Kochi.

Kochi sits on the southern coast of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, with its long beaches and rivermouths facing straight into the Pacific. The headline wave is Ikumi, a beach break near the Tokushima border that hosted the 2015 Billabong Pro Shikoku QS1000, the country’s inaugural co-sanctioned WSL event. Shishikui is the adjacent break, and the Niyodo Rivermouth breaks further west on the long sand stretch beyond the city. South-facing exposure is what makes Kochi work: long-period Pacific swell that the rest of Japan misses arrives here clean.

June through November is the swell season, peaking through typhoon months. Kochi catches more typhoon energy than any other Japanese prefecture except Kagoshima, and pulses arrive south to south-east, often with 12-second-plus period from systems tracking up the western Pacific. Working size is 1 to 2.5 m through the peak window. Winter brings short-period wind swell from cold Siberian fronts sweeping down the Sea of Japan, but the south-facing coast is sheltered from that side, so quality drops without dying. Offshore is north to north-west, the dry winter monsoon.

Water sits warmer than the latitude suggests because the Kuroshio Current runs close offshore, with an annual mean of ~24 °C. Summer is boardies; spring and autumn a 3/2; winter a 4/3 on the coldest mornings. Crowds are local Shikoku regulars plus weekend traffic from Osaka and Kobe. Ikumi packs out on a swell weekend but stays manageable midweek. The hazards are typhoon-season currents and the rivermouth current at Niyodo; sharks are present in Japan but encounters are very rare. On a small day, walk further down the same beach. The bank shifts; the better peak is rarely the obvious one.