Yo-Yo Friends in the Philippines

Thursday, March 31st, 2011 in: News, Travel

This post is more than a bit out of chronological order; I forgot to publish it in sequence, this story is from my first few days in Manila…

Since I had made tentative plans with Hiro Koba of Kitty String to hang out, I asked Janet and Joemar if we could push our trip to Tagaytay back a day. “no problem! We’re totally flexible,” they assured me in their honest, laid-back manner.

It was for the best, since traffic turned our morning meeting into an afternoon one. Hiro picked me up and took me to the Mall of Asia, one of the largest malls in southeast Asia. We got acquainted over a delicious lunch at Chicken World, and wandered around the mall, stopping at a toy shop to see the yo-yos available in the Philippines. He showed me the seaside, a long walkway like Venice Beach without the beach. Hiro taught me some new tricks on the waterfront, and showed me some of his 5A freestyle for the upcoming national contest.

From there we headed to Intramuros, at first to see the old style buildings and historical area, but also because the Bureau of Immigration was located there. Hanging out with Hiro made me realize I really wanted to go to Nationals, and in order to make it all work I would have to extend my visa. Filling out the form for visa extension, we started talking to a pair of Japanese guys there for the same reason: Katsu and Tatsu. They ran a sort of NGO growing plants for biofuels in the Philippines, on over 1,500 hectares planted on of the country’s active volcanoes. They were intrigued by the yo-yos, and we chatted over coffee while we waited for Katsu’s friend in the bureau to expedite our paperwork.

Hiro got a call from Edmund, his friend, yo-yo mentor and Duncan Crew member. Together they revived Flipspin, the main Filipino yo-yo organization. We headed off to meet up with him. And got caught in 3 hours of rush hour traffic. But during that time I got to talk to Hiro and find out what he’s all about: his dedication to his family, work and employees was especially touching, and his desire to make a difference for both the local yo-yo community and the country reminded me of Hiro’s (my Hiro’s) criteria for what it takes to become a yo-yo master. At 22, he already has his own business, factory, and employees to take care of, not to mention his administrative duties at Flipspin. At 26, working for myself and with a family that takes care of itself, I couldn’t help but feel a bit selfish and unaccomplished in comparison. I offered to help Hiro out with Kitty String’s design; now that I know his story, I want to help him succeed, and the best way I can do that is to make sure that his company’s design matches the quality of his products.

We met up with Edmund and Ernest Kahn for dinner at another mall, then picked up Paul Murillo to get some coffee. We stayed there for hours, practicing and laughing and shooting the shit. We finally headed for home after midnight, and my head hit the pillow after 1am, satisfied with my decisions to extend my visa to see the competition, and looking forward to yoga with Troy in the morning.

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