The 2020 Olympic Games start with a highly-anticipated opening ceremony this Friday, and surfing is set to make its Olympic debut with the competition starting on Sunday, 7/25.
The surfing competition will be held at Tsurigasaki Beach located in the town of Ichinomiya on the southern end of Chiba’s Kujukuri coast, which is only about a 90 minute drive from Tokyo’s Olympic Village.
Pretty neat that a world-class surfing venue is within reach of the world’s largest metropolitan area.
Tsurigasaki Beach is a famous surf spot in Japan for it’s consistent high-quality waves, and for churning out world-class surfers.
Notables include Hiroto Ohhara, the first Japanese surfer to win a U.S. Open; Reo Inaba who is currently competing internationally; and Tenshi Iwami, the first Japanese national to win a US Championship in the U-10 class.
The beach is visited by 600,000 tourists annually, and has hosted numerous national and international competitions including numerous World Surf League events.
“The locals know this surf spot as “Shidashita” (pronounced shee-dah-shee-tah), which according to legend is a play on words using the name of a family who operated a beach house which sat above the beach some sixty years ago.”- Visit Chiba
Take a look at the video below of some great conditions at Tsurigasaki Beach. Let’s hope that mother-nature delivers for surfing’s big debut on the international stage!
