Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Buying a home in Japan sounds like a fantasy until you meet the people who actually make it happen.
YukiHomes Presents is a show about Japan... its houses, its regions, and what it really takes for a foreigner to own a piece of it. From the snow country of Hokkaido and Nagano to the cities, coasts, and small towns in between, it's a look at the country through the eyes of the people who help others put down a stake in it.
Every episode goes deep on one thing. Sometimes that's property: what an akiya is and why old Japanese houses sell for the price of a used car, how a foreigner actually buys and renovates a home, which regions are worth it and which are hype. Sometimes it's everything around the houses: the food, the seasons, the onsen towns and ski hills, the design and craft, the culture, and the parts of doing this that are harder than anyone admits.
Hosted by Nick and Derek, co-founders of YukiHomes, and Grant (YukiHomes PR & Media Lead). Along the way you'll meet the builders, guides, shop owners, and buyers who know this country better than any guidebook.
No top-10 travel lists. Just honest conversations about Japan, and what it takes to own a piece of it.
New episodes every other week.
www.yukihomes.com
www.nipponhomes.com
Derek (00:00)
of the first videos we ever had go viral was about this river wave
Derek (00:03)
in that one island in
Derek (00:05)
Japan that is one of the main islands that's like really uninhabited and this was a remote wave.
Derek (00:10)
and Kelly Slater commented on it and
Derek (00:12)
wrote something and kinda was talking shit about blowing a spot up,
Nick (00:24)
Hey, welcome to the Yuki Homes Presents podcast. Today we're going to go through can you really surf and ski in the same day in Japan? Is there property to buy or locations to buy in where this actually works? a lot of you have probably heard of Sendai, a lot of you have probably heard of Miyazaki, Fukuoka. Let's see where the best places to be are, if there are any. And let's talk about if the waves are even good in some of these places that you can surf.
Nick (00:50)
and if the snow is even good in some of the places that you can ski. So all right, Derek, let's start with just a just the major question everybody's curious about. Can you actually surf and ski in the same day in Japan, or is this a total gimmick?
Derek (01:04)
No, you definitely could. You could surf and ski in the place we own our house, but you're just gonna need like a five-four and you're gonna be freezing. But it's definitely doable.
Nick (01:11)
Boots, gloves, hood.
Derek (01:12)
And then you can even go the opposite way. All the way in southern Japan, the most southern place on the main islands of Japan, Miyazaki actually has a ski resort. So you could technically ski and surf down there in the same day. You probably could wear bordies.
Nick (01:25)
Okay,
Nick (01:26)
let's meet somewhere in the middle though, because you're telling me in Miyazaki there's a ski hill, but it is a hill,
Derek (01:31)
Yeah.
Nick (01:32)
right?
Derek (01:32)
Yeah, yeah. Not much no. It would
Nick (01:35)
Like
Derek (01:35)
not be fun.
Nick (01:35)
is do you know how
Nick (01:36)
many lifts there are and like how much snow does it really get on the best day?
Derek (01:40)
Yeah, I don't know off the top of my head, but I think a fair comparison would be the ski resorts in North Carolina for any of you guys familiar with that. It's probab
Nick (01:48)
Like Beach Mountain.
Derek (01:50)
Beach Mountain, yeah, it's probably all or mostly artificial snow. I mean the elevation's decent, but it's not getting much snow. no one who listens to this podcast would probably have fun. It'd be fun for a kid.
Nick (02:02)
You can see the top from the bottom. It's fun for a kid. Yeah, right. Okay. And then let's talk about the surf in Hokkaido. Like how many people even own a five four boots, gloves, and a hood and want to do that more than maybe once just to experience the freezing cold water?
Derek (02:17)
Yeah, I mean it's definitely not consistent. It's all winter surf. The summer's flat. So and obviously you're not gonna be skiing in the summer anyway. But there's actually a pretty solid crew of people that go out. And there's been days one of our clients, Joe, sent us a photo when he was there last winter and it was like head high offshore barreling. So it can get sick.
