july-2012

hot spot
political centre of Japan. While
most tourists come to marvel at
the towering big Buddha statue,
there’s also a lively surf scene with
a laid-back, Californian-style vibe.
The neighbouring Enoshima
beaches boast rolling swells,
long-boarders, beach bars and
summer-long parties with DJs and
sun-tanned Tokyoites dancing
to dub and house music in board
shorts and bikinis on the sand.
Even if you come unprepared,
Shonan has many surf rental
shops, as well as surf schools such
as Shonan Surfin School and Easy
Surf School for the uninitiated.
Veteran surfers like Ry Beville,
a Yokohama-based editor and
photographer, says that the best —
or for him, the only — time to surf
in Shonan is during a typhoon
or storm swell, when there are
overhead breaks and even tubes.
“The amateurs stay out of the
water then, and it’s good surfing,”
he tells me. “I sometimes go just
a town over, to Zushi, where the
break off the cape is nice, it tends
to be fairly empty.”
044
Take me TheRe
FuJi Rock FesTiVal
fujirockfestival.com
sonan suRFin school
shonan-surfinschool.jp
ukai ToRiyama
3426 minamiasakawa,
hachioji, Tokyo,
tel: +81 (042) 661 0739
yakuo-in Temple
2177 Takao-machi,
hachioji city, Tokyo,
tel: +81 (042) 661 1115
Jetstar has great low fares
to Tokyo. Visit Jetstar.com
to book.
LEFT/RIGHT: The
Niigata hillside
turns into a
village of tents;
the crowd is fun
and friendly
Rock 'til you dRop
If partying, rather than beaching, is your style, Fuji
Rock Festival (27–29 July) is the ultimate summer
festival, featuring over 200 musicians over a three-day
period and attracting over 100,000 people. This year’s
headliners are the acclaimed British bands Radiohead
and The Stone Roses, although the line-up typically
includes both international and Japanese acts.
The festival takes over a ski field in Niigata
prefecture, north of Tokyo. It’s here that the hillside
turns into a village of tents. However, this is no
Glastonbury — many of the tents on display are
high-tech affairs, decked out with mod-cons such as
portable kitchens. There are over 10 stages, as well as
side attractions such as teepees for drummers, and
the festival is surprisingly family-friendly — a kid’s
area has rides for the young ones.
Niigata prefecture is also rich with its own local
festivals such as the Gion Kashiwazaki festival, from
24–26 July, where you can enjoy folk dancing and a
fireworks display. This year is also the 25th anniversary
of the Earth Celebration, an explosive three-day kodo
taiko drum festival held from 17–19 July on the island
of Sado, 50km north of Niigata. While the Echigo-
Tsumari Triennial is a highly regarded art fair which
starts on 29 July and runs for 51 days. Hundreds of
artworks and installations from local and international
artists are exhibited across 200 villages.
fuji rock festival: TokyoFashion.com