Sunrise Along the Kujūkuri Coast

Ichinomiya sits at the southern end of the Kujūkuri coast, a long stretch of Pacific shoreline east of Tokyo. It is best known as one of Kanto’s main surfing areas and as the location of surfing’s Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021.

Recently, I’ve been getting up early to catch the sunrise and explore the area by bike before the summer heat settles in. I grab my vintage LeMond road bike and head out into the humid morning air. It’s still early enough that you’re not sweating profusely within a few minutes of stepping outside, but you can already tell it’s going to be a hot one.

I start by following the Ichinomiya River towards the ocean. River crabs crawl across the teibō, a narrow road running along the raised riverbank, while a few elderly walkers get their morning steps in. Several surfers are already strapping boards onto their gentsuki—small 50cc scooters—even though the forecast says the waves will be fairly flat.

The sky turns orange with hints of purple, and the breeze becomes noticeably cooler as I get closer to the coast. Everything is lush at this time of year, although you can already sense that the landscape will become drier as the summer progresses.

I reach the shore near the kakō, or river mouth, where a handful of surfers are catching a few decent waves. After a quick surf check, I ride north along the coast towards some of the breaks I’ve discovered recently. Several fishermen have already parked their kei cars and small trucks along the shoreline and are casting out into the morning water.

Once I’ve checked a few of the local surf spots, I turn inland. Although Kujūkuri is relatively close to Tokyo, it still feels surprisingly remote. A friend who recently visited from Miyazaki even told me that my area felt more secluded than his.

There are new apartment buildings and hotels appearing in places, but it is still difficult to imagine this becoming a fully developed beach town anytime soon. That is part of its appeal. The coastline remains spread out and quiet, with small communities separated by farmland, rivers, and narrow local roads.

I weave through a mixture of gravel and paved lanes bordering rice fields and the occasional farmhouse. The cicadas are beginning to buzz, and frogs are croaking loudly from the irrigation channels. This is my favourite part of the loop. Surrounded by rice fields and greenery, the temperature seems to drop noticeably.

I don’t use GPS on these rides. Instead, I try to take roads I haven’t ridden before while keeping a general sense of the direction back to my house. Some lead to dead ends or become too rough for a road bike, but that is part of exploring the area.

Morning rides in Tokyo have their own appeal, but out here there are no taxis squeezing past or traffic lights constantly breaking up the rhythm. There are just quiet roads, rice fields, and the feeling that you can keep exploring without knowing exactly where each turn will lead.