Yoichi, Hokkaido

Yoichi (余市町, Yoichi-chō) is a town located in the Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan.

Yoichi is popular with surfers from autumn through to spring, but in summer there is little swell, and the coastline is better suited to kayaking and swimming.

Yoichi is the birthplace of Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese astronaut; he attended elementary and junior high schools here.

Other Yoichi luminaries include ski jumping Olympic gold medalists Yukio Kasaya and Kazuyoshi Funaki.

They were born in Yoichi and took up ski jumping at the facility built by Masataka Taketsuru, the founder of Nikka Whisky Distilling.

Sea of Japan, October 2022