Surfing Island

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Surf photo showing Jerry Lopez and Hawaiian sea god Naruola (by Denjiro Sato)

Yoshio Kataoka’s “Surfing Islands” was published in 1980 and is now out of print. This book contains five short stories about Hawaii and surfing.

Yoshio Kataoka is a Japanese novelist, essayist, photographer, translator, and critic. His father was a second-generation Japanese American from Hawaii with U.S. citizenship, came to Japan and arranged marriage with his mother, the daughter of an elderly Yamaguchi merchant, and was to return to the U.S. immediately, but the war broke out and he could not return to the U.S. He lived in Tokyo at the request of his mother, and there He was born there. She was born there. Her father spoke only English, and she apparently grew up in a special environment where English and Yamaguchi dialects were spoken at home. This background has influenced him to publish unique language essays such as “Out of Japanese” and “Thinking about Japanese in English.

He has also translated books in a variety of genres, including mystery novels such as “The Villainous Parker: Crime Organization,” John Lennon’s book “The Beatles Revolution,” and “Baseball: This Perfect Thing,” a photographic essay on baseball.

His father worked for GHQ and brought home a lot of paperbacks that were supposed to be discarded there, and he grew up surrounded by a large number of American books. He grew up surrounded by a large number of American books. As a result, he has published many essays on American books, including “My Book, About Books” and “Half of What I Wanted Was the Cover – Reading America in 100 Paperbacks.

He has also published novels and essays on American vehicles such as the “His Motorcycle, Her Island” and “Red Body, Black Roof, Two Doors: The Appearance of 275 Automobiles Traced in American Magazine Advertisements,” making him truly a man with all the tastes of a man.

Also, when they hear the name Yoshio Kataoka, many people over a certain age may think of Kadokawa movies such as “Slow Boogie, Please” starring Atsuko Asano, “His Motorcycle, Her Island” starring Kiwako Harada, “Main Theme” starring Hiroko Yakushimaru, “Bobby’s Bitter Love” starring Hiromi Murata, and so on. I am sure that many people may be reminded of Kadokawa movies such as “Main Theme” starring Hiroko Yakushimaru and “Bobby Nubikake” starring Hiromi Murata.

I have gone off on a tangent, but let me return to “Surfers’ Island. As mentioned at the beginning, this book contains five short stories about Hawaii and surfing. Most of Yoshio Kataoka’s paper publications are out of print, and the only way to obtain the book itself is to buy a used copy. However, all of his works are being digitized on his official website (KataokaYoshio.com), and each of the stories in this book, “To the Wilderness of White Waves,” “Aloha Oe,” “Island Style,” “Sugar Train,” and “Bail Out,” are available in book form on the Kindle.

Here is an excerpt from the description of the surf film “To the Hirono of White Waves,” a surf film about riding the waves of Hawaii.

“We could see the rising ocean rushing toward us. The top of its rounded wave wall glistened in the morning sun… With the illusion that the ocean floor itself was suddenly lifted high, our surfboarded bodies were launched into the air, and the head of the big wave was just below our boards. For a moment, as we crested the highest point and came to a stop, every sense in my body was sharpened to the utmost…. We take in a full breath of air above the waves with a splash. The board runs with the wave. The moment I stand up on the board, arms outstretched and balanced, the next thing I know I am sliding down the slope of a huge wave that is rolling up the ocean toward the shore…”

The description goes on and on, as if he feels the moment he is surfing the waves. Yoshio Kataoka’s surfing is different from foreign surf essays in that his descriptions are like paintings in which time has stopped. He has written several surf novels, but I think this book is one of the best three among them. I think reading them on a refreshing holiday morning will give you a pleasant time.

I will continue to discuss Yoshio Kataoka’s surfing novels and essays in the next article.