Trip to Niijima Part I

Niijima (新島) is a volcanic island located about 180 km south of Tokyo (about 11o miles). It is famous for having the best waves in Japan. In fact, the ASP Tour held many World Cup events at Habushiura beach, famous for its barrels. Also a lot of Japanese youth go to the island to have fun and escape from the rigid social norms and conventions of the mainland.

You can get to Niijima by airplane from a local airport West of Tokyo to the tiny airport on the island, but the space for luggages is limited and surf boards are not allowed on the plane. The next option was to get there by water, either on a faster, smaller boat, or on a big, slow ferry. Alex (my brother) and I chose the cheapest of the two, of course! On the ferry, there are different classes of traveler, from fancy rooms in first class, to bunk beds in second class, to train-like seats in third class, and, finally, to a common tatami mat in fourth class.

What we didn't know was that there was also a fifth class of passengers, who had "deck" tickets. At first we thought we understood wrong. But soon, after glancing around and seeing people lay on the floor in sleeping bags, we realized we would have to spend the 9 hour trip sleeping on the hard floor!





Understandably we woke up early the next morning after a not-so-good night of sleep... But Alex was still looking sharp, as usual!





After landing, we jumped into the first cab (equipped with board racks on the roof!) and told the cabbie to take us to the beach. He didn't speak English, but he understood where we wanted to go. He grabbed the surfboard, threw it on top of the car, and secured it. You could tell he was used to dealing with surfers. Then, after a short trip that turned out to be a little longer than expected, he left us at the beach around 8am.

Our first surprise of the day was to find the beach completely empty...

Hurley Pro 2009 at Lowers

On Friday I drove up to Lower Trestles, about 55 miles north of San Diego, for the Hurley Pro, the only Tour event on the continental USA. Unfortunately, they didn't hold the contest because the conditions were not good enough. But they did send out the pros for a freestyle session...



This guy was shredding, I wish I knew his name...




Kai Otton warming up




Massive Air by Kai Otton




Nice work off the lip!




Heitor Alves




C.J. Hobgood?




Heitor Alves again




Alves was on fire all day long




Unknown pro, ripping




Future world champion in '09, Joel Parkinson

Mount Fuji Cabin

I will post more pics from our trip to Mt. Fuji soon...

Jiu Jitsu Nationals 2009 - The Infamous Footlock

This footlock led to Clark being DQed later in the match, with no warning from the ref and Clark up on points. A controversial decision to say the least...

Jiu Jitsu Nationals 2009 second match

Are you ready? ... Fight!




Wait... What am I supposed to do? Clark I can't hear you!




Is he passing my guard?



Instead he got swept. Mount again!




This guy escaped from mount. But he won't get out of my guard...




No bad feelings... Let's just hug it out

Jiu Jitsu Nationals 2009 - Team Clark Gracie

So... you wanna mess with my open guard?














With less than a minute left I'm losing by 2 poitns. Am I in a bad spot here or am i setting up a sweep?




yup, that was a sweep! With 30 seconds left on the clock I'm just gonna hold on as tight as I can, not try anything fancy.

Japanese Weirdos

Nice booty shorts!




This guy is the best I've seen so far! He was walking up and down Shibuya crossing, spreading his message to the masses. He was basically saying "you have to have fun in life", "stop letting your work stress you", etc... The little sign he's holding says "you have to smile"...

Needless to say, I was laughing pretty hard...





As everyone knows, Japan is an overpopulated country. All sorts of dangerous things can happen, for example being trampled by a mob on your way out of a store. Therefore, prudent persons like this old man wear a helmet everywhere they go, just to be on the safe side!



this pic is more funny than weird... Where the hell did he get those shoes, and why is he wearing them out in public?

2nd Trip to Chiba

Toshi and Miyuki getting ready



Riku's very interesting Batman tail board, by a Japanese shaper




Sunday morning the weather looked better than last week as we escaped from another typhoon (it changed course and got lost in the Sea of Japan). In fact, when we got to the first beach, in central Chiba, it looked as if the clouds would soon clear and it would be a sunny day. Hum, maybe that was a little bit of wishful thinking!

The surf on tap at the first few beaches we saw was pretty tiny, mainly long boardable stuff. So we kept driving until we arrived to Ichiomiya. We parked on a crowded side street (especially considering it’s only 7am at this point) and, after a very nice trek through the woods, we had the pleasant surprise to see decent waves here. Sure, I could have used a little more size with my 5’10 shorty, but waist to occasional chest high was not so bad either.





First beach we checked out, pretty weak...




The beach where we surfed




The trek to the beach




One major problem all day: the lineup was pretty crowded, every wave was a battle for who would drop in first. At least they weren’t many long boarders, or it would have been a frustrating day…

One thing that really amazes me about Japanese surfers is their wetsuits. They’re either colorful or have some cool designs (tatoo-like prints and so one). Of course, some people overdo it. Today we met Perfume Boy. He was wearing a blue suit with red and white motives, matched perfectly with his blue, red and white board. And he reeked of cologne! Oh, did I mention the golden pirate-style earring? Every time he would catch a wave, a whiff of strong perfume would hit those unfortunate enough to be near his path.



After 2 hours, we finished the early morning session and had some food. Another big surprise for me: 5 minutes from the beach there was a taco shop! Well, the chicken taco I ordered had more of a burrito feel to it, but come on, this is Japan after all, not SoCal.

For the late morning/afternoon sesh, it started raining, and the rain didn’t stop for the rest of the day. It helped a little bit with the crowd and didn’t affect the outside temperature so much. The water though was getting colder, and by the time we called it a day around 2pm it was downright freezing.

For lunch we went to a local fish restaurant (located in-between 2 surf shops) where I had an amazing assortment of sashimi. I’m sure that by now the mercury level in my body is reaching alarming heights, but the fish here is so good it’s hard to
resist!

Shibuya Station Sunset

Xtreme Surfing in Chiba

Miyuki, Toshi and Riku


Same + Romaniac

After buying a wet suit on friday, I was really excited to try it out this sunday as we prepared to go surfing with my roomate Miyuki and her friends, Toshi and Riku. To start off an xtreme day, we woke up xtremely early (ok, I'll stop doing the xtreme thing now!), at 4 am. By 5:00 we were already rolling on the highway, heading east towards Chiba prefecture, where so many famous Japanese surf spots are located. The weather was nasty the entire drive, going back and forth between light and heavy rain. My friends informed me that it would probably be bad all day long, possibly getting worst as a typhoon was on the way from southern Japan. Luckily, there are no such pollution problems in the water as in So Cal when it rains over here.

When we arrived at the first spot, Toyomi, a little before 7 am, we were greeted by a freezing wind, in top of the ever present rain. The surf, predictably, looked terrible: chest to shoulder high, but very choppy and crumbly, no clear break line in view, just waves breaking in every direction... oh ya, and did I mention the bone chilling wind?

So we got back in the car and drove off to the next spot... and then the next one, and so on until we arrived at Yoshizakihama, about 10 miles north of Toyomi. The conditions were the same everywhere: strong winds, nothing rideable in sight and rain. So we decided to just get in the water and try it out anyway.


Less than ideal conditions, to say the least...

As I was putting on my wet suit (a 3/2mm with short sleeves), I started feeling uneasy seeing my three friends change into some really thick equipment. To my surprise, they said they all wore 5/5mm! However, they explained that Japanese people in general feel the cold differently, ie. they are much more sensitive than Caucasians, therefore they need thicker suits. I remained doubtful until I jumped in the water for a quick test swim and felt perfectly comfortable with the temperature.

As we headed in on the right side of a jetty, I started paddling really hard to get past the many breaking waves. Now, this was my first time on a 5'10 shortboard (I usually ride a 6'5 fishy hybrid) so the paddling proved challenging, but I somehow managed to get to the outside. And here's where trouble started for me... As I was sitting on the board, trying to catch my breath, Toshi came up to me and told me to paddle away from the jetty. That's when I realized that I had drifted directly in front of the rocks because of a very strong current. Fair enough I said to him, as I started paddling, and paddling... and paddling some more. Yet, as I looked back towards the rocks, it seemed like I didn't move an inch! I just kept paddling as hard as I could, yet I could not make any progress. Even worst, every time a bigger wave came, it would push me closer to the jetty. I didn't start to panic yet, but I was getting tired. Resting though was not an option, as the strong current gave me no respite.


The famous jetty...

Then Toshi came back, urging me once again to paddle away from the rocks. This time I knew the situation was critical because I felt too tired to be able to fight the current long enough in order to get out of the danger zone. We tried switching boards, as his thicker, longer board would be easier to paddle, but the result was the same. Now we were both stuck directly in front of the jetty, paddling continuously but with the result being only a waste of energy. I never felt so powerless in the water before. In desperation, I asked him if he thought we could land on the jetty and climb up on it. Of course, I already knew the answer to that: way too dangerous considering the force of the waves.

Finally, as I was reaching the point of exhaustion after almost an hour and a half of non-stop paddling, we decided to try the only other option left: to use the current to go around the jetty, and reach the beach safely. Certainly it was a risky move, as we would have to cross the whole length of the jetty without getting caught by a wave, which would surely wash us onto the rocks.

I was lucky to catch a wave right away and go all the way across the rocks, back into open water. One more wave and I was back to shore, with Toshi right behind me. I was exhausted, still a little scared but oh, so happy!

After that we stayed for a while more on the left side of the jetty, but the conditions being so terrible, we finally decided to call it a day.

All's well that ends well!


This fisherman did not seem bothered by the brutal conditions

Foot Bag

This is a crazy sport! The guys told me it's popular all over the world, especially in California, yet I have never seen this anywhere before. At first I thought they were practicing dance routines, but then I noticed the ball, or the "bag" as they call it.

Trip to Yoyogi Park

Another view of Shibuya station




A colorful building in my neighborhood




I wonder if New Era makes the N hat...




View of the Shinjuku building




Yoyogi Gymnasium




Violin lesson in the park




Yoyogi pond




Bridge over not-so-troubled water




Judo lesson in the park