We made two trips to Japan for Dear Suburbia, almost back to back. Kai was on both and Kolohe was not. He was only on the first trip, and this became a sore subject.
Kai interviews Kolohe | Hover for captions
Kai Neville: Would you go back to Japan, Brother?
Kolohe Andino: Are you serious? Can you take me there?
Kai: Yeah, so would you go back?
Kolohe: Shitchyeah!
Kai: Do you reckon you could top our trip?
Kolohe: Ours or theirs?
Kai: Ours.
Kolohe: Yes.
Kai: Were you pissed or psyched when you saw the waves from the second trip?
Kolohe: Pissed. Hashtag pissed.
Kai: Did you think it could have been better than our trip? I know I didn’t.
Kolohe: No, no way. The waves looked soooo rippable on their trip. When Dane was getting those barrels, and doing turns.
Kai: The waves weren’t rippable on our trip?
Kolohe: The one session was. The last session. That was sick. When I surfed for like eight hours. The rip bowl left and the air section right.
Kai: You were so psyched on that little left.
Kolohe: Little pigdog blowouts and shit. So psyched on that.
Kai: I reckon you got nearly 50 waves, just back in the rip. In and out.
Kolohe: You wanna go back again, right?
Kai: Let’s make it an annual thing. So tell me, what was the best thing about the trip?
Kolohe: The vibes. Just really great vibes. Just laughing the entire time. Psyching. Sick shit, the whole time.
Kai: What about the car rides? Whose car were you in?
Kolohe: Heavy…I wanted to stay with Room 203 but I kept getting thrown with Scuba and shit, on the ground.
Kai: What’s Room 203?
Kolohe: Room 203 was me, you and Yadin. Our room at the hotel.
Kai: We were the chilled out sleep room, waking up fresh as a daisy crew. What else do you remember from Japan?
Kolohe: The Japanese pool thing was pretty sick. The thing we got kicked out of. The pool sauna thing.
Kai: That was how we survived the typhoon. By being in the sauna.
Kolohe: Yeah, that was sick.
Kai: Why’d we get kicked out?
Kolohe: Because you’re supposed to be naked…and we weren’t naked.
Kai: Did watching the footage get you psyched about the trip again?
Kolohe: Yeah, I dunno, it was so sick. Best vibes ever…except for the trash ride I had when I had to sit in the car. That was so lame.
Kai: What was the trash ride?
Kolohe: When we drove to that huge mushy wave I had to sit in the middle of all the trash in the car for like three hours. The floor of the van was all hot too, so it was hot trash. It was like a 30-minute ride, which in Japanese equals three hours. I can’t believe the Lakers are so gnarly…
Kai: When did you first hear about the second Japan trip?
Kolohe: I was in France and Yadin was like, “I think there’s another typhoon going to Japan, do you want to go back?” I was like, “Yeah that’d be sick…maybe maybe maybe…” Then I got all psyched and in comp mode because I got 3rd at the Lacanau event, and I was like, “Nah, I’m going to Virginia to do the contest.”
Then when I was in Virginia, in the middle of the event, John John texted me and said: Good thing you didn’t come, it wasn’t that good. Then he sent me a photo that Nate Lawrence took from the big day. And then he said: Nah, I’m just kidding, it was two-foot and blown out. That was a picture of Nias.
Then I realized it was Japan and I started crying. Seriously crying.
