I was only in Fukuoka for about 10 hours before I had to catch my pane to Amami. I made it to the airport with plenty of time, or so I thought. I checked my bag and made it through security in about 20min. But as soon as I got through security I was stopped and was escorted back to where I had checked my bag. I had forgotten that I had lithium batteries from my go pro in my bag and they were not allowed in the checked bags. I had to get all the batteries and my chargers out of my bag and put it in my carry on before going back through the security checkpoint. All the while, the attendants that were checking my bag and escorting me to and from the locations were so kind and helpful as well as apologetic. If this were to happen any where else other than Japan it would be a big hassle. I was able to make it to my gate shortly after they started the boarding process. I knew that there was some rough weather ahead of me and it might be a rough flight. There was even a warning that the plane may be diverted o Kagoshima. But the plane delayed a bit and were able to get to Amami Oshima.

Once I arrived, It was easy. I just took a bus from the airport to Tebiro Beach and walked a few blocks to my guest house. The weather was still quite bad and it would still get worse through the weekend. I checked into my room and walked to a local market to get some food for the week.

The wind and rain continued to grow, but the report showed that it was going to start blowing offshore in the evening. Back in June, my mom and stepdad stayed with a new friend Konosuke on the island and I was able to let him know that I was coming to Amami. I messaged him to try and meet up to surf while I’m here. He was busy for the weekend but he said that he could drop by and let me borrow a board. He is so amazing! Ko would find a minute in his busy schedule that day to come and meet me for the first time and let me borrow a board. I was so grateful to meet him and hope that he could get time off work to surf together on Monday or Tuesday. It is aspects of people like Ko that I meet all over Japan that makes me want to live here, but for sure bring this spirit back home to California.

Ko came through with a board for me and there was about an hour left of daylight left. I walked down to the beach and it was raining like crazy but howling offshore. I was able to get a few waves before dark and get a glimpse of this slab coming down on the reef as it was getting too dark to see anymore.

Today was checkout day from Pumping Surf. There was still opportunity to surf before I left for Fukuoka. I had done better research this time so I would only need to catch an express train to Kagoshima and then the Shinkansen to get back to Fukuoka.

Karibu and I were going to try and surf the same spot next to the Miyazaki Sports Park that we did a few days earlier. Then he would drop me off a the train station and catch his flight back to Tokyo. We checked out the waves first and it looked like a small blown out mess. Regardless, I still rented a board in town and we paddled out. The conditions were difficult. Chop coming every which way and the wind blowing us south. Still, I managed to get some waves.

Before Karibu and I left Miyazaki, we were able to squeeze in an onsen session in town. After onsen, Karibu dropped me at the train station and we parted ways. We made plans to meet up the following week when I would go to Tokyo. Izakaya and surfing was still to come.

This train trip back to Fukuoka was a piece of cake. I just had to wait an hour at Miyazaki station for my express train to arrive. I’ll take that over 8 train transfers any day.

I heard that Fukuoka is famous for its ramen, so when I got to my hostel, I asked the manager for a recommendation for a vegetarian ramen place close by, and he suggested 333 where they had tomato ramen. So I put my vegetarianism aside and cheated for some tomato ramen (traditionally ramen stock is made from pork bones). The restaurant was at the ramen village on the 5th floor of a shopping center. There was 5 or 6 different ramen restaurants!

I woke up late knowing there wouldn’t be much surf and bad wind. Karibu wanted to look at more waves farther south and I was more interested in in going to the local onsen (hot spring and spa center). So we took our time and hung at the guest house before heading south.

In Japan I eat breakfast from the convenient store. Sometime not just breakfast, but lunch or sometimes dinner. The convenient stores in Japan have a wide spread of onigiri, sushi, onigiri, rice plates noodle and pasta plates ,salads, bread, frozen bags of noodles and many other snacks. I wish this was available in the states.

In the afternoon, Karibu and I took off to scope another point break in Miyazaki. We drove through farmlands, down dirt roads and past cemeteries till we got to the beach.

We parked the car and then walked a little farther up the beach till we got to the point. There were no waves and the wind was blowing onshore. But there was one surfer out in the chop just bobbing up and down. We stayed for a while and didn’t see him catch any waves. Regardless, this point break looked a lot like Uppers in San Clemente. There was a little river mouth and a rock pile. I knew that on the right swell, this place would go off.

I wasn’t too disappointed. I knew that we were not going to get any waves today. I was just happy to explore the coast for potential spots for next time I come back to Miyazaki. And more excited for onsen on the way back to Pumping Surf.

