Of course people don't want war. Why should a poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best thing he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece?
If we want authenticity we have to initiate it.
The Tokyo Dome Big Air contest (in 2003) was my first trip to Japan. I think I won it with a double back or something. Those events were fun. I was underaged, like 19 or 20, and going over to Japan in the very beginning was insane. It was amazing.
I actually enjoyed getting lost in Japan's backroads, finding myself in a wasabi farm.
We faced blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, and of course dangerous snow conditions and vertiginous drops. That's what you get when you're working with fickle mother nature - you start out with a solid plan and it always changes, so you have to evolve and adapt.
When I finally got to go ride the mountains in Japan, it blew my mind.
I'm passionate about capturing amazing snowboarding action. I get so much out of the artistic endeavor of even getting one amazing shot in a pristine environment, using specialist cameras to showcase how fun and dynamic snowboarding is. That's what I live for.
Just like that. Gone forever. They will not grow old together. They will never live on a beach by the sea, their hair turned white, dancing in a living room to Billie Holiday or Nat Cole. They will not enter a New York club at midnight and show the poor hip-hop fools how to dance. They will not chuckle together over the endless folly of the world, its vanities and stupid ambitions. They will not hug each other in any chilly New York dawn. Oh, Mary Lou. My baby. My love.
I don't like flirting, and when I love someone, I always give everything, maybe too much. And then you have to work at it all the time. I mean, the first months are always great, but afterwards it becomes hard work. It's not as passionate and crazy.
We know the road to freedom has always been stalked by death.
I loved being in America. It was a great experience. People will be drawn to China because of the money but the lifestyle, everything about America, I couldn't recommend it enough.