Olympic Waves

With surfing set to make its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Club Members explain the allure of hanging ten in Japan’s great blue beyond.

Before American surfer Kelly Slater won 11 world titles, he qualified for the world tour in the early ’90s by twisting and turning his board atop the crumbling whitecaps off the coast of Chiba Prefecture.

“Most of my experience surfing in Japan has been weird little reefs and just not exceptional waves,” Slater said in a recent interview. “But I have surfed amazing waves here, and I have friends who get some best waves of their lives in Japan.”

Club Members who have ridden waves in some of the surfing world’s meccas concur. While Japan’s beaches are numerous and the surf scene is vibrant, geography and weather patterns prohibit parts of Japan from delivering the types of waves that surfers chase around the globe.

“The Kanto region is all beach break. There are no really great surf points that have a nice, long, 30-second curling ride,” says Member Dean Rogers, who has taken on 7-meter waves in Bali. “I like surfing in Japan, it’s just rare to have really good waves.”

Olympic organizers hope Chiba’s Pacific shores produce the goods when Slater, Hawaiian John John Florence and other top surfers descend on Tsurigasaki Beach in August 2020 for the Olympics’ inaugural surfing event.

“[Tsurigasaki Beach] is known as one of the highest quality, consistent beaches for surfing in the region,” says Fernando Aguerre, president of the International Surfing Association. “We are confident that during the window of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics there will be enough days of quality surf at Tsurigasaki to allow the world’s best to showcase their talent on a global stage.”

Ironically, Japan exports perfect A-frame waves. Cold air sweeping in from Siberia merges with low-pressure systems off Japan to develop tropical storms that eventually create majestic waves along Hawaii’s famous North Shore. Typhoons off the coast of Japan churn waves that break off Malibu, Rogers’ California hometown. As a youth, Rogers would ride those waves until his legs cramped.

During a six-month, round-the-world surf safari 20 years ago, Rogers traveled two and a half days to reach remote waters in Sri Lanka, and spent three weeks catching pristine curls off the coast of Indonesia.

Rogers, 43, has also surfed at Tsurigasaki Beach and has tested the waves at nearly every point between Chiba and Kyushu. Due to his size, Rogers says, he has difficulty staying upright on Japan’s 1-meter-high waves that lighter Japanese surfers are able to dart over.

His wife, Noriko, who took up surfing nearly 20 years ago, prefers the ease of Japan’s moderate waves, as well as the camaraderie of locals and post-surf lunches of fresh sashimi and clams.

“Shimoda is my favorite place,” says Noriko, 48, of the Izu Peninsula beach town. “The water is clean. It has beautiful, white sand like Hawaii. Just sitting on the board is peaceful and stress-free.”

The Rogers also favor Miyazaki in Kyushu, which, Dean says, offers more consistent waves during Japan’s typhoon season.

“When you hit a really good wave, and you get that perfect section and you drive through it, there’s just an incredible amount of joy,” he says. “It’s a new experience every time.”

Takayuki Maeji, 62, who began surfing off Kanagawa’s Shonan coast when he was a college student, says US-style surfing arrived in Japan in the 1960s. The country’s first surfing competition was held in 1966 at Kamogawa in Chiba.

“It’s a really cool sport,” says the Member, whose deep tan and crow’s-feet are evidence of his decades spent in the ocean. “Surfing is dynamic. The waves are always moving, and each one is different.”

Maeji, who became a sailing instructor after university, discovered windsurfing in the early 1980s. After performing well in a few competitions, he picked up sponsorship and moved to Hawaii, where he competed against top windsurfers like 11-time world champion Robby Naish.

These days, Maeji surfs regularly in Hawaii, where he owns a condo. He says he likes the sport’s low-impact nature, and it helps him maintain a strong core and upper body.

“Surfing is a lifelong sport,” says Maeji. “You play with nature, you let yourself go, you enjoy. And you scream sometimes.”

Maeji has windsurfed north of Ichinomiya, where Tsuragasaki Beach is located, but prefers Omaezaki Beach in Shizuoka Prefecture, where the strong winter winds whip up ideal conditions. To surf, he heads to Shichirigahama on the Shonan coast.

“[As a] surfing destination, [Japan] is not really popular. Skiing, yes, snowboarding, yes, but surfing, no,” says Maeji. “When you have typhoons, the waves get really big, but not beautiful.”

Noriko Rogers says she dived into surfing when the sport was booming in Japan, during the 1990s and early 2000s. The scene also saw the emergence of so-called oka surfers, bronzed young Japanese who dressed in expensive surfing apparel but who never actually caught a wave.

Today, there are an estimated 2 million surfers in Japan, nearly the same number as the United States. Maeji says the current generation of surfers are talented, though a Japan-based surfer has yet to qualify for surfing’s championship tour. Pros like Kanoa Igarashi, who will represent Japan at the Olympics, grew up overseas.

Club governor and water sports enthusiast Mike Benner, who owns a home overlooking the Pacific in Chiba, says surfing in Japan has evolved from a fad into a mainstream sport.

“The Japanese who do surfing now do it because they really love it,” says Benner. “Japanese have really stepped up within professional surfing. There are a few Japanese professional surfers who are bucking to hit that top level, going toe-to-toe with the likes of Kelly Slater and these others.”

Benner says surf culture has taken hold along Chiba’s coast, with foreign-owned shops and restaurants catering to surfers in the town of Onjuku. A new thoroughfare through Ichinomiya features a Patagonia surf shop alongside other international surf brands.

Member Koji Murofushi, sports director for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, says Tsurigasaki Beach has hosted several international surfing events and is home to a number of pros, including Hiroto Ohara, the first Japanese surfer to win the US Open.

“Ichinomiya is one of the most flourishing surfing towns in Japan,” says Murofushi.

Ichinomiya’s municipal government estimated the surfing industry earned the town, which draws around 600,000 visitors a year, more than ¥3.2 billion in revenue in 2015. Last year saw the town’s population grow by 4 percent to 12,400, which it also attributes to surfing.

“While many rural areas in Japan are struggling with aging populations,” says Member John Hamilton, “the surfing lifestyle is attracting young people who want to live and work close to where they surf.”

Hamilton learned to surf in San Diego and has hunted waves in Mexico, Australia and Indonesia. He has a place near Taito Beach, at the southern end of Ichinomiya, close to a variety of surf breaks and the local surfing community.

“There is definitely a lot of buzz over the Olympics,” he says. “While some of it may be just hype, it seems to be energizing the local community.”

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Jun 1–2

Words: Nick Narigon
Image: Billabong