For those that are unfamiliar with onsen; it’s like a spa center. Mainly focused around geothermal baths. All of the ones that I have been to have multiple baths built in with larch rocks and stones giving it a natural atmosphere. Some of the baths are mineral baths too. The technique for maximum healing and relaxation is:

1: Eat something delicious in the restaurant that is attched to the onsen.

2: Go to the baths and take a shower.

3: Submerge in the cold bath and then the hot springs. You can also just air bath to cool you body down. The reason for this is: When you get in the cold bath, you body takes in all of the blood from your extremities and brings it into you core. Then when you go in the hot bath, you blood returns to your extremities. This circulation of the blood thought you body is a way of cleansing and detoxing your body. I make sure that go from cold to hot baths a few times during my session, and stay in the cold bah for as long as I can bear it before going to the hot bath. This onsen also had an Electric bath. I’d never tried it before. When I first went in I jumped right out because it was so painful. You would basically go into this field of electrical current in the bath and it would send shock waves through your body. I was able to go in two more time for about a minute before jumping out in pain. However, later I did feel less tense and much more relaxed.

4: Lastly after you bath, you go into the nap room where there’s a tv on low volume. You can get some more food or ice cream if you want or just take a nap and relax.

While I was napping I heard the news on the TV talking about the weather that was coming in and then they started talking abut The Kyushu Basho, so I looked up and watched some highlights from that day as I dozed.

We went back to the same place in town for dinner that night. Then when we go t back to Pumping Surf and we were able to go out to the beach and have a bonfire. There were so many stars out. A perfect way to end my stay in Miyazaki. 宮崎和迫です。

Another morning in Miyazaki, another sunrise.

Karibu and I waited for the tide to come up before paddling out. It wasn’t so good, so we didn’t stay out long. Later he was going to pick up a rental car and do some sight seeing in the south and I invited me to come with him. We went to Aoshima in Miyazaki proper. It’s an island that is attached by a land bridge. The formation of the rocks was created by the tide constantly washing over the sand stone making it hard. Its nickname is the “Devil’s Washboard.”

We scouted some waves after visiting the shrine and found it blowing offshore right by the Miyazaki Sports Park.

That evening, we surfed until we couldn’t see any more. I knew this was a spot I would have to come back to; especially when the swell was pumping. On our way back to Pumping Surf, we stoped by an udon restaurant for dinner.

Karibu and I woke up early to watch the sun rise and check the surf. There was a lot of clouds and the swell was dying and low tide was bottomed out. The wind was not helping either; it was blowing from the south. Miyazaki is on the south east coast of Japan, so it’s exactly opposite of California. The sun comes up over the ocean and the swell directions were coming from the south and the east this time of year instead of from the north and west. So cool that Japan is like a mirror image of California.

Karibu and I stalled out and waited for the tide to come up before we paddled out.

We surfed until the afternoon before heading in for a nap and then another evening session.

Tired after surfing, we rested a bit before thinking about dinner. He suggested a place down the road that we would bike to. I turns out that it was 4 mi each way. Through the hilly dark roads and light rain, my legs were killing me before we made it to the restaurant. The restaurant had a vending machine menu that was all in Japanese. There was not much of a vegetarian option, so I went for It and ordered some fish. After all, the main reason I chose to be vegetarian was to not support the American meat companies with my dolla dolla $$$ bills yall. I’d rather support the locals in Japan.

We returned to Pumping Surf, we had some beers and hung out in the kitchen and practiced each others language before turning in for the night. Another sunset and checking the waves in the morning.

I woke up around 7:00 hearing some guys speaking in Japanese and came out of my room. It was the hostel host Masa and his kids getting ready to go surf. In Japanese, I was asking how the surf was and if he would wait for me so we could go together. He responded saying the surf was head high and pumping and it was only a 3 min walk to the beach and would wait for me to get ready. Another gaijin was standing by hearing the conversation and was surprised at my Japanese, saying, “your Japanese is good.” To which Masa responded, maybe he’s Japanese. 😂 we all had a good laugh at that. Next we headed down to the beach.

In the water, being the only non Japanese person out there, I try to be full of smiles and say hi to a lot of people, and try not to surf aggressively like in California. On my first wave. Someone took off in front of me and I tried to signal for him to keep going, but he bailed out. After that first session, I got out and texted my family goodbye saying that I may never leave here… lol.

After my morning session I went in search of food and groceries by bike. I found Okonomiyaki that had all vegetables. Oishi!