Nick (02:37)
Yeah, no, it it gets
Nick (02:38)
world class. I just I just want to be realistic and I'm kind of being the pessimist in the in this conversation. Yeah. It's
Derek (02:42)
It's definitely rare. Yeah. I mean all
Derek (02:45)
winter did we see one decent swell. Like we were there for forty days. We didn't see a single decent swell.
Nick (02:48)
No. We probably checked
Nick (02:51)
it fifteen of the forty days, but I mean, we were looking at different forecasts and like models and yeah, we didn't really see a whole lot. one of the reasons why I left Maryland because I I surfed one day, it was thirty nine degree water, there was like two inches of snow on the ground on the beach, and I was just over it.
Nick (03:09)
that point
Derek (03:10)
Yeah.
Nick (03:10)
and you know like your mustache and snot are frozen to your face it's just not
Derek (03:15)
Yeah.
Nick (03:16)
not perfect it was eight degrees outside too where else generally in the world where can you do this? I mean I'm in San Diego it's possible where else in the
Derek (03:24)
Yeah.
Nick (03:25)
world can you do it?
Derek (03:26)
I mean you could technically do it in New York. You could go ski count you could go ski Mountain Creek and surf in Jersey or Long Beach, but again, Mountain Creek is probably
Nick (03:34)
How far is Mountain Creek from the beach?
Derek (03:37)
like forty, fifty minutes from where Grant lives, and from me it's probably two hours. So it
Nick (03:42)
Okay. So in
Nick (03:43)
two hours you can surf and you can see. See, like this is kinda where I'm getting though. Like I feel like you can get pretty good waves in Long Beach and I've skied Mountain Creek and it's not terrible. I mean it's not great, but I've gotten okay snow there. So like it's almost like a middle ground. I was a kid, I was like fourteen.
Derek (03:57)
Yeah, I mean you were probably a kid, right? Yeah.
Derek (04:01)
Yeah, it's just gotten worse and worse every year, for sure. it's good I mean, and you were a kid too. You were probably like interested in the park, 'cause that's really what it is. It's
Nick (04:04)
really? We did some night skiing there too. Like on Groomers. Yeah.
Derek (04:11)
like a park mountain.
Nick (04:11)
Okay. So if you like the park. But that's kind of where I'm getting. I'm almost thinking a better place to ski and surf is kind of like somewhere in the middle. I mean, Sendai's
Derek (04:22)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (04:23)
pretty far up there, but that's a place where I've never been, so I can't really speak to how consistent it is.
Nick (04:29)
But I have seen a lot of videos and I've seen a lot of photos. The waves are really
Derek (04:32)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (04:33)
good. And then I know the skiing's pretty good. So it's almost a middle ground. There's less, general opportunity in terms of like ROI and getting there is not super easy. There is a Shinkansen that goes pretty pretty darn close to it. But if you have a car up there, I think you could ski and surf forty five minutes and that's pretty easy.
Derek (04:53)
Yeah. And then also I guess
Nick (04:54)
Like that whole general area.
Derek (04:55)
think other spots too is the Pacific side of Hokkaido, like where we wanted to go serve Muroran. But then we talked to Mon and he
Nick (05:01)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Derek (05:03)
said don't go there.
Nick (05:04)
Yeah, why did he say not to go there?
Derek (05:05)
He said it was so localized that they'll just fuck your car up. So he said he won't even surf there and he's Japanese from Sapporo. So yeah.
Nick (05:09)
Yeah, I know. I wonder if that's true. He's I know. He grew up skiing to school.
Derek (05:18)
So it's the surf there is is good. It's more consistent. It's Pacific side. And you're like the problem is you're like an hour and a half from Niseko or Rasutsu. So you're not it's very doable, but you're not
Nick (05:29)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (05:29)
right in it. I guess that's the problem.
Nick (05:31)
Yeah. How far would you be from
Nick (05:32)
Lake Toya if if
Derek (05:34)
You're really close to Lake Toya. You're just on the other side of it.
