Windsurf Round Japan: Restart after a long winter break - Jono Dunnett reports
SURF Redaktion
· 31.03.2025
What has happened so far:
The last update of my trip was in November 2024 from South Korea, where my friend Yumiko and I had a short stay to renew my residence permit for Japan. Fortunately, there were no problems upon re-entry, so I was initially granted another 90 days and later even 180 days at the local immigration office. In my naive pre-planning, I had assumed that the coast of the Sea of Japan would be friendlier than the Pacific coast during the winter months. In fact, the opposite is true. From December to February, surfing and sailing on the coast facing the Sea of Japan is practically impossible due to the weather coming from Siberia, which meteorologists refer to as the "snow cannon". The Pacific side, on the other hand, is dry and pleasant. This season, the west coast froze, while the east coast suffered from drought and forest fires.
Winter challenges
Yumiko and I tried to take advantage of a brief thaw in January and I managed to spend three days on the water. However, it was clear from the outset that it would only be a token attempt between snowfalls. We therefore spent most of the winter in Yumiko's flat on the outskirts of Tokyo. The problem was that my equipment had to fit in there, and Japanese flats are usually quite small. As a result, the board had to be loaded and unloaded through the window - the extra-long luggage straps proved extremely useful here. I took care of repairs to Yumiko's flat and equipment during the long winter period and Yumiko gave me an introduction to Japanese cuisine. We explored the local izakayas, which were a great discovery for me, reminiscent of tapas bars. We celebrated Christmas with roast chicken and strawberry cake - both of which are considered "traditional" in the modern sense in Japan.
Tokyo and grandma: contrasts of the Japanese winter
We visited Tokyo and met up with my friend Paul, whose house in Chiba had been the starting point for this trip. I took the opportunity to give him back the can of bear spray that he had lent me and for which I had paid at the Travelling around the Shiretoko Peninsula had been very grateful. We got sick and recovered. We considered skiing but decided against it as it seemed like a quick way to spend money and get injured. Occasionally we went to Yumiko's hometown of Oma on the northernmost tip of Honshu. Oma spends the winter in a blizzard and is the definition of desolation, but there is a good onsen, and Yumiko's fisherman relatives provided us with the finest maguro (tuna sushi) in all of Japan.
The actual restart
At the beginning of March, the weather forecast finally showed promising signs. Yumiko handed over her flat to a letting agency and gave them the keys. Then we loaded the board onto the car, stowed the barrel and tent in the boot and drove north-west to my previous "last landing point" north of Niigata. Since then, I've surfed for five days in a row and celebrated my 51st birthday - marked by hearing my old friend, the Uguisu bird, for the first time this year. As is almost always the case, there were a few intimidating obstacles to pass along the coast, such as harbours and power stations. Dolphins made short detours to say hello and the sea was friendly for the most part.
The nights are cool, but cosy in the tent with company. Yumiko's company makes life so much easier, far less lonely and frankly a lot more enjoyable. She will be with me until April before she starts a new job. After five days of windsurfing in a row, my arms and legs ache, my feet hurt and I've lost a hat, but my mood is excellent! I'm optimistic about what's to come!
Another stop after a change in the weather
As I write these lines, the weather has taken a tumble: Howling onshore winds, four metre high waves, rain and temperatures in the low single digits. No chance of surfing. That was to be expected. If winter was already a distant memory, it would have meant that I would have restarted too late. But we've already made up another 100 nautical miles - a good start because, as always, it's a marathon, not a sprint.
See you soon!
Your Jono
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