This February, Barry, Erik Tonkin and I were invited to compete in Cyclocross Tokyo 2013. In short, it was one of the most memorable trips of my racing career. Never have I felt so appreciated as an athlete. I came away feeling like us Kona riders had accomplished more than just traveling to race our bikes. We had a chance visit with our Japanese distributors and visit several local dealers, talk with them about bike trends in Japan, what works, what doesn’t and shared many other ideas. I felt like a real Kona/cycling diplomat! It was a privilege to be included in this stellar event and see how things are done across the Pacific. Rather than a standard write-up, I attempted to make a manga-style comic of our experience…with a few regular photos for good measure. Photo credits thanks to CX TOKYO/Kei Tsuji Read the comic here.