This one goes out to the internet technicians...
One of the greater transitions, in an era increasingly fuller of them, is that of Kanoa Igarashi. Born in Huntington Beach to Japanese parents, Igarashi burst on the scene as a sort of child surf prodigy alongside Quiksilver stablemates Jack Robinson and Leo Fioravanti. As he grew, the young man’s spontaneous “tourettes-like” celebrations and gold chains seemed to grate easily offended surf fans and he was written off as “cloying.”
Over the years, though, Igarashi has quietly endeared himself to those selfsame internet technicians by developing an enviable style, demonstrating a willingness to charge and, by all accounts, rising above the fray. Letting his “surfing do the talking” as the old chestnut goes.
Well, in a revealing new interview with the Olympics’ official website, Igarashi also lets his talking do the talking, sharing about how it felt to grow up Japanese in Huntington Beach (“When I was outside of my house, I had a very American culture because of my American friends. And then I would go back home and it would just be a complete Japanese culture. The balance for me was very unique.”) and how it allowed him to soar to a silver medal in surfing’s Olympic introduction at the Tokyo Games (“I guess that kind of controlled chaos, it’s made me into who I am today.”).
Most importantly, though, the model-handsome 26-year-old drops a pearl of wisdom that might just might heal this vitriolic and polarizing age. Speaking of his different worlds, Igarashi explained that none of it mattered when he went surfing with his father. “The ocean was what kind of blended me into society,” he said “and I’ll be forever thankful for that. What the ocean taught me was that it really is a place where everyone is a human being. Everyone’s training one passion. Everyone’s in the water, everyone’s surfing. No matter what race you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter what you do, when you’re in the water, you’re just one.”
And look at that.
Peace for our time.
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I translated the lyrics of the second verse…..
Home schooling really shows once you grow up
Love his surfing, hate his claiming, probably just needs a good punch in the face!..
His struggle. #kaiknowuhhstrong
They bombed Darwin!
Fuckin japs
I thought that was the Baptists.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen racism in surfing.
I mean, Portuguese and Jewish guys in Hawaii do hate the haole invaders. But otherwise…
At your random crowded peak, everyone hates everyone else equally, no matter what their race, color, or creed.
Brazillians aren’t a race so it’s OK to hate them
Above on the cliff of a Portuguese popular point it reads “go back to your own country”, …in Portuguese though… so only brazzos can read it. Horrible sounding language.
Also a Portuguese bodyboarder took his flipper off at a nice wedge, just him and me in the lineup, zero interaction yet he had to drop in on me, and then told me to go back to my own country waving his flipper at me. Which was nice of him.
I can not remember a country so filled to the brim with stupid yet self-fascinated people as there..
I don’t know any Japanese, but even I can tell that Kanoa speaks Japanese with an HB accent. It cracks me up every time, as an HB native myself.
Now that I’m up here looking down on you all, I think it’s better if you all just get along…..
“Who took care of me when I couldn’t take care of myself. I owe everything to them. How can I repay them?”
Truly the MLK of our times, or perhaps Gandhi
Griff our Marty King!
Surely Griff Ann Frank?
Kanosaparks
🏄🏄 I’m just “one” now. I feel better. Hey Kanoa my uncle was wise like you. He used to tell me to pull his finger.
Say what you want about him, but his younger brother checked on me when a dude shot his board into my jaw after burning me on at South Side HB pier. Had that not happened, I may have felt non-human in the lineup from that day forward.
Hot dang, this little bleached airhead mightve just solved all the current conflicts worldwide, including those that never matter, internet trolls ganging up on other internet trolls. Kanao… you’ve spoken some wisdom which will be heard centuries from now, will be taught in universities around the world,… the day an average top surfer spoke words he remembered from countless instagram confessions, and just… put them in the right order using ‘everyone’ as a marker for all to connect to.
Thanks Kanoa.
Confuciragashi
“…No matter what you do, when you’re in the water, you’re just one.” The same words his grandfather was told on a December morning in the Pacific.
Wonder what his grandpappy said on the morning of August 6, 1945!?
“Hold my beer..” ..?
deep thoughts…really funny! SW
If you rearrange the letters in “Unity”, it spells “Ain’t Happenin'”.
Had no idea that having Japanese parents and growing up in America was such a chaotic experience that he was able to overcome.
One of my friends had Japanese parents also and he never mentioned it.
I would think growing up in Oakland with crackhead parents would be more of a challenge.
You’re not wrong but …..I’ta possible that if you were to ask your buddy he’d say that he had a challenging experience.
As you’ve alluded to, everybody has their own challenging experiences. Children of the rich and famous, with every opportunity in the world, can end up downtrodden, depressed and dead.
Anyway, it doesn’t seem to me that the surfer was looking for sympathy, just that he was talking about his experience to a journalist in an attempt to raise hype for the Olympics.
Just saying it doesn’t seem like that much of a challenge to overcome. He was given a Hawaiian name along with his brother, and his dad took him out surfing at three years old.
Both my parents are from Minnesota and thought surfing was a complete waste of time. My dad told me that I needed to quit surfing and join the army to get some discipline in my life.
Once again you make a solid point.
But your dad was right about discipline, as it’s a very underrated quality that many young people (and not so young lack). Some people thank the army for the discipline they received, although I suspect more people than not, who have experienced it, think the military could use better techniques to teach discipline. Military seems to form a lot of assholes. M
Anyway, I see your point. I think the surfer was just talking Aking his perspective on his somewhat rare upbringing in Southern California. Don’t think he was fishing for excess amounts of sympathy. Maybe I’m wrong, but it didn’t seem that way from the quote in the article.
So Dane: “Why did you come home on a red eye from Hawaii?” We’re sitting in The Chart House In Redondo having cocktail and or’deurves. “Well, Dad…” He was too confused to fire back. This is a man that took us to National Parks, surf contests, and watched me walk out the door with a quart of rum, get into the Ford Ranchero and drive off to celebrate high school graduation. “Just don’t smoke pot!”
I met his parents last season.
not really Japanese traditionalists.
I hardly read the article but didn’t he just say the experience was “unique”?
me neither but anything he would say would be about himself and how amazing he is. He’s a narcissist. If he could bend over a bit more he would give himself a blow job.
you’ve created a model joke that could be used 1,000 ways…nice!
Kanoas publicist deserves more money. Not sure what they are making but it’s not enough
I’m confused. Are we not all human beings on land?
And while we’re at it
What does Kanoa make of
All of those dolphins?
Bone broth?
Fish fingers
sashimi
No, only in the water.
on land we are all homo’s
He is of the HB race. Many people are saying that there is not a desirable pool of human genetics in that area.
“Over the years, though, Igarashi has quietly endeared himself to those selfsame internet technicians by developing an enviable style, demonstrating a willingness to charge and, by all accounts, rising above the fray.”
News to me, this imaginary development. Just remember writing about him:
“Perhaps it is his complete lack of charm or his self-aware insistence on making being annoying his whole personality as a mechanism to mute any real criticism of his persona/antics by claiming it’s just who he is that rubs me the wrong way.”
Interesting that the final quote chopped off the last few words.
“No matter what race you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter what you do, when you’re in the water, you’re just one of a pack of many cunts.”
The only constant is change. Om shanti.