A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Composed of four large islands and thousands of smaller islands, bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan and to the east by the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese chain extends for about 1,200 miles and features a tremendously diverse coastline. The northernmost island of Hokkaido has the smallest number of surfers, the coldest water (ranging from the high 40s to the high 50s), and is ridden primarily during summer, along the beaches and pointbreaks of the south and east coasts. 

Honshu is the largest and most-surfed island, with beachbreaks, rivermouths, and pointbreaks lining both the Pacific and Sea of Japan coasts. The domestic surf industry is also based on Honshu, along with the vast majority of Japanese surfers; Shonan (often called Japan's "surf city") and Chiba are the two most popular surfing areas in Japan; Malibu and Matsube, two of Japan's best reef breaks, are located directly in front of the coast highway at Katsuura Bay. The southwest coast of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's main islands, has some of the country's finest breaks, including Niyodo Rivermouth, near Kaifu, a right-breaking sand-bottom tube that has been compared to Hawaii's Backdoor. Kaifu Rivermouth and Monobe Rivermouth can also produce strong, beautifully shaped tubes. 

Kyushu, Japan's subtropical southernmost island, has the warmest water (from 62 to 72 degrees) and powerful, if inconsistent, surf along the west-and east-facing coasts. As of 2003, roughly 20 percent of the Japanese coastline remains more or less uncharted for surfing potential. 

Climate varies dramatically from island to island, with subfreezing winters in the north and long, hot, sultry summers in the south. Seasonal monsoons blow cold from the northwest in winter and warm from the southeast in summer. Japan's best surf usually hits during the August-to- October typhoon season, as an average of 10 to 20 storms track north over or around Japan, each creating a short-lived swell in either the Pacific Ocean, the East China Sea, or the Sea of Japan. Two to four-foot surf is fairly common; 15-foot waves have been ridden. For the rest of the year, Japan receives small and irregular ground swells along east-facing coasts from storms in the North and South Pacific, and short-period windswells along the west-facing coast. Long waveless periods are common. 

Traveling surfers have traditionally steered clear of Japan, as it's expensive and culturally challenging, with some areas insufferably crowded and others nearly impossible to access. Evidence suggests that Japanese fishermen were riding waves on small wooden bellyboards as early as the 12th century, but it's generally accepted that surfing was imported not long after World War II by Tokyo-stationed American servicemen. 

California surf filmmaker Bruce Brown visited Japan in 1963 while scouting locations for The Endless Summer; he found excellent waves, and a handful of native surfers. A few months later, California-born surfboard shaper Tak Kawahara, while traveling through Honshu, made further wave discoveries; on subsequent visits, Kawahara—sometimes called the Father of Japanese Surfing—organized surf lessons, taught several locals the fundamentals of surfboard shaping, and set up contacts to import surf equipment. The Nippon Surfing Association was founded in 1965, and that year brought the first All-Japan Surfing Championships. By the end of the '60s, a small but viable network of surf shops and clubs had been established in Shonan, an affluent (if surf-poor) beach town near Tokyo, as well as Chiba, a rural area located about 25 miles southeast of Tokyo. 

Five Japanese surfers entered Hawaii's prestigious Makaha International surf contest in 1969, and natives Hiromi "Doji" Isaka, Mikio Kawai, and Michio Degawa soon became big names on beaches in and around Tokyo. A Japanese surf boom in the late '70s and early '80s brought an export windfall to dozens of American and Australian surf companies, and created a startling version of surf consumerism, with huge fluorescent-lit Japanese surf shops carrying items such as surf cologne, presurf high-protein drinks, and pro-surfer-endorsed stationery. 

Japan became part of the world pro tour in 1979, hosting four of the season's 13 events (Australia staged three contests, Hawaii and South Africa had two each); through the '80s and '90s, there were one or two circuit events per season in Japan, usually in the Chiba area, most of them sponsored by the Marui department store chain. 

Winners of the Marui Pro over the years included world champions Wayne Bartholomew, Pam Burridge, Frieda Zamba, Tom Curren, Kim Mearig, Kelly Slater, Derek Ho, Damien Hardman, and Lisa Andersen. The 1990 World Amateur Surfing Championships were held at Niijima, a wave-attracting island located a few hours off the central Honshu mainland. 

In 2003, Japan was home to about 750,000 surfers, seven surfing magazines (including Surfing Life, Nalu, and Surfing World Japan), a number of smooth-running competitive surfing organizations (including the 1978-founded Japanese Professional Surfing Association), and roughly 900 surf shops (most of them surf-flavored boutiques). While the domestic surf scene has never lacked for enthusiasm, just a small number of Japanese surfers over the years—including Hiromishi Soeda, Shuji Kasuya, Satoshi Sekino, and Takoa Kuga—have drawn notice, and none has performed well at the international level. 

Asian Paradise (1984) was the first Japanese- produced surf movie; the Japanese surf is featured in The World Stormrider Guide (2001), as well as in more than 25 surf movies and videos, including The Wet Set (1990), Rad Movez (1992), Surf Food (1995), and Smooth'n Casual (2000).

Japan

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos