for many japanese it is the coast 50 kilometers south of tokyo that is seen as the birthplace of the country s modern surf culture have a look. surf s up on japan s shown and coast modern surfing culture 1st washed up on the shores in the 1960 s. arriving with the tide of american servicemen stationed here during the vietnam war 10 go to a local surfing pioneer and surf shop remembers the arrival of the new longboard style american boards. before the current form of surfing came to us here we used a washing board or a bath cover as a board. but at the time of the vietnam war american soldiers brought surfboards with them because. a new generation of japanese surface was quick