Obsessive Instincts

Imagine a time before men curated their boot collections. Before twee explorations of “maker” culture. Before there were 172 blogs about hand-foiled fins. Japanese surfer Rin Tanaka was there. Hell, his whole country was. No one honored the best of Americana like the land of the Rising Sun. They were students of Yater, sat at the knee of Bruce Brown for   stories, sought out new-old-stock Birdwell windbreakers. They found that old California goods compared favorably to circa-’93 surf product on any level you’d care to cite. Rin has some thoughts, and Brisick had the time.