Welcome back for a new post dedicated to our series "Best Surf Spots in Japan", and today I am introducing you to Ichinomiya Beach. In this post you will find all the information you need if you want to surf in Japan and more specifically in Ichinomiya Beach. Let's get into it!
How to get to Ichinomiya Beach?
Like Shidashita Beach, getting to Ichinomiya Beach is pretty similar since they are just a few kilometers away from each other. You can get there either by train or by car. I would always recommend to go by car if you can as you will gain 30-45 minutes over the train commuting time, and of course the convenience to go and leave whenever you want. From Tokyo it will take you about 1h30 minutes by car if you use highways, or if you feel like driving through the rural Japan and take local roads (aka saving some money), it will take you about 2+hours or so.
Last time, I told you about Nippon Rent A Car which is one of the most available company for renting cars, but this time we actually went for the cheaper option. In Japan, you will actually find that a lot of gas stations offer car rental services as well, and usually at a much more competitive price than classic rental companies. For instance, with Nippon Rent A car, it would have been around 20,000 JPY (127 USD) total, but with the gas station (Cosmo), we paid a total of about 11,000 JPY (70 USD) back and forth, including gas and toll gates, so that is a pretty sweet deal. In addition with Nippon Rent A Car, you have to respect specific business hours to pick up the car and return it (usually from 8 am to 8 pm), whereas with gas stations they will actually count 1 day as 24 hours rental, which is great!
That day we rented the above magnificient 5 seaters, picked it up at 6:30 am and returned it back around 9 pm, which was so convenient! Especially given the fact that you can always expect traffic if you go on the weekends as everyone is driving back to Tokyo, and it will take you more like 2h30-3hours to drive back to the metropolis.
Alright, you made it to Ichinomiya, what's next?
Where to rent a surf board and a wetsuit?
In Ichinomiya, you have 2 options for surf rental and they are pretty close to each other, however they have a major difference. Let me tell you about it: The first rental shop is called Deep Surf:
This is a great shop with very kind people, and it is actually the closest to Ichinomiya Beach, only a 5 minutes walk so it is pretty convenient. The prices are also reasonnable. For 1 day, you can get a surfboard and the wetsuit for 6,000 JPY (38 USD), or you can go with just the surfboard in summer for 3,500 JPY (22 USD). However the only downside of this shop is that they will only give you foam boards. Of course it will do the job if you really want to surf and you have no options, but it is a bit disappointing if you are already an intermediate surfer.
This is why I'd also like to show you another surf rental shop that is a few minutes away from Deep Surf by walk. It is a good alternative as they have plenty of boards including longboards, fun boards and short boards, it is called Alohaground:
In this shop you will get access to much better equipments, however they are a bit expensive. You get a surfboard for 5,000 JPY (32 USD) but only for 4 hours, and add 1,000 JPY (6 USD) every hour of additonal usage. Plus the wetsuit for the whole day which is 3,000 JPY (20 USD). So for 4 hours you are already on 8,000 JPY (52 USD), and if you were planning to surf the entire day you will most likely be paying around 10,000-11,000 JPY (63-70 USD) total with additional hours, which is pretty expensive just for a rental.
So you basically have the choice to go for the budget option, but you get a foam board (which is totally fine for beginners), or go for the fancy equipments but pricey one, pick your poison :)
This is it, you are ready to go surfing!
What is it like to surf in Ichinomiya?
Surfing in Ichinomiya always give me a special feeling. Well first of all, this is one of the best surf spot in Chiba, and one of the closest from Tokyo, but I have to say that this spot is not really beginner friendly. Also I do not know if it is a coincidence or not, but everytime I go there, the weather is always kind of dark and gloomy, which can make it a bit intimidating for beginners. The waves usually breaks near this small pier made of rocks, and the current is always pretty strong, leading you towards the pier. On top of this you have chest to head high waves (4-6 ft) on normal days, and up to double or triple overhead (12-15 ft) on crazy days. The waves are usually quite big for a beginner, and they are pretty fast and steep, so I would only recommend for intermediate surfers and above. Definitely not a place for your first surfing sessions. You can expect to paddle a lot and pretty hard to fight the current and pass the break, but once you catch a wave in Ichinomiya, it is usually very rewarding.
As you can see on the picture, the spot can actually get a bit intimidating for beginners. The waves usually breaks near this small pier made of rocks, and the current is always pretty strong, leading you towards the pier. On top of this you have chest to head high waves (4-6 ft) on normal days, and up to double or triple overhead (12-15 ft) on crazy days. The waves are usually quite big for a beginner, and they are pretty fast and steep, so I would only recommend for intermediate surfers and above. Definitely not a place for your first surfing sessions. You can expect to paddle a lot and pretty hard to fight the current and pass the break, but once you catch a wave in Ichinomiya, it is usually very rewarding.
Lastly when it comes to the localism, I have not noticed any problems on this. The place is usually not really crowded which reduce the chance of bothering locals, and again as long as you are aware of common surf etiquettes such as priority, drop in, be friendly and respect others and of course apologize if you did something wrong. Other than that you are all good to go :)
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post about Ichinomiya Beach.
Stay tuned for more to come and in the meantime, feel free to check out my youtube video on this spot if you want to see more about Ichinomiya:
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