Nick (05:36)
So there is
Nick (05:37)
so there's snow. I mean you can
Derek (05:39)
Yeah.
Nick (05:39)
you can ski there, but where I'm trying to go is like I don't really think that you can get world-class surf and world class skiing other than maybe one to four days a year at most of the places that we're talking.
Derek (05:50)
Yeah, that's the problem. Like all the good snow is on the Sea of Japan side and then all the good
Nick (05:54)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (05:54)
surf is on the Pacific side. So you're gonna choose
Nick (05:57)
Yeah.
Derek (05:57)
one.
Nick (05:58)
I'm trying to compare maybe like Tahoe area, you could get to San Fran or Santa Cruz. And like those are two pretty epic places, both for surfing
Derek (06:09)
Yeah.
Nick (06:09)
and for snowboarding. But again, like the amount of gear you need is a lot. Like
Derek (06:14)
How far
Derek (06:14)
is Taho to like the coast? Three hours?
Nick (06:17)
I think
Nick (06:17)
you could yeah, like two and a half, three hours. I think you could get to the lake. Yeah, just like crazy wind. Yeah, like like the Great Lakes.
Derek (06:19)
You could surf Tahoe too, I've seen videos. Of people surfing southern Lake Tahoe. Just shit. Yeah. Yeah.
Nick (06:30)
Have you ever done it? I'm just gonna I wanna ask you because I don't even know. You never surfed in s
Derek (06:32)
No. I don't think we have I've never surfed
Derek (06:35)
and snowboard in the same day. Have you?
Nick (06:37)
Okay. I did one time.
Nick (06:39)
Yeah, I I surfed in the morning here and I went up to Big Bear like Lake Arrowhead and I did one run and
Derek (06:44)
Mm. Is
Derek (06:45)
that when you hiked up and Dom ditched you?
Nick (06:47)
No, no. I hiked up Palm Springs, the like aerial tramway. That's like three hours away from where I'm at. Big Bear's like an hour forty. But that day I might have surfed in the afternoon, but I doubt it because I was gassed when I came down. Like I I was kinda unprepared, like more unprepared than I really thought. But I think it was more like elevation sickness, because I went from sea level to eleven thousand feet by
Derek (07:13)
Yeah.
Nick (07:14)
I think I left my house at like four thirty in the morning and I was up at the top at like nine thirty. I did not feel good, dude. Like I felt
Derek (07:21)
For sure.
Nick (07:22)
shitty. And I got to the bottom and like then you still have to hike out because you kinda hike in on flat land and then you hike up. And then I did
Derek (07:29)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (07:29)
I just did one run. I planned on doing two or three, but I just did one run. It was kind of sick. It was like six inches of like super fresh snow and like a twelve inch base underneath. it was cool to be up there, but I
Nick (07:40)
Don't think I would do it again unless I was a lot more prepared. Or maybe I'd sleep up in Palm Springs so that I'm at least at like five or six thousand feet. But yeah, dude, the elevation got me pretty bad.
Derek (07:48)
Yeah. That's yeah, I mean, dude, zero
Derek (07:52)
basically zero to f eleven thousand in a day is crazy.
Nick (07:55)
in like five hours, my stomach
Derek (07:57)
Yeah.
Nick (07:57)
was like inflated, my head was just you know, like in the back of your head when you can feel like your heart beating. Yeah, it sucked.
Derek (08:04)
Yeah, yeah. When we did
Derek (08:06)
our avalanche course in Mammoth, we kinda did that. But we did sleep the night before. But I was still
Nick (08:09)
Yeah. Yeah.
Derek (08:11)
gas that whole like I felt my resting heart rate.
Nick (08:14)
Just your cardio.
Derek (08:15)
Yeah, my resting heart rate when I was like going to bed was still like high sixties. Which was
Nick (08:20)
Yeah, no I remember that.
Derek (08:21)
yeah.
Nick (08:22)
Just running to find the beacon. I was
Derek (08:24)
Yeah.
Nick (08:24)
like, dude, I should not be this tired. That's funny.
