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    • Spring
      • video

        Finding the Flow from Kansai to Kochi

        Shikoku’s many mountains, valleys and proximity to the ocean has made it a hidden gem for rafting, kayaking and canyoning enthusiasts willing to take a step or two further from the Golden Route of Kyoto and Osaka.

        Solace and Giant Salamanders in Akiota

        Just beyond Hiroshima City is a tranquil outdoor destination home to some of Japan's last remaining oosanshouo, the elusive giant salamander.
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        The Oni Trail: Hiking Coastal Kyoto

        The mystical oni is prevalent in Japanese children’s stories, usually as a way to scare kids straight. Adventure Travel Kