Japan, In Person - A True Ames Trip to Japan

For years, Japan has been one of those places that felt both deeply connected to True Ames and somehow still slightly abstract. We’ve shipped fins there for decades. We’ve worked with distributors, shapers, and shop owners who’ve supported what we do for just as long. We’ve heard the stories, seen the photos, traded emails, and talked on late-night calls across time zones.

But until this trip, Chuck Ames had never seen it in person. It felt like the right time to change that.

It might seem a little wild Chuck hadn’t yet been to Japan. But you have to remember that times have changed. It’s much easier to travel the globe than it was 30 years ago. True Ames was also born out of the demands of board builders, making it surf supply first, requiring a lot of time in the shop - laminating, cutting, foiling, and finishing fins. Chuck was in the thick of it, fulfilling orders to keep surfers out there shredding!

So we headed to Japan, Chuck and I, to finally meet the people who’ve carried True Ames into the Japanese surf community for the better part of 30 years. From the moment Tim and Ikeda-san picked us up at the airport, we were off and running. We piled into a van wrapped with the True Ames diamond logo and started logging miles across Tokyo, Shonan, and Chiba, weaving between dense city blocks and coastal highways, surf shops and small back streets.

It wasn’t just a business trip. It felt more like stepping into a story that had already been unfolding for decades.

Shops That Treat Surfboards Like History

One of the first things that hit us was the level of care in the shops. You expect Japan to be detail-oriented, but the surf shops genuinely exceeded anything we imagined.

There’s a reverence there for surfboards, not just as equipment, but as objects with lineage. Vintage boards aren’t tucked in corners (well, maybe some of them); they’re displayed like artifacts. Used boards aren’t secondary inventory (well, maybe some of them); they’re part of the culture.

At Pilgrim Surf, the archive fin wall immediately caught our attention. Old templates, historic designs, and small details that reminded us how deep the connection between surfing and design really runs. Talk about clean and focused, Pilgrim is a beautiful display of on-point clothing and surfy gear. It is a thoughtful blend of city life, melded with shoreside roots.

That theme carried through a lot of the places we visited, landlocked or coastal, big or small. Every square foot is neatly used. Boards, softgoods, accessories, books, history. Very similar to a good surf shop in the U.S., but with a distinctly Japanese sense of presentation and preservation.

At The Surf, where Wayne Rich boards are distributed, we spotted an old True Ames catalog poster alongside vintage Santa Barbara photos. It’s one thing to remember those years yourself; it’s another to see them living on the other side of the world.

Holy Smokes was packed with boards from Skip Frye, Marc Andreini, Bob Duncan’s Wilderness shapes, and tons of other friends of ours. We even found some special mini wood glass-on side fins Chuck had made years ago for Andreini. We also installed a set of Shapes and Hulls quad fins into a board; they’re such unique designs, and we hadn’t seen them in one of Tim’s boards specifically, and wanted to see how they sat.

The Hobie shop felt like a time capsule in the best way. Classic Hobie boards everywhere, California memorabilia scattered throughout, and a Phil Edwards model shaped by Mark Johnson that Chuck immediately zeroed in on. Tyler Warren boards filled out the racks and gave the whole space a blend of heritage and modern craftsmanship.

At M’s, the lineup of Velzy’s, Pavel’s, and Fantastic Acid boards made it feel like a museum curated by someone who knows a thing or two about glide. We were greeted with tons of stoke and had so much fun chatting about the old days of Velzy and the legendary Rich Pavel.

We went to many more shops, and will eventually share a vignette of all the nooks and crannies we visited. Everywhere we went, a similar pattern repeated: deep knowledge, careful presentation, and a clear respect for where surf culture comes from.

Talking Fins in Person

Within the shop visits, one of our biggest goals was simply to spend time with the local surf community. Not through emails or product drops or social media posts, but face-to-face conversations.

Our first event at Ride Surf + Sport with Koji-san set the tone. The shop’s board collection alone was worth the entire trip, so many incredible shapes by Lovelace, Ericson, Beamish, Burch, Christenson, Tappy, YU, RU, and beyond. The evening quickly turned into a proper gathering, beers flowing, and solid surf discussion cooking. Ellis Ericson showed up, along with YU, RU, Tappy, and a packed group of surfers who came ready with thoughtful questions.

We shared a short history of True Ames, showed some footage from the past year, and then simply talked fins. Templates. Materials. Foils. Board pairings. The kind of conversations we have daily at the shop, but don’t necessarily get to have in person with surfers halfway across the world.

