Stoked and only slightly scarred: Surf’s up with Hot Sushi

He wears a single neon sleeve on his left leg, the same one where the shark sunk its teeth into him. 

Two summers ago, Tybee Island surf instructor Yamada Atsushi—better known by his sobriquet, Hot Sushi—made international news when an aquatic predator mistook him for a snack during a session near the south jetty. While he didn’t catch a glimpse of the attacker, researchers later posited that it was likely one of the juvenile bull sharks or blacktips that commonly roam just beyond the breakers. 

I’m dying to see the scar. 

I mean, I’m also hoping to catch up with this legendary local, who emigrated from Japan in the 1990s as a multidisciplinary athlete with prowess in skiing, soccer, and martial arts, adding surfing to his oeuvre as he traveled around the world. After stints in Guam and Hawaii, he and his family settled in Savannah in 2001, and in 2012 he launched Hot Sushi’s Happy Surf Camp Aloha amid Tybee’s placid waters. 

Known for his Level 10 alacrity and puttering ‘69 VW bus stacked with surfboards, Hot Sushi is a summertime staple at the south end of the beach. Each week of his camp is booked solid with kids ages 6-12 hopped up on the thrill of riding the waves, their grown-ups delighted to see them distanced from Roblox for a few hours. 

“Watching my guy excitedly get up every morning so he could go to surf camp has been so fulfilling; it's a lot a lot easier than waking him up for school, just sayin’,” remarks local musician and boy dad Joa Kelley as eight year-old Parker glides up to the shore, fist pumping. 

“Sushi’s a real spiritual guy; it’s not just surfing lessons he’s teaching. He’s getting kids to focus on the Zen around them.”

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