After lunch I came back and had a nap before an evening session for the last 45 min of light. After I came in and showered, I greeted another person checking into Pumping Surf with a “konbanwa” (good evening). He looked a little surprised, I guess because I’m a white guy speaking Japanese. Later I introduced myself to him. His name is Karibu, and he is from Tokyo. Eager to practice my Japanese, I hung in the kitchen with him and chatted with him. I learned that he lived in Toronto for two years and he spoke good English too. We hung out for the evening and I later found out the reason he was so surprised when I first said hi to him was because of my pronunciation and thought maybe I’ve been living in Japan for a long time… I wish. 😂 Later, we decided to get up in the morning and watch the sunrise and check the surf.

I left my apartment at 10:00am and walked to Hakata station in Fukuoka to catch the Shinkansen. When I got on the train, I ran into one of he guys that was staying at the hostel, Scott. He had been traveling around all over South East Asia before coming to japan and was was making his way across all of Japan top to bottom. We had a good chat about our travels before I got off a Kumamoto. I had the choice to take it all the way to Kagoshima or go half way and take local trains to Miyazaki. I made the dire mistake of choosing the later. On my Japan train app, it said that it would only take me a little over 4 hours to get to Miyazaki from Fukuoka… not the way I did it though, which took me about 15 hours of on and off trains, “kono eki wa ikitai’s” (“I want to go to this station”), up and down stairs with my bags from platform to platform, and 2 hour waits between trains. I knew I was going to do all of this but I didn’t know it would be to this extreme. I was lucky enough to catch the last train of the night a few times.

I got off at Yoshimatsu station and there was no one woking the ticket gate because it was getting later. I found a rail attendant and told him that I was going all the way to Miyazaki and I wanted to get to my next transfer station. He directed me to platform 2 to my next train and said it leaves in 45min. As I was waiting, I saw him run across the tracks toward me and give me this paper. Always, the Japanese go above and beyond to 1: do their job and 2: go out of their way to help people. This made my night. It is actions like this that really represent the people and spirit of Japan.

With 30 minutes to kill, I saw from the platform that there was a festival going on right outside the station with music and good smelling food so, I ran out to grab some yakisoba before my train.

After Miyazaki station I had one more local train to get to my last stop and either take the 20 minute walk or go to extra stations and take a taxi… I ended up walking because I figured it would be the same amount of time or less. I finally got to my Hostel at around 1am. In total, I ended up taking 1 Shinkansen, 1express train, and 6 other local trains until I finally made it to my hostel in Northern Miyazaki Prefecture. I just hoped there was good surf in the morning.

I left Nagasaki and made it to my apartment in Fukuoka with about 2 hours before the main sumo event started. So I dropped my bag, took a bath, (when in Rome… or Japan) and headed for the sumo location downtown.

It turns out that my man Ichinojo is out of this tournament due to injury, so I was there cheering on Enho. Sumo is the national sport of Japan. The rules are simple, if anything but the souls of the competitors feet touches the clay or they step out of the ring, they have lost the mach. There are a variety of techniques that come into play from slapping, pushing, and throwing. There are 15 days of straight sumo in a Basho (tournament) and the one with the best record wins the Yusho (championship) as the collect cash prizes for wins along the way.

After sumo, I was on the search for something delicious to eat on my way back to my apartment. Being vegetarian, this proved to be quite difficult. I ended up waking around for another hour without success before returning to my apartment briefly. I went back out more determined with some locations I found on a map… still unsuccessful. On about mile 10 for the day, I looked into a window of a place and then moved on. Another lap around the block and I had given up. Starving, thinking, ” I might die here because I cant find anything to eat without meat besides convenient store rice balls (still delicious, but not how I want to eat all of my meals in Japan).” I ended up going back to the last window I looked into and go for broke. I walked in after being greeted by Obasan and OJisan chef in the back and in broken Japanese tried to order something without meat, saying “nikuniku o tabemasen” (I don’t eat meat). They asked, “do you eat chicken, do you eat fish, do you eat pork?” The Japanese don’t quite understand vegetarian as not eating any meat. They may think that you just don’t eat certain types of meat. Finally with some help from the gentleman at another table I was able to get them to make me a vegetable omelet which was not on the menu. Normally I don’t eat any animal products other than butter and cheese, but in the case of me “starving” and not being rude I was so happy that they could accommodate my “gaijinness.”

After this whole ordeal, I looked up and saw this hat and realized that I was in the right place. I later asked where they got it, and the owner said someone gave it to him a few year back. I was happy to go in there and have good conversation with them and give them my business. After all they are my new friends and I want to keep it local.

