to write your name here. Gomen nasai. I saw some california people there too. Rich Pavel, Mike Hynson, Sean Mattison and Ian Zamora. I had good conversations with Sean Mattison and Rich Pavel. Rich and I had the same flight home and had lunch together in San Francisco. Thanks to Cho and Jack's for putting up my boards at their tent.

Thanks to Tsutomu for taking one of my boards that dinged on the airline and thanks to everyone for being so nice.

I got into a little trouble of where I was going to stay after the Fish Fry, but everyone tried to help me so...

I'll continue the rest of the story after the Fish Fry next post.

(I lost my memory card for my camera so I don't have any picture's of the Fish Fry to put here. most of the pictures from my trip are on that memory card. Sucks! The picture in this post is at Shibuya on the last day of my trip.)