Longboarding in Hawaii and Longboarding in Japan, you can tell there's a difference in " Style ".
In Hawaii, the style of longboarding is more "Progressive".
In Japan, the style of longboarding is more "Classic".
Could it be because the waves in Japan are mostly small beach break ?
( and the sand is brown )
Could it be that in Hawaii the surf spots are mainly Reef breaks, with clear warm water and white sand.
I think for Japanese, they copy the "California style" and tend to order boards from California shapers rather than from shapers in Hawaii. There really isn't a Japan style of surfing, they just follow the trends of the California surfers.
Stand up stall stall cross step to the nose and white water rebound into the flats on the inside closeout.
In Hawaii, it's more Up and Down, Right to Left using the whole wave. It's not about stalling but speeding up.
As Lance Hookano says " The first thing local kids are taught is to get away from the wave ".
In Hawaii, there's a lot of " 2+1 " fin set ups. Two side bite fins with a 7.5" center box fin.
In Japan, it's mainly single fin Logs. ( even when there's snow on the beach ! )
Shonan Slow Small waves. I guess you need to have a slower calmer pace.
Even though I was brought up surfing in Hawaii, in Japan, I have to use a smoother calmer style to not out run the wave.
But in Hawaii, you need to get moving.
You got to surf rail to rail off the tail to get that big ole longboard to move.
Now don't get me wrong, there are "progressive" surfers in Japan.
And they Rip !! But they are more the exception than the norm.
Maybe in Hawaii, Locals Surfers are just built differently.
Maybe they were brought up differently.
Maybe they view the ocean and waves differently.
Maybe they just surf differently than surfers in Japan do.
Japan has their own style of Kitchen Knives, Dance, Clothing, foot wear and so on, that is so unique in the world. It's funny they don't have their own style of surfing.
Please check out Matsunosuke Kugenuma on FB and http://starb.on.coocan.jp/daily/daily0.html to see more.
Thank you Jim Walsh for the Waikiki sunset photos .