Most of you already know I’ve joined the Crocs craze, admittedly late.

I was one of those Crocs-bashers, who made fun — still do! — of people who think bright pink plastic clogs go with anything. (They don’t!)

Look who’s wearing Crocs these days!

Just spend some time in Waikiki — where a new retail shop opened recently on Kalakaua Avenue — and you’ll see just how far the trend has gone.

Japanese tourists can’t get enough of these colorful footwear, donning them with sun dresses and golf pants. It’s incredible!

Now, I don’t hate Crocs, not the way people do on the popular I Hate Crocs blog or writer Steve Tuttle does in his rant in Newsweek last week. I just think they’re the kind of footwear you need to consider twice before wearing.

You shouldn’t wear them to a job interview — unless you’re applying to be a deckhand on a sailboat. And you might want to avoid escalators. (Kids are getting these soft shoes caught in the escalator teeth and suffering injuries.)

It’s about one thing, as quoted in a hilarious video parody on YouTube: “I’ve given fashion the finger.”

Here’s the vid!

So if you’ve got ‘em, wear ‘em. Just know not everyone will appreciate your fashion choices.

When you think of tonkatsu, you visualize a Styrofoam container filled with greasy breaded pork, two scoops of white rice and a slab of mayo-laden mac salad.

And you wouldn’t be incorrect.

But tonkatsu, that golden breaded pork dish we’ve come to love, can be so much more.

Case in point: Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin, a Japanese restaurant in Waikiki dedicated to perfecting this dish.

Outside the restaurant on Beach Walk in Waikiki.

Inside the eatery on a recent weeknight. Notice how crowded it is! I recommend making reservations.

The parent restaurant has been in business for more than 80 years, refining this plate lunch staple into something worth splurging on.

And yes, you’ll splurge. A regular plate can cost upwards of $20.

According to materials provided by the restaurant, Ginza Bairin was the first tonkatsu restaurant in Ginza, and the first to offer the now popular bite-size katsu (or hitokuchi katsu) and tonkatsu sandwich.

The restaurant uses the best pork — the choicest loin — coats it in fresh bread crumbs (panko) and deep-fries it in premium cotton seed oil. The tonkatsu is then paired with its signature katsu sauce, a blend of spices, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Part of the katsu-eating experience is the sesame seeds. The waitress brought us a bowl of toasted sesame seeds to accompany the sauce.

Here are the toasted sesame seeds.

You have to grind the seeds yourself, to whatever consistency you like. But you don’t just grind it with that piece of wood. You have to use the rough sides of the bowl to ground down the seeds.

This is then added to the katsu sauce for an added flavor.

Before the grinding.

After the grinding. Strangely, it smelled like peanut buttter.

So here’s what we ate:

The restaurant doesn’t just serve tonkatsu. Here’s the shrimp katsu-don, two jumbo tiger shrimp and an egg over rice.

The healthiest person in our party ordered the sauteed ginger pork loin ($18) — even asked for brown rice! — with veggies and a cabbage salad.

The pork is so tender, it just melts.

Here’s a closeup of the cabbage salad. I thoroughly enjoyed the sesame-miso dressing.

This is the restaurant’s special pork tenderloin katsu-don ($18), which looked like a loco moco with tonkatsu.

Another popular dish is the skewered pork tenderloin, chicken and vegetable katsu ($13), which are basically shish kabobs of meat, veggies and potatoes. Really good if you just want to sample everything.

I ordered the restaurant’s popular pork tenderloin katsu ($23), which comes with miso soup, salad, veggies, rice and tea.

These pork medallions are outrageously good, so tender and packed with flavor I could hardly believe it.

Look at the panko coating! Perfectly golden!

If you want the typical tonkatsu, opt for the thick-cut pork loin ($23), which is sliced just like in a plate lunch.

Here’s a peak inside the thick-cut tonkatsu.

Yes, it’s pricey. And yes, it’s in Waikiki. But let me tell you, you will never be satisfied with lunch wagon tonkatsu again!

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin, 255 Beach Walk. Hours: Lunch, 11-2:30 Tuesdays-Fridays; dinner, 5-9:30 Tuesdays-Sundays; closed Mondays. Phone: 926-8082. www.pj-world.com/bairin.

***

Got a new job!

Just wanted you all to know that today is my first day at my new job.

Yes, NEW job. Again. But I can explain.

I’m now working at Kapi’olani Community College as a journalism instructor and adviser of the Kapi’o, the student newspaper.

It’s been a lifelong dream to teach — as most of my friends will attest — and this opportunity came up and I took it. I’ve been teaching for about eight years now, so this is a natural fit. And while I’ll miss the nonprofit world, this is much more in line with my interests and skill set.

So wish me luck on my new venture! Bring on the late nights of grading papers!

Yes, I was one of the roughly 200 people who had to get treatment yesterday for box jellyfish stings in Waikiki.

Not that I haven’t been stung before. Or that I didn’t know about the influx. But even ocean safety officials were surprised by the unusual amount of stinging critters along south shorelines yesterday.

This was taken about two hours after I had been stung.

This was today. Less painful, more itchy.

OK, here’s what happened:

I’ve been stung so many times by box jellyfish, I don’t tend to worry about the monthly influx. So, like other months, I paddled out on Saturday — no rashguard — to Queen’s.

We had noticed a bunch of jellyfish washed up on the shore outside the lagoon fronting lifeguard tower 2C. But none of us thought much of it.

By the time I had paddled out to the lineup, I had already gotten stung once on my right hand. About 15 minutes later, I got stung again on my leg. Then, as I was paddling back to the lineup after catching a wave, I stuck my left hand right into a box jellyfish and pulled it out of the water.

Wait. It gets better.

A set approached. I turned my board around to get ready to paddle for it and laid down right on a big box jellyfish. I was pulling it off my torso while riding the wave! It was insane!

It only took about a minute before I started to feel the extreme pain. My stomach muscles started to seize up. I could hardly move, I could barely tolerate sitting on my board. Luckily, an off-duty lifeguard spotted me and paddled over on a rescue board. He paddled me back to the beach, where I spent about an hour hunched over in pain. He sprayed vinegar on the sting to neutralize the toxins and gave me a bunch of heat packs to relieve the pain. The guys I surf with came in, one got some Benadryl, the other kept a towel over me to keep me warm. (I was shaking uncontrollably.)

I didn’t go to the ER, like dozens did yesterday. I just waited it out.

Lesson? Wear a rashguard. And be really nice to lifeguards.