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