We were invited to race in Japan at the Kawasaki Jet Ski Championships by Mr. Sato ( Speed Magic ). We flew from LAX Tuesday around noon with the owners from Quakysense, Benni and Kazu on the same flight. We arrived in Japan  on October 21st evening after a 12 hour flight. We were greeted By Mr.Sato and staff. We proceeded to our hotel and had 20 minutes to freshen up for dinner. Before dinner we stopped at Sato Engineering(Speed Magic) where we were briefed on the upcoming days schedule. I had asked how the boats were running and he was very happy with them. My mechanic Turbo had spent the day testing , ending with good results. Dinner turned out to be what we expected a lot of fish and rice. I ate the fish and Rachel enjoyed the rice.

The next day was a free day where we were able to do a bit of shopping and more eating. We went into Osaka city where we found many stores and allot of great fashion. This part of town in particular had a great style. I seemed like they wore what ever it took just as long as no one else had it on. There was a girl dressed up like little bo peep but no sheep. It was a great site to see.

Friday we woke up and I had gone for a run around the area we were staying at. After the run we packed our bags and left for the race. I took around 2 hours to get there with one food stop. I love Japanese food!

The race was on Awaji Island , which was a two and a half hour drive from Osaka.  Awaji Island was very green with amazing views. The race was held in a bay off the Pacific ocean, in the middle of Japan at a national park. There were 270 entries for the race, 45 races’ on Saturday and 35 race's on Sunday.

The 270 entries for the race were all aboard Kawasaki brand watercraft, The class structure was very different from what we are used to in the United States because in the JJSBA they only have Stock and Limited in Ski, X2, and Runabout. This class structure made the racing very fair, affordable, and packed each class with a full line of racers.  Chris raced in the Ski Limited Class and the X2 class on two skis that were built by Sato Engineering. The engine in the SX-R was built the night before the race due to a technical miss-communication this left Chris with an underpowered craft. The X2 was well built and was very fast, Chris was able to get hole shot on every start. Chris raced twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday, taking a first overall in the X2 class and third in ski. In Chris's races there was a strange rule that only the leader had to pick up an equalizer buoy on each lap he was in first, this made it very difficult for Chris to win because it was giving 2nd place a very unfair advantage every time Chris was picking up the extra buoy.

We ate a lot of interesting foods. One of our favorite meals was at a steakhouse that the owners of Quakysense took us to. We have never tasted meat as good as this before. The rest of the time we spent shopping and eating. There were many beautiful sights in Japan and they have much pride in keeping their country clean. The people of Japan are the most passionate people that we have ever met. The way they had treated us made us feel like a King and Queen for a week!

We would like to thank Sato and all his team, Hiro, Benni & kazu for your hospitality!