I only just missed you! I was last there in 1997. I mainly went back to Kyoto this year, as My pic of the Kinkaku-ji which I took with an "APS" camera (that fad didn't last long) back then has gotten a bit faded.
I think we need to see some of your ice carving!
(not quite sure how we went for "look nice pavillion" to Nuclear war) But it is a bit depressing that "mutually assured destruction" is the best we can come up with. And the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing will hopefully be the last, not convinced it was completely necessary/justified, but the loss of both allied and Japanese life from an invasion would have been horrific, and would have probably gone on for another 4 years. Probably a conversation for a different more depressing thread, this one is supposed to cheer us up.
Be interested to seem more of your surfing clips to. this is about the only clip of me that I've found (no idea who took it) If you look carefully, you can see the rising sun on the deck.