Derek (08:26)
Yeah. That's what makes Japan sick though,
Derek (08:30)
honestly, is no elev I mean, there is elevation in certain places for sure, but where we are everything is low elevation, which is nice.
Nick (08:36)
Yeah, like
Nick (08:36)
four thousand feet max. You really don't feel it.
Derek (08:38)
But there is one
Derek (08:39)
place that I remember when I was like looking at surf and ski in Japan. Hachinohe is like this small town in Aomori Prefecture, I think it is. It might be on the border of another one. So it's North Main Island, Japan. And you can get to some serious ski resorts like the Hakoda Rope Way, which is really good and super snowy.
Derek (09:02)
in like an hour and a half and you're right on the coast and that's the Pacific side. I've never surfed there, never even been there, so I don't know how consistent the surf is. I'm assuming it's as consistent as the rest of the Pacific coast of Japan, but it's I don't know.
Nick (09:15)
Yeah, I mean it could be.
Nick (09:16)
So I mean, this episode's probably gonna drop right when we're going to Japan for surf. So September
Derek (09:23)
Yeah.
Nick (09:24)
like sixth through ninth, we'll get there. And we're gonna be in Miyazaki and a couple different spots in like the southeast of Japan. So, you know, hopefully we're gonna have a bunch more kind of information for everybody and try to figure it out. But speaking of Miyazaki, like where else is the surf good?
Nick (09:41)
in Japan. Like if you're gonna go to Japan, let's just say people are planning a surf trip, what are some places they should look for? And and when, I guess, in the time of year.
Derek (09:49)
Yeah, I mean definitely fall tsunami s I mean not tsunami, typhoon season, tsunami season. So de definitely don't go then.
Nick (09:54)
Typhoon season. Yeah. So like September, October, November.
Derek (10:01)
Yeah. Yeah, s it's the same as East Coast. same season as East Coast. And yeah, Chiba is like the go to, I guess, 'cause just convenience. You fli most people flying to Tokyo or even Hanita or even easier, Narita's in Chiba. And that whole coast
Derek (10:17)
is definitely the most famous surfing in Japan for sure. And yeah.
Nick (10:20)
Yeah, so there's a big bay and then south
Nick (10:23)
of that, is Izu still technically Chiba?
Derek (10:25)
No, Izu is Shizuoka. And I went to Izu in the fall and it was flat. I think you know, it's Japan, it's inconsistent. Like this isn't a place that's like soup it's not California. It's maybe more consistent
Nick (10:37)
It's not indo.
Derek (10:38)
than the east coast of the US. I don't even know. That's like a good question. I wonder
Nick (10:43)
Yeah, that's
Nick (10:44)
something that we're trying to figure out, right?
Derek (10:46)
Yeah. but when I was there it was flat.
Nick (10:46)
You can surf though,
Nick (10:48)
pretty close to Tokyo. where did we just
Derek (10:49)
Yeah, for sure.
Nick (10:51)
go? And it was forty minute train ride.
Derek (10:53)
Kanazawa.
Nick (10:54)
Kanazawa?
Derek (10:55)
Yes.
Nick (10:56)
Why why is I I wanted to say that too and I thought it was wrong, but no, I think that is right.
Derek (11:01)
Yeah, it was Kanaza I mean, so many of the names are similar of the places. I always get Kazawa and the other spot where
Nick (11:04)
Yeah. Yeah, so Kanagawa.
Derek (11:09)
s where Steve where Steve Jobs or like Bill Gates have a house. I always get those two places confused. Co
Nick (11:16)
Karui's hour.
Derek (11:17)
yeah, exactly, yeah.
Nick (11:18)
Yeah, they are very similar. But no, it was cool.
Derek (11:20)
No, you're right,
Derek (11:20)
I was wrong, not Kanazawa. Kanazawa is the mini the mini Kyoto, very like traditional place. It's Kamakura. Yeah.
Nick (11:27)
Right. Okay. Kamakura. Geez, yeah, that's
Nick (11:31)
what it was. Kamakura's really cool. It's very beachy, forty minutes
Derek (11:34)
Yeah.
