RIFF SUMMER CHALLENGE

Tsunami Struck

Surf music in Japan

The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusa on rawpixel, Public Domain.

Japan’s affinity with the sea means modern surf culture is as lively and lengthy as in California; however, Japanese folk were was using an itago to surf centuries before American soldiers came with their boards.

Japanese surf culture was born in Shōnan, which continues to be a quiet surf mecca south of Tokyo where I…