Beach at Fujisawa, Surfers and Body Boards abound amid the waves
So after about 3.5 hours of travelling (including the first 1.45 hours of going to the wrong place), I finally arrived at my original, intended destination in the town of Fujisawa. I met my friend, who happened to be on vacation for the day, on the JR Tokkaido line train in exactly the 2nd compartment (specifically his instructions). We were both excited and “pumped” about watching women's pro beach volleyball on the beach. We had no problems finding the change station and the Odakyu line is literally outside the gates of the JR line gates at Fujisawa station, so it seemed that things would go smoother after that quick phone call to the ticket office which righted all wrongs (at least until I write to the Metropolis magazine and complain about this massive oversight and misprint on their part). On the train heading to Kugenome Kaigan eki, we asked a group of Japanese girls if we were heading in the correct direction and as luck would have it, they too were getting off at that same train station. They did not attend the tournament though.
Map of Area found at the station exit. The green part is the public beach / park.
Outside the final end station, there was a "booth" set up with information for fans wishing to get to the beach and the tournament. I put "booth" in brackets because I am using the term really loosely. There was as single man sitting at a small desk about the size of those desks we had back in grade 2. He had a box of flat plastic bags containing maps of the city and some brochures for touristy things to do. He was also very helpful and described in detail how to get to the venue. Twice. It was truly a great idea to place him there since there was no obvious signage or visible beach from the station’s exit.
Enroute, I was somewhat distressed at the complete lack of signage to get there. I was expecting giant "This way to the Beach Volleyball Tournament" signs, but none existed. In fact, upon asking a stray passer-by who was also enroute to the beach, he wasn't sure either but he pointed to a tiny sign posted on the window of a barber shop which seemed to indicate that the public beach was "this" way and so we should turn right. When I took a closer look at the signage, I could read parts of the name of the beach. I had never seen it written in Kanji before but clearly could make out all the syllables making up the first 2 syllables and “beach” and “park”. We headed that way and the only other trick was going under the road in an underpass to get to the beach. Otherwise, it looked to be about a 50 metre walk to the right or 80 metres to the left to get to an overpass pedestrian bridge. However, we could clearly hear the distinct sound of whistles (from referees ending rallies at a volleyball game) coming from straight ahead. At the other side, there was a pedestrian pathway prettily lined with trees and flowers and a small wade pool. Then came the public restrooms, restaurants, and feet washing station.
The one-liner and arrow found in upper right are the only pointers to the beach.
On the other side of that building, there were stairs down to what looked to be a gorgeous beachfront and an island in the not too distant waters. So close in fact that it was connected by a 125 m bridge. There are actually caves and museum guides to tour the caves on the far side of the island, but that’s an exploration for another day. The big tent for the JBV tournament was straight ahead. And there are another 6 courts to the left of the tent which seem to have JBV players playing on them as well.
Plaza and wading pool outside the community centre plaza.
It cost 2500 yen to get into the main event tent and this gets you a seat in the grandstand area opposite all the cameras and photographers, so that you always get the backside view of one team and the front side of the other. After paying, you also automatically get a pair of “Crocs” balloons for clapping, a handful of Shiseido Anessa 50 SPF sunblock for your face and arms, a free sample of sunblock, a free sample of lotion, and a cold bottle of water. Not bad. The courtside seats running the length of the court were 4000 yen. The price of admission includes in/out privileges as food can only be bought outside the main tent.
The JBV Tournament Tents and grandstand area after end of day 1.Before entering we bought hotdogs on a stick, fries, water and beer. We sat on the front bench and watched a pair of male JBV tour players finish their contest. I was a bit surprised since the event was billed as “Mermaid Tournament” and usually Mermaids are female. We watched the second match. After that, during the intermission, my friend was bored. And hot. The sun was almost directly overhead at that point. He wanted to go for a walk. We packed up our things and were about to leave but then the sight of women talking off their outerwear to display beach volleyball gear (read: bikinis) stopped him. He unilaterally decided for the both of us that there would be no more talk of walking out. The gals were starting to play and all of a sudden, the match got “interesting”. I think I laughed out loud and nearly choked on my water but I wanted to watch them play so I sat back down.
When the women first got on the court, they actually get some practise and warm up time. But after about 10 minutes or so, they started playing. In the time it took to get some practice hits, serves, digs and jumps, my friend already had a favourite team and a favourite player. About 15 points into the game, his girl and his girl’s team weren’t doing so hot, so he decided he was bored again and that we should take a walk.
Beach volleyball nets empty at 4:35 pm, after tournament headliner is finished. Enoshima Caves is found on the green island found in background.
We left the grand stand area and walked on the beach for a bit. He spotted a court that looked to be used by some kids (possibly 12-15 years) to play some volleyball and we walked over to ask if we could join in. I asked in my limited Japanese but they seemed to get the message and invited us to join them. We dropped our things and took a side each.