Nick (11:35)
from Tokyo. It's definitely touristy. And when we were there, they're building like beach club looking shacks all over the beach. It was just like straight up construction while we were there. But there was like waste the stomach high waves and we got there in the afternoon, so there was a lot of wind on it, but it looked like it could have been fun, especially like mid length, longboard.
Derek (11:53)
Yeah.
Derek (11:54)
There's a lot of people out too.
Nick (11:54)
And there's a couple little points.
Nick (11:56)
Yeah, it was crowded. There's a couple little points too. There was that left point like near that hike we did. I don't know the names
Derek (12:01)
Yeah.
Nick (12:02)
of them, but yeah, I don't know. Worth it if you're a surfer and you're in Tokyo to like at least do a little bit of exploration. Even if you don't have a board, it's fun to ch check waves and stuff like that.
Derek (12:12)
the two places I guess strictly surfing we're most excited about is Miyazaki. And then if we have time, we're gonna fly up to Sendai. And Sendai Shinko is that like beach break that is famous in Japan, pretty consistent. people say it's like pretty localized.
Nick (12:27)
Heavier, more
Nick (12:29)
experienced surfers don't go
Derek (12:31)
Yeah.
Nick (12:31)
there to learn. It can be it barrels pretty heavy. There's some videos on it, I think,
Derek (12:36)
Yeah. Dylan Graves.
Nick (12:36)
Yeah, there's
Nick (12:37)
Dylan Graves and trying to think of the jujitsu guy, his son, Joel Tudor, his son, Tosh. He's in a pretty
Derek (12:44)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (12:45)
cool video there. but yeah, and then something kind of interesting like Japan's coast, how basically Chiba and South is facing southeast. So that's more like
Nick (12:55)
Typhoon season and they come from the south. And then like October, November is when there start to be some of those Arctic swells that are gonna hit the north part of Chiba and Sendai and stuff like that. So we're gonna be there around that time, just kind of keeping our eye on it. But, you know, it's
Derek (13:09)
So that would be like
Derek (13:10)
the equivalent of like a nor'easter, kind of, right?
Nick (13:13)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nick (13:14)
I mean I would say a nor'easter's also similar to a typhoon.
Derek (13:19)
Well, north and nor easter's front is probably more akin to like the Arctic swell, no?
Nick (13:24)
is a nor'easter specifically from the north? Is that why?
Derek (13:26)
I'm pretty sure nor'easters
Derek (13:28)
Yeah, I mean it's a large weather system that happens between September and April. So it's like a winter storm, cold, dry air from Canada.
Derek (13:35)
not the same, but yeah. Similar. Yeah, yeah.
Nick (13:37)
Similar. They probably spin different directions.
Nick (13:42)
what about the surf culture? you live in New York, I live in California. There's slightly different like surf cultures there. I would say I personally like the East Coast surf culture. Like people who surf are involved, people who don't are kind of not. Whereas like in California it's very everyone is a part of the surf culture. And like if you move here, you buy a surfboard and a skateboard and like start to hang loose and
Derek (14:04)
Yeah.
Nick (14:05)
Maybe
Nick (14:05)
I'm talking a little bit of shit, but it's just there's a lot of crowds. but in Japan it almost seems like the surf culture is really like kind of on its own, like fringe. what do you think?
Derek (14:14)
Yeah, everyone we've spoken to talks about how localized it is. I mean, we posted that video one
Derek (14:19)
of the first videos we ever had go viral was about this river wave in that one island in Japan that is one of the main islands that's like really uninhabited and this was a remote wave. and Kelly Slater commented on it and wrote something and kinda was talking shit about blowing a spot up,
Derek (14:36)
but it was on this spot is on surfline.
