Slow times in Shizuoka
Japan has the equivalent of an Easter and Anzac Day public holiday double up every year. Essentially four public holidays very close to each other known as Golden Week. It’s normally a holiday bonanza with half the population making use of the time off to take off to far flung places. But this year, like last year, there was another state of emergency, and so most people just hung out. Played Nintendo?
Sans Nintendo, I bought a surfboard, rented a van for a week, and headed south-east to Shizuoka. It’s one of the closest prefectures to Tokyo, with a massive peninsula and then an additional few hundred kilometres of a protected east, and south facing, coastline.
The drive from central Tokyo is only about a hundred kilometres to the beginning of the peninsula (Izu), but it can take longer than 3 hours to get there. Toll ways are quicker, but they make the M5 and M7 in Aus seem like a good deal. When I initially picked up the van about 30 kilometres from my apartment, I drove back on a few toll segments to grab my gear. Was probably only 10 kilometres, but it ended up costing 2,300 yen or about 30 Aussie bucks. Ouch.
Driving across Japan on toll ways would easily cost many hundreds of dollars and would still be slower going than the average speed you’d achieve on Australia’s highways. Given that I wasn’t in any real rush, I mostly stuck with non-toll roads. A whole heap of 50 zones, one after the other. But, according to the guy I rented the van off, you can go 15, even 20 km/h above the signposted limit. Not sure why, but I was happy to oblige. Also, I don’t think there’s really any speed cameras. Cops pull you over if you’re engaging in Tokyo drift type antics, but I think because most people over here drive like Daisy, it’s a rare occurrence to have a brush with the law.
Anyway, from Tokyo to the Izu peninsula is basically like driving along a coastal Parramatta road. You never quite get to undeveloped, untouched coastline like you would in Aus. Along the way, there’s continuous small groupings of little villages, small farmland plots, or industrial infrastructure for 100s of kilometres. And I think that’s the case for most of Japan’s coastline. It’s only when you head inland that you’d experience the equivalent of an unpopulated ‘outback’, so to speak.
For the first night, I made it to a place called Jogasaki. There’s some really amazing coastline that is great for (crack) climbing. I had already sampled a few locations in recent months with a few people so I kind of knew the area a little. Picturesque, definitely, but no real surf breaks; just rugged, rocky coastline. For the second day though, I kept heading south down the Izu peninsula, which slowly starts to get less and less developed and is home to some pretty nice beaches.
The area south of Jogasaki is pretty amazing. Reminds me of Brazil, with super mountainous, lush green hills rising out of the ocean. Like much of Brazil, there’s built environment everywhere. But many of the houses and businesses are in disrepair or derelict. Some of the hotels in particular look like they would have been super luxurious about four decades ago. Now, most places just look a bit tired. There’s definitely a post-apocalyptic vibe too, with the extent to which the greenery overgrows everything. Don’t think there’s too many council workers with whipper snippers in Izu.
Anyway, near the southern tip of Izu is a place called Shirahama. Small surf off a point kept me occupied for multiple days. Good thing about the state of emergency was that there was nowhere near as many people as there would have been without the pandemic.
This trip was the first time I’d surfed since I left Aus, so the small surf was ideal for me to ease back in. I bought a 5’11” with a good amount of volume and it was pretty good for the small waves rolling off the point. After some pretty fun days in the surf, the swell had completely died, and so I decided to head up the peninsula and around to the far west side of Shizuoka, to a place called Omaezaki.
Initial impression was that it wasn’t as idyllic as Shirahama. The south facing strip of coast was a blown-out mess. A windsurfer’s delight. But protection around a prominent point meant there was some pretty surfable waves at a place called Susuki. But it was only really surfable because the south swell was so massive, with enough power to wrap into the (very) protected bay.
The coastline felt a lot more industrial near Omaezaki, with less of the mountainous, tropical vibe, but even so, the place kind of grew on me. The hinterland was mostly farm acre’age with what looked like tea crops. Almost like English heritage style hedges growing side by side by side. There were also some large sand dune areas, and quite a few large wind turbines and solar panel installations, so it’s not as if it was the industrial landscape of yore.
The piece de resistance though, was the massive nuclear power plant between the protected east facing bay and the wilder south facing coast. Nestled in the sand dunes, hopefully ready to withstand the next big tsunami. I’m definitely a fan of nuclear power, but being so close to one was a little unnerving. Anyway, Omaezaki was cool, but Shirahama was undoubtedly cooler. The absence of industrial what-have-you’s is hard to beat.
On one of the later days, I ended up surfing on one of the south facing beaches. It was hard work. Onshore, and a severe lack of paddle fitness meant that I basically used all of my energy just to try not to drown. Wasn’t even that big, but there were some pretty gnarly currents and rips to contend with.
Van life for a week was definitely a welcome change from Tokyo. I’ve definitely been suffering from COVID fatigue, and that’s even with getting out for climbing, riding, and now surfing trips most weekends. City living, when everyone is in limited interaction mode just kind of sucks. And while things like surfable waves seems so close on Google (only about 70 kilometres away), it takes freakin forever to get there. About 3 hours on the trains, and not much quicker if you rent a car. So yeah, what I’ve learnt is that living in one of the biggest megalopolises during a pandemic is less than ideal.
Anyway, hopefully Japan pulls their finger out and starts vaccinating in earnest. Maybe the impending Olympics will be the impetus they need? Can only hope. In any case, a few shots from the week away attached.
Sayonara.