Hi everyone,

Sigve is just back from a trip to Japan where he meets up with out distributor Fumiya and his team. Read on below for his daybook… 

Day 1:

My flight from Norway to Tokyo in Japan was actually very nice. I was sleeping most of the way… that’s the way to do it if you want a shorter trip. When I arrived in Tokyo Fumiya pick me up at the airport with his nice little van. We were driving outside of Tokyo Center. His hometown is Yamakita. It is outside of Tokyo, on the other side of the city from the airport. So on the west side. I think it was around 3 our driving.

When we got to his home it was lovely to first take a shower. Then I said hello to his family. His wife Masami and their 3 kids. She was making some good rice rolls for us with some chicken inside. Also some sea grass on the outside was so good. For dinner we went to a sushi store. All of the sushi was coming on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt was going around whole restaurant. So cool.

Have not seen to much of Japan yet. But around Tokyo area there are so many big buildings. Not so high just so big. Company buildings everywhere.

Day 2:

Was up around 7 and had a nice breakfast today. Some egg, special Japanese hot-dog, one piece of bread and some yogurt. Good breakfast We were a crew of 5 people who left from Fumiya’s house today. Some local riders and a photographer. His name is Taki. Really good photographer. He used to take photos of windsurfing,  also the windsurf world cup for many years. He knows how to move his camera.

We had about one and a half hours of driving before we parked our cars, packed some kites, and walked for maybe 30 min. Here the trees were gone and you could see Mt. Fuji straight in front of you. Nice mountain. It’s actually an old volcano, and is the biggest mountain in Japan. There was no way to climb it since the wind was blowing down from the mountain. Was also gusty and the snow was bad. But we still took a few pictures. Not such a good spot for this wind direction but we still had 2 hours riding in nice weather.

After riding we went for a typical Japanese lunch. Noodle soup with some beans and meat. Tasted good. Instead of driving back to Yamakita we went straight to a place call Kurumayama. It was about 2 hours of driving, and we are going to stay here this weekend. This is a ski resort and there is a lot of people here on weekends. We are going to make a stand… have an Ozone tent… some instructing and hopefully some good riding from me. It’s also a competition for local people.

Hope the conditions are good up here. Looking forward to seeing the spot tomorrow. You’ll hear from me then. Now it’s time for dinner and then some sleep.

Day 3 and 4:

These two days Fumiya wanted competition. But the wind was so bad that none of us could do any freestyle. It was so bad. Wrong wind direction. But there was around 50 people meeting up.

We did a bit of free riding but it was such bad conditions, it was not worth it. Instead we had a super nice party on Saturday. Lovely food and free beer;) We played some games after dinner. One of them was Bingo and one other was Sigve quiz… it was so funny. Some question about Norway and some question about me. They are so good at creating amusement. You also have to try the wine here called sake. Very good wine made of rice. We ended in bed around midnight. Wanted to be fit for fight for the next day.

It was many hours of waiting this two days but nothing to do with the condition. On Sunday they made a new competition. They had to hit a bottle with an imp kite. They had one and a half minutes to hit it.

The one to hit it in less time wins. It was hard for them, it was so gusty. But we ended up with a winner;) It was impossible to do any freestyle these two days. I am so sorry for that. Was a nice event, so good job to you Fumiya and your team.

Went for a lovely dinner and then we all wanted to go to bed. Tomorrow it looks like we’ll get some good wind and sun. Super! New spot tomorrow;)

Day 5:

Today we have been riding all over the place. We have been to 3 different places. One called Kirigamine, the second called Utsukushigahala and the last one is called Asamayama.  All of them with blue sky but now wind. We tried so hard but ended up driving not riding:) The spots look quite nice. You have a steep mountain and a big flat plateau. And usually with a beautiful view.

I still have 2 more days down here. But the conditions are not so good in the mountains so it looks like we’ll go for some kite surfing. It’s cold down here, hope I will be okay with a 6,4 wet suit. Have to show them that I am a Viking.

Had dinner on our way back home today. Went to a super nice sushi restaurant in Gotemba. Sooooooo good!  You order one or two sushi at the same time, 1 minute later it is coming on the belt. So cool!

Quite many hours in the car today. Have seen a lot of the country side of Japan now, lots of wild goats, there are trees everywhere, up to 2000 meters. Had a nice drive but no kiting.

Back home now in Fumiya house. Ready for bed.

OSKM will be my next trip

Sigve