To start this off, I’ll just say without going into detail, that when you travel things might not go as your timeline was scheduled. Especially when you are changing time zones. For example getting to the airport on the 12th leaving on the 13th and arriving on the 14th… 3 days of travel just to get to Japan… What! So To get to Kyushu, I flew into Nagasaki; which is about an hour train ride to downtown. Initially I was going to go straight to Fukuoka, but my mom had a friend in Nagasaki and she suggested that I meet up with her.

Before I was able to meet my new friend Jan, I had enough time to drop my bag at my hostel and check out the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park in Nagasaki. The museum is dedicated to building awareness of the power and devastation of nuclear weapons and war, as well as the support of peace between nations to achieve global harmony. Upon observing the pictures, artifacts and stories, the power of such a weapon became so clear. From the hypocenter, everything with in about 2km was completely vaporized. Flesh Stripped from bones from the air being heated instantly. Soil heated and became like lava for an instant before reconstituting and turning solid. Within seconds, the blast sent a shock wave to about 11km; bending steel, turning wood structures to toothpicks, and shattering windows. The bombs were said to be dropped to save thousands of American soldiers. However I believe the numbers were that 70% of the casualties of the bomb in Nagasaki were women, children and elderly. This act was an attack on humanity itself. It’s hard to believe that the effects of this weapon were used twice. While visiting the museum and the park there was at least 20 different groups of elementary school children on field trips to the museum.

In the Peace Park, there is the famous peace statue along with many other statues donated by different countries as a sign of peace with Japan in support of their hope of ridding the world of atomic weapons and creating harmony between nations.

After visiting the Peace Park I was able to meet up with Jan and she showed me around the wharf. We went to a restored historic sight called Dejima. What used to be the only island where they first let foreigners come in and do trade when Japan was still an isolationist country. It showed a lot of the history of the trade between Japan and the Dutch. Then, we went in to a local restaurant that she frequents whenever she’s downtown. It was a cozy little restaurant whose chef was a musician who played many many different instruments. I asked him about his hand pan and he asked me to play it a bit as he played bamboo flute, mouth harp, slide whistle, and did some Mongolian throat singing. It was just the kind of experience I was hoping for in Japan; walking into a place and chatting in my broken Japanese about common interests and having a great time. Thanks to Jan for suggesting such a cool place.

Next, Jan and I went to the bar in town where her son works and had some drinks.

When traveling abroad, it is important to make new friends and break through cultural barriers. it will dispel the mystery and fear in ourselves that grows hate and instead grows peace and harmony. I believe it was a monk from a far off land called Drunkeros who said that “strangers are just good friends you haven’t made yet.”

Back in March, I made plans to go to Japan in June and meet my Mom and do some traveling after she finished her Silk Study Tour. I got my plane ticket and we started booking places to stay. The next month, in April, an opening came up in the Long Beach Symphony. And auditions were called in June, during the time that I was supposed to be in Japan. Of course, I knew I had to stay and take the audition (my first professional orchestra audition audition… There will be more to come). So I had to cancel my trip to Japan and then decide when to reschedule.

I had to decide when would be the best time to go that would not interfere with work too much and decide what to do while I’m there. I could wait till next summer and go during the 2020 Olympics…? But I knew it would be crowded and more expensive. So summer was out. Then I just made the determination to go in October or November, NO MATTER WHAT. November turned out better for my work schedule, so I just went for it. It would be my first time in Japan by myself, and I wanted to go somewhere I’d never been before and make my own itinerary.

For the last few years, I’ve been hearing about Surf in Miyazaki on Kyushu (the south island). So I juts decided to make the main purpose of my trip to surf and planned most of my other destinations around that. Ive surfed in Japan before, but not for an extended period of time. I’ll be in Japan a total of 19 days and visit Miyazaki, Amami Oshima (a small island just north of Okinawa), and Chiba with the goal of surfing whenever possible. But first…

I must watch Sumo!!

One of my first stops will be in Fukuoka to see a day of the November Basho (tournament). Go Ichinojo!!!

It’s always good to have friends where you are going to be traveling. Im starting in Nagasaki, and I’m fortunate enough that my mom has a friend that lives there. I hope that I can meet up with them and they can show me around the city. After Nagasaki, I’ll go to Fukuoka, Miyazaki, Amami Oshima, Tokyo, and Chiba. I’ll be chasing surf for the most part but, I am going to try my best to make some new friends and keep working on my Japanese language skills. サフーとしやべりましよう。