I LOVE Japan! I was stoked to be there again for the Burton store Opening in Osaka.

So much Japanese madness. My ears and my eyes were completely overwhelmed: lights, sounds and people everywhere… polite, polite, maybe impossible, karaoke my favorite, sushi, crazy fashion, mini cruisers, best spray toilets ever, sake, photo, photo…

The cool thing on that trip was that we weren’t stuck just between snowboarders. Sweet to have Nicolas Muller in the crew as always but also Gravis surfer Kassia Meador and Analog’s Arto Saari.

To honour Japanese traditions, we served sake to all the people coming to the event.. obviously we cheered with them, each of them and had a sip! But that was alright since there were only about 700 people. Arto (wearing a super-stylish 80’s wig) took the mic and welcomed the crowd to the store opening with the gayest Carl Lagerfeld attitude ever! Very fashionable…

The sake session was followed by a 3-hour signing session. I find it hard to find 700 different very special dedicated comments to give to each of them, so I just got artistic. I drew moustaches, pretty flowers and about 650 I LOVE Nippon… it’s like writing fitness!

Japanese people like to fire us with their digi cams… so I just fire back with my plastic one way use camera!!

The people shower luckily came to an end and the whole Burton extended crew went for dinner. I sat next to Moblow and his wig, he told a girl who was wearing a moustache that she was nice and doll – she didn’t like it and answered that she could beat him up. So I said he would love it!! So she punched him in the eye and left him with a black eye… you shouldn’t mess around with girls who wear the moustaches! The night went on to a karaoke bar – my all time favorite!

Marc and I ended up walking with nowhere to go in town. A guy was peeing in the street, so I ran and caught the perfect moment and angle on my camera! All his friends laughed along with me. I only wish I hadn’t forgotten to remove the lens cap on my camera actually got the shot!

The next day, the snowboard crew travelled to a dome and tons of people came to watch. They were like an orchestra. I make them do the HOLA and took some family portraits. Everyone is so happy and friendly here! Trevor sings, we sign tons of things… everyone politely waits in line for hours. That is what impresses me most from Japanese, they are soo patient and respectful.

The next day were all in Tokyo for the first Birthday of the Burton store. Everyone sat down like kids in school – cute! They watched the movie and we had a huge cake in the shape of a snowboard with bindings. Jeremy Jones claims he is gay, some more pictures, signing and graffiti later I drag Arto, his sushi and Moblow to a gay bar on a Monday night. Everything you need to become intimate with the bar tenders! Some more karaoke and this trip made it to my top 3 favorite trips ever! 1000 thanks to my friend Kosuke who makes each of my Japanese experiences magic!