People weren’t just curious about what we make - they wanted to understand why certain templates exist, how they evolved, and what they’re meant to do. 

That kind of exchange is the best part of a trip like this.

Visiting Yuta and the Coastal Crew

From there we headed back toward the coast to spend time with Yuta Sezutsu.

Yuta welcomed us into his shop (and home!) with the kind of generosity that immediately makes you feel like you’ve been there for years. He showed us his OG quiver, his fin collection, and the boards he’s been riding recently. We talked flex, foil, template theory, and how those ideas translate to the waves in Japan.

At one point he tried to teach me how to use his surf swing trainer, which made it obvious how refined his footwork actually is. Watching him surf only confirms it.

We shared homemade food, drinks, and a long evening talking design with Yuta, Tappy, and the rest of the local crew. The intimacy was incredible, we had so many amazing one-on-one conversations about surfers boards,tuning up and dialing in fin pairings through the evening.

A Morning Surf Together

Of course, we couldn’t leave without actually getting in the water.

One morning we met up and did the familiar ritual: check the surf, stand in the parking lot, talk boards, wait a little longer, check again, and finally throw on some wetsuits. Chuck and Yuta had a proper conversation about surfboard polish, while I debated whether the water was cold enough for booties. I opted out after deciding that longboarding is hard enough without them. Though I stand by my claim that Mikey DeTemple is the best longboarder in boots.

Eventually we paddled out.

Chuck cruised on a few peelers. I rode a Tappy noserider that worked surprisingly well given the soft conditions. Beau Foster and Ellis Ericson showed everyone they’re far from one-dimensional, drawing clean lines on mid-lengths in waves most people would struggle to catch. But it was the local crew that showed all of us up! Getting proper tip time on longboards with ease and steez.

Yuta took his time getting out, but once he did, he caught the best waves of the session and surfed them with the kind of effortless control that makes everything look like it’s in slow motion.

It wasn’t a heroic swell, no one was getting a cover shot. It was just a good surf with friends, which made it perfect.

Board Building, The Thread Remains the Same

YU is one of our longest standing shaping partners, not just in Japan, but globally. It was a huge honor to visit his shop and see where so many incredible surfboards have been built. YU’s son, RU, has also taken up the shaping tools, alongside being a fantastic surfer. Such a rad lineage!

To an outsider, a surfboard factory may verge on disgusting, to a surfer, it is a beautiful thing. They are crusted in resin and layered in fiberglass soot. There is foam dust everywhere and coatings of old airbrush paint on the wall. The YU workshop felt right at home. As did the factory of Takuya "Tappy" Yoshikawa. Same raw materials. Same design challenges. Same obsession with getting boards to feel just right. The only difference is the minor tweaks of rocker, bottom contour, or rail shape to fit the local waves and surfers - and maybe a special tool or two.

We were stoked to hand deliver some fresh new R+D fins for YU and RU, and further discuss a few design tweaks and ideas with Tappy. To see and feel a shaper's space and especially give some boards the arm test, pays huge dividends when going to build them fins.

Beyond Surfing

Although we logged some serious miles in the van, we did get to be tourist here and there. 

We perused the Sensō-ji (Temple), finding trinkets for the family while testing the street food. We cruised Shibuya Square at night, getting lost in the chaos while admiring the lights and detail of every building. We ducked into small restaurants and ended up eating some of the best meals of the trip in (seemingly) random shopping squares. We picked up small gifts for our families, wandered through neighborhoods, and tried to absorb as much as we could in our short windows of tourist time.

The thing that stuck with us most wasn’t just the surf culture, it was how welcoming everything felt. Japan has a reputation for being formal or distant from the outside, but what we experienced was the opposite. Once you’re there, once you engage, you find your place quickly with welcome and open arms. 

It was super inspiring to see the Japanese shaping contingent alive and well, building incredible surf craft for the local crew. Hawaii has seen a good chunk of YU designs in its time, but it would not be surprising to see some of these boards make their way further around the globe in the coming years.

A Trip That Meant a Lot

Looking back, this wasn’t just a distributor visit or shop tour or shaper sojourn.

It felt more like finally stepping into a long-running relationship and seeing it in full context. The shops, the surfers, the builders, the collectors, the community: they’ve been part of the True Ames story for decades, and this trip reminded us how meaningful that connection really is.

We’re incredibly grateful to Maneuverline, to Ikeda-san and Tim for guiding us across the country, and to everyone who opened their shops, homes, and lineups to us.

It was an all-time mission, and one we won’t forget anytime soon.