I’m pretty sure that my friend was disappointed in the playing. I know I was. I was expecting actually rallies abiding by beach volleyball rules and skilled play. However, these guys didn’t rotate and each player seemed to have a specific skill that they liked and that they wanted to use. My friend introduced rotation to them. One guy on his team complained about the use of English. He told us not to use it. And several times, he told us that it was “no good” or “dame desu”. I told him in Japanese that my friend didn’t speak any Japanese at all, but I think that only served to anger him further.
The whole concept of rotation and taking turns to set, hit, serve, block, and dig seemed to confuse them a bit. They seemed happier just to fool around and get as many balls over as possible using as many hits as were necessary. After about 20 minutes of playing in the hot, hot sand (I mean these guys still wore their socks on the beach!), one of the guys on my side said that his serve was “last”. I translated to “saigo” and they confirmed. Yup, this was going to be the last serve. It ended up being “in” but no one on the other side went for it, so I suggested, “Konkai wa, honto saigo deshou” or “okay how about this time is the last one?” They agreed and we actually had a pretty decent rally that time. But they were done. The English language hater, complained about the “no English” rule again and we all said our thank yous and good byes. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable with his attitude.
I must admit that in all my time here in Japan, I had never met anyone so adamantly against trying to communicate in English. This wasn’t Tokyo anymore. We were in a small town. Maybe he felt that we were encroaching. My friend has been here for 2.5 years now and he’s never had a problem just speaking English. Sometimes it has to be for one word at a time, but usually they get it. And he understands some Japanese so he can get away with this kind of limited conversation. Usually if people don’t want to listen to you stammering your way through the backwards Japanese phrasing (backward in that the order of the sentence is mostly said back to front compared to the sentence order in English), they just tell you to speak in English. Here, it was just “Don’t speak English at all.”
After that my friend washed his feet at the feet washing station and headed back to Tokyo for another appointment. I headed back to the main event tent to watch the end of another female match and the last one.
It is here during the last match of the day that Miwa Asao, Japan’s most popular beach volleyball player, played. I had heard about her and about how she and her partner hadn’t qualified to make it to the Olympics in Beijing. Most people say she’s a better tv personality and celebrity than she is a volleyball player. She’s called the part-time beach volleyball player and part-time pin-up girl. She has a huge male fan base. Even the Japanese people I know that don’t really follow a lot of the volleyball news know about her. They have told me that she’s not that good a player.
Maybe that’s way I was so surprised. She was a much better player than I had expected given what I had read and what I had heard about her. Her partner, whose name escapes me at the moment, is about 6 feet tall and used to be part of the Japanese women’s national indoor volleyball team. I had expected her partner to be better. In fact, her first dozen hits were weak and her serve isn’t as good as Asao’s. She’s the blocker for the team while Asao is the defensive player in backcourt. I have to admit though, that while she can be good in the backcourt, usually, Asao is not quick enough to make the dig or save. She easily gets stuck in the sand and in beach you have to have good beach legs to dig in, take off and get to the right spots. I just didn’t see the drive there to make the saves when her partner didn’t make the block.
For all the pin-up girl talk, I thought she wasn’t as sexy as all that, but I have to admit that she was a lot more beautiful in person than the photos that I have seen of her lounging about in her beach volleyball attire. She really does have a radiant smile and she is charismatic on the court. I noticed that when she hit, or saved something or aced a serve, the crowd was just that little bit louder and livelier. One time, she disagreed with a the referee’s call about the opponent’s touch on her hit, which would have won her side the point since the attack landed on the outside of the beach line. That was different side of her on display. She was petulant and pouty and the referee was having none of it. He told her to go ahead and play the next rally. Her partner told her the same. The girl on the other team who might have touched that ball looked away - a sure sign of guilt. From my angle at the back of the potentially offending player’s back, I thought I saw a touch too. It didn’t matter. Ultimately Asao’s team won the match by winning both sets cleanly.
After the match was over, I seemed to miss the announcement that the tournament was finished for the day. Apparently, so did everyone else. When the officials starting taking down the net, people in the stands started to move and vacate the grandstands. I felt it was time to go then too.
I had been sitting there underneath my towel and layers of sunblock. I was sad to see the tournament end, but glad for the opportunity to get out of the sun. Coming back home, I was lucky enough to catch the JR Shonan-shinjuku line meaning that I didn’t not have to switch once I got to Shinagawa. However, the day in the 35 deg C sun seemed to have taken its toll on me. I feel asleep on the train ride home and woke up with one station to spare. My throat felt parched and I had drunk over a litre of water. I am now about 5 shades darker even with all that sunblock and sunburnt in only two small patches on my back.
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