It has been 34 years since the first issue of Surfing World was published in 1975. Over the years, the staff of each generation have covered surfing in their own way and passed on the baton on to the next generation.

Everyone got their surfing information from Surfing World when it was first being published, because it was the only specialty magazine on surfing. I was also one of the first people to buy Surfing World 34 years ago. I never thought that I would become the Editor-in-Chief, but I had always loved living alongside surfing.

Yes, that is true. The real appeal of surfing is probably the fact that you can meld with the surrounding nature. Waves can’t be created by humans, so it feels great when you are waiting patiently to ride a wave that the earth created. I guess it means that I am always thankful that I can ride the waves. I believe that there are many people who would ask what they can do to make it so the waves don’t disappear.

This is why Surfing World has been devoting pages to the environment for around 10 years. Until that point instead of covering how the environment is now, we covered information concerning where you can find great waves and where and in what kind of places these waves form, but now we cover how we can sustain the environment we currently have. It is fun and you feel great when you can ride waves by surfing, and in order to continue being able to surf, you have to start thinking a little about the environment. We also create pages with messages that convey the need to take care of the environment in order to enjoy surfing itself, and to pass along that enjoyment to the next generation of surfers.

When you ask elementary and middle school kids if they know why there are waves they don’t know the answer, but if you tell them that there may not be any more waves because of the plastic and other trash that is increasing on the beach, they are convinced and begin to help pick up trash. I think it is vital to convey these kinds of issues to people as a specialty magazine. The government has also recently been very understanding about these issues, and has adopted the ideas of surfers. Surfers have the power to convey the message, and we have been cleaning beaches and conserving coastline with the help of these messages.

Yes. Put simply, I wish that everyone would take their trash back home with them. Have fun surfing, and take home whatever trash that you brought back home with you.

You know they are having get-together’s for kids in Hawaii every week. And those get-togethers have started popping up in Japan as well. There was a contest for kids last weekend that I went to cover, and all the mothers were acting like it was a field day. Shouting “You can do it!” to their kids.

Recently, many moms will take their kids to the ocean to surf, and they start riding from the 3^rd or 4^th grade. At first it is a little scary, but I believe there is more enjoyment than fear. I think it is tough for the parents to guide them that far. But I am sure that the parents also love surfing, and since they have surfed in the past, they want to show the enjoyment of surfing to their kids too.