There was an abrupt change in plan today. The weather. Today was going to be fine and sunny right to the end of the day; tomorrow's forecast is rain.
With news during the week that my proposed paper was accepted for the surfing symposium on the Gold Coast next week, I decided to go and get some pics. I was going to do that on Sunday but with the weather forecast, today was as good as any.
The research itself is more about the history of surfing in Japan, but the paper will also look at how it came to be a demonstration sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I travelled to the east coast of Chiba today, to a town called Ichinomiya, self-proclaimed surfing town. The competition will be held along the coast here and today was just an exploratory trip. I'll be back for interviews and further investigation later this month.
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| The train station |
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| The road to the beach |
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| Here we are |
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| Into it |
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| The sand is...black |
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| Artificial groynes |
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| Sharing a wave |
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| Dodging the concrete |
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| A spray of his own |
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| Looking for an entry point |
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| Checking the swell |
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| Driftwood |
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| Shadows cast |
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| Cutting through |
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| Heading out |
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| The sand... |
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| Taken by surprise |
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| Seabirds a'leaping |
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| Surf town |
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| And the dolphin jumped over the moon (or something) |
In the end, it is about a 2-3 hour trip from Tokyo proper, a couple of different trains and a bit of a walk. For the record, I covered about 10km on foot over the course of the day. Next time, I'll take my bodyboard...there has to be some pleasure amidst all the work.
[Camera : Lumix TZ-85, 1.14pm, 4.33pm; Canon 60D, 24-105mm, 70-300mm, 2.36pm-3.27pm; 4 February 2017]