Derek (14:38)
And
Derek (14:38)
there's videos about it everywhere, and everyone knows about it. But he DM'd us. I DM'd him, and then he was actually responding and he was being pretty cool. And he was saying that Japan is super localized and that he got chased out of that wave. Or his friends. Yeah,
Nick (14:51)
Not him. Well it maybe was him, but he said my
Derek (14:54)
he knows someone who got chased out of that wave. His message was like: all the people who surf there are fishermen. And you know what fishermen are, they're all yakuza. And
Derek (15:03)
He's like, they are notoriously loc they're notoriously aggressive. And he knows someone who got chased off the beach with a samurai sword. So he's like, just be careful going there. So he was actually
Nick (15:13)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (15:14)
kind of being nice in the DMs, which was cool. But I mean, we've heard that sentiment from Mon, like our friend who runs a coffee shop in Sapporo. We were like, we want to go check out Mu Roran, which is about forty minutes south of Nuchitos Airport, Nich Nuchetose Airport. And it's a pretty famous
Derek (15:31)
Hokkaido surf spot and it's easy to get to. So we're like, let's go check it out. And he's like, do not go there. He's like, I'm from Sapporo. I can't even go surf there. And I'm like, all right, I guess we're not going there. But we were thinking
Nick (15:39)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Derek (15:42)
maybe we'll go and like hang out for a couple of days and like watch and chill and like see if get a feel of the vibe.
Nick (15:47)
Yeah.
Nick (15:48)
I would imagine it's probably similar to Hawaii. Like the real, I guess, classic rule is you're supposed to go, sit for at least 30 minutes, watch it. I mean, part of this I think a lot of localism is around people going that shouldn't be there or people going that are unsafe there. And when one person's unsafe in the water, everybody is kind of unsafe in the water. And
Derek (16:10)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (16:10)
The last thing you want to do when you're surfing big swell is like save someone. And it's it happens like all the time in San Diego. Like it's not good. part of the reason that you're supposed to go show up, show respect, watch the waves for 30 minutes, and then hopefully some people come in and then you can kind of go out. And that's that has always been like the standard rule. I remember like I was getting surfer surfing magazines when I was a kid and like
Nick (16:35)
There's a surfing rule book. A lot of it was like sarcastic humor, but some of it's legit. if somebody doesn't make a wave two times in a row, you can snake them the rest of the session. So, silly little things like that. But also, they did teach you, okay, show up. If it's a localized break, like don't get in anyone's way, make sure you're parked the right way, certain way, watch where people paddle out, watch where people paddle in. And like, if you shouldn't be out there, like just know your limits. And
Derek (17:01)
Yeah.
Nick (17:02)
that.
Nick (17:03)
I think goes a really, really long way. And, you know, I've I'm guilty of like being the dick local at my hometown surf spots. People from Delaware come down, whatever. if they show up and they're respectful, it it goes a completely different direction. Whereas if you
Derek (17:17)
Yeah.
Nick (17:18)
just show up, hop in the water and like sit where you're maybe not supposed to be sitting, whatever, then it's a problem. I think the
Derek (17:24)
Yeah.
Nick (17:24)
spot you're talking about was Airoshima, right? Or it's like right outside
Derek (17:26)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nick (17:27)
of Ayoshima.
Nick (17:28)
Yeah.
Derek (17:29)
Yeah.
Nick (17:30)
So yeah, I mean, I think there's a ton of exploration to do. It's very interesting to me that I mean, Australians, US, everybody really is constantly posting photos and videos of their surfing or their sport really in general. And maybe it's a Japanese thing to stay quiet. Maybe I just don't see it because I'm not in like the Japanese algorithms. But it seems like there's a lot less footage.
Nick (17:55)
of a lot of these spots and I personally don't think it's because of a lack of swell or a lack of like quality waves. So that's kind of this page that I wanna turn and I'm not really sure.
Derek (18:07)
Yeah, it's it's crazy. We're always trying to look up videos and there's just like a handful of videos we continually watch over and over. Those are the only ones we could find. And I mean, it's gotta be on par with East Coast surfing and like consistency wise, probably. I mean, that's a safe, somewhat safe assumption. It could be wrong,
Nick (18:25)
Mm-hmm.
