You could make a strong argument that Kanoa Igarashi has grown into the ideal of the American Dream. His parents both moved from Japan to Huntington Beach, raising two sons that have grown up to be world-class surfers — one of them a perennial world title contender. And now that Kanoa is set to represent Japan this summer in surfing’s Olympic Games debut, it’s as if the entire family’s story is coming full circle.
“Outside of my house, I was American. I walk into my home, I’m Japanese,” Igarashi says of his upbringing.
It’s an almost universal experience for second- and third-generation children of immigrants. As he seems to see it now, his goals and ambitions today are a way to honor the sacrifices his parents made when coming to America. In particular, choosing to represent Japan on the WSL’s Championship tour was the best way he could do that.
“As much as they can say this is the American Dream, this is way out of their comfort zone,” he says. “I kind of looked at it as kind of the ultimate way of thanking my family. My dad wanted to be a pro surfer but (he) didn’t make it. If I started representing Japan on the Tour, my whole family was going to represent Japan.”
“It’s such an amazing story that Kanoa is going to represent Japan in surfing, right here at our beach. It’s like a fairytale,” Kanoa’s father, Tsutomu Igarashi said in 2019. “For me, my life as a surfer really began right here. So for Kanoa to represent Japan as a surfer, here at Shidashita next year…it’s a dream come true.”
