early on at ichinomiya. the finals have been moved forward. this is the pacific coast ofjapan, about an hour and a half drive east of tokyo. this place is called ichinomiya, and it s really popular with the local surfers. you can see today the waves are pretty lively. that s because we ve got a typhoon living in. when you think of surfing, probably think of the north shore of hawaii or the gold coast of australia or maybe bali, notjapan. but actually surfing is really, really popular here injapan. it s estimated around 2 millionjapanese regularly get on a surfboard. this group of young surfers left home in tokyo before 4am this morning in order to be in the water before 6am. the waves here are best early in the morning, before it gets too windy. this beach isjust 2km from where the olympic surfing competition is being held. so how do they feel about not being able to go along and watch?
translation: it does not feel right not to be able to go - and watch ourselves. other people may say it s not fair to have spectators at surfing when other sports don t have spectators. that over there behind me, that s where the olympic surfing competition is taking place right now. this was supposed to be a huge festival of surfing. the first time it s ever been in the olympics. despite the fact we are outside, there s lots of wind, there are still no spectators. this is as close as we can get. just on the beaches, the oldest surf shop in town. run by shingo nakamura. so close but shingo and his staff are forced to watch the action on television. shingo s father was one of the first to develop surfing here, learning from american sailors based in japan.
here is our correspondent rupert wingfield hayes in japan. this is the pacific coast ofjapan, about an hour and a half drive east of tokyo. this place is called ichinomiya, and it s really popular with the local surfers. you can see today the waves are pretty lively. that s because we ve got a typhoon blowing in. when you think of surfing, probably think of the north shore of hawaii or the gold coast of australia or maybe bali, not japan. but actually surfing is really, really popular here injapan. it s estimated around two millionjapanese regularly get on a surfboard. this group of young surfers left home in tokyo before 4am this morning in order to be in the water before 6am. the waves here are best early in the morning, before it gets too windy. this beach isjust 2km from where the olympic surfing competition is being held. so how do they feel about not being able to go along and watch?
the waves here are best early in the morning, before it gets too windy. this beach isjust 2km from where the olympic surfing competition is being held. so how do they feel about not being able to go along and watch? it doesn t feel right not to be able to go and watch ourselves, he says. but other people may say it s not fair to have spectators at surfing when other sports don t have spectators . that over there behind me, that s where the olympic surfing competition is taking place right now. this was supposed to be a huge festival of surfing. the first time it s ever been in the olympics. despite the fact we are outside, there s lots of wind, there are still no spectators and this is as close as we can get. that over there behind me, that s where the olympic
it doesn t feel right not to be able to go and watch ourselves, he says. but other people may say it s not fair to have spectators at surfing when other sports don t have spectators . that over there behind me, that s where the olympic surfing competition is taking place right now. this was supposed to be a huge festival of surfing. the first time it s ever been in the olympics. despite the fact we are outside, there s lots of wind, there are still no spectators and this is as close as we can get. just down the beach is the oldest surf shop in town run by shingo nakamura. so close but shingo and his staff are forced to watch the action on television. shingo s father was one of the first to develop surfing here, learning from american sailors based injapan.