Derek (18:25)
but there is millions and millions of videos of people surfing on the East Coast everywhere. There's one swell and you're getting a million videos from that one swell.
Derek (18:34)
I always hear stories from people. There's this like guy that everyone knows in Long Beach that is he does jujitsu. He used to train at the gym I trained at, and everyone said he was like a savage back in the day and would just fuck people up for no reason. Like he was
Nick (18:50)
Like a local
Nick (18:51)
surfer.
Derek (18:51)
Yeah, and he was kind of like you could see him to this like he's he's older now, so he's like calmed down, but you could still see like he can pop off. He's definitely a little unstable. But I mean nowadays
Nick (19:00)
Huh.
Derek (19:01)
like there's really not much of that in Long Beach. Like not that I see ever.
Nick (19:05)
No,
Nick (19:06)
I mean, same thing happened here. There was like, I forget the name of the gang, but it was like a Bird Rock gang, which Bird Rock, if you know it, is like one of the most luxury
Derek (19:13)
Super rich, dude. Yeah.
Nick (19:15)
areas ever. But they did beat someone up and like the person ended up dying. This is like 20 years ago now, but that was kind of the end of like pretty gnarly surf culture. There's still and this is an even richer part of town. It's up in like Santa Barbara area. I forget the exact name, but it's a private neighborhood.
Nick (19:34)
And basically like you buy in that neighborhood if you're rich and want to surf, it's a right point, I believe, for the most part. And if you show up there, they were they're throwing rocks at you from the cliff like pretty crazy.
Nick (19:47)
I've never surfed there, but I've
Derek (19:48)
Yeah.
Nick (19:49)
heard it still happens. And that's just like, I don't know, man. You gotta figure out your life if you're threatening to kill someone over surfing a spot, in my opinion.
Nick (19:58)
There's some
Derek (19:58)
Yeah.
Nick (19:59)
old heads kinda like that though everywhere and you just kinda make your way around
Derek (20:03)
The tough thing with Japan, you know, when you were saying if we go to that surf spot in Hokkaido and we hung out, we waited for someone to come out, we chatted up, we can't chat up. The most we can say is like, I
Nick (20:13)
No, I know. Gotta get better at Japanese.
Derek (20:15)
know, that's the problem. Like it's hard because that would, I'm sure, go such a long way
Nick (20:20)
So somebody wanted to do like the surf and ski at the same time, or even
Derek (20:25)
Yeah.
Nick (20:25)
just a surf trip. Should Yuki Homes like build a trip around this or build trips around this? And maybe we can look for like a surf tourism type of trip if people are interested in that.
Derek (20:35)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I guess from a house perspective, what I try and tell people usually, because this is a common DM we get, is buy for the snow, because Japan is world-class like snowboarding in Japan is world class in a lot of places, at least from a snow perspective. Obviously there's steeper places, but buy for the snow. And if you're in a place that gets surfed, like that's a bonus. But from everything we can find, right, Japan isn't.
Derek (21:01)
world class consistent surf. So, you know, buy for the snow, buy in a place like Otaru. Cause you could still drive to the Pacific side of Hokkaido in a day. It's not even that bad. If you wanted to drive to these other spots that we've been talking about that are localized, we'll find out. But you could drive there in a day. The other places, like obviously Miyazaki, the snow is not good. Central Japan, even like Sendai, you have resorts that are driving distance, but they're still not the best resort. So
Derek (21:29)
That's what I y tell people usually.
Nick (21:31)
Yeah. I mean, I think people who want to live a Japanese lifestyle though and they like surfing, there's plenty of options.
Derek (21:36)
Yeah.
Nick (21:37)
I think the cheapest homes are not going to be on the coast where there's waves because people want to live on the water, even if they don't surf. So you're not getting like these crazy, crazy deals like we're seeing in some of different parts of Western Hokkaido. but there's definitely akias and cheaper homes available.
Derek (21:53)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (21:54)
And one place that we really didn't touch on, but it gets a lot of like surfing hype is Okinawa. There's some cool point breaks and the water's blue, a lot of reefs, but it's so tide dependent and it's like it's just not as consistent as I think some of these videos and photos make it seem. I mean, a lot of military's there, a lot of Americans. So when there is waves, you're getting inundated with US photography, I think.
Nick (22:19)
and it's a cool place,
Derek (22:20)
Yeah.
Nick (22:21)
but it is not cheap at all. you know, there's people investing
Derek (22:23)
No.
Nick (22:24)
in property there for the last twenty years. It is cool though. You can get like a guaranteed rental from the US government because they're paying for some of the military's housing and stuff.
Nick (22:34)
it's definitely not a place where you're getting in at like early. it's exposed and
Nick (22:39)
Yeah, it's a cool place, but I don't really think it's for me. It's not super Japanese.
Derek (22:43)
Yeah. another quick place we didn't touch, which is super interesting, is the whole stretch of beach that was affected by the Fukushima disaster, the nuclear reactor disaster. So those stretch of beaches, it's south of Sendai and north of Chiba, and there's like a big stretch of affected water. And the Japanese government has been testing this water regularly and most of it, besides like this small section right where Fukushima
Derek (23:07)
reactor spilled because of like the river, is like safe to swim in. And this happened in two thousand eleven. So there's like no footage of any of this 'cause twenty eleven is not that long ago, but in general there's barely any footage of Japan. And then you add this on where like no one surfed there for over a decade. And it's really interesting. Like there's such cheap houses. Yeah.
Nick (23:27)
It's a massive stretch of land. Yeah.
Nick (23:30)
I mean, if you think about even the East Coast, like from Maine to Florida, there's a ton of really good waves. And then if you do it in California, which Japan's longer than California, like there is a ton of good waves. So yeah, it'd be cool to do a little trip there. I actually know somebody who moved to Colorado from California, quit surfing and took up snowboarding because they thought the Fukushima radiation was coming across.
Nick (23:53)
The Pacific Ocean. They're like a crazy older guy from Oceanside, but
Derek (23:57)
I remember
Derek (23:57)
that people were very worried about that for like a short period of time.
Nick (24:01)
I don't know much about radiation, so it's hard for me to even comment.
Derek (24:04)
Yeah, I've n I have no clue. It seems like we all just forgot and moved on.
Derek (24:08)
One thing to think about before we log off. These homes are all Pacific Coast, so there is a bigger risk of earthquake, tsunami, all that. So that is something to consider. Like Otaru, much safer in terms of natural disasters. Like Fukushima, of course, one of the biggest disasters, Chiba
Derek (24:24)
Miyazaki, these are all Pacific side places. That's where the good surf is. That's also where a lot of the earthquake and tsunami risk is. So just something to keep
Nick (24:31)
Yeah.
Derek (24:31)
in mind.
Nick (24:32)
You know what's funny? I've actually heard of waves in Nigata in that area too. Never
Derek (24:36)
Yeah.
Nick (24:37)
actually seen But that's on the Sea of Japan side. I do know there's like some crazy slabs depending on wind, swell, whatever. So I think it's for the most part. Yeah, they go over there. They go
Derek (24:46)
That Dylan Graves video, right? They go over there.
Nick (24:50)
pretty further north. I I think they're in like Noshiro area, Akita maybe. Honestly don't know, but
Nick (24:57)
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I just think there's tons of like completely undiscovered, at least by people like us, land and waves and coast in Japan. It's it's a huge place and it's basically all coast.
Nick (25:11)
All right, guys. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week. Please make sure you subscribe. And if you have any like things you want us to talk about or questions, just email us. hello at yukihomes.com. That's Derek's email, so I'm not gonna get inundated. And
Derek (25:29)
Ha ha.
Nick (25:29)
and or just shoot us a DM, you know, whatever. but yeah.
Derek (25:32)
Or just email Grant dude, Grant at UK Holmes.
Nick (25:34)
Yeah, sure. Email Grant, that'll go into oblivion, never to be read.
Nick (25:38)
All right. I'll talk to you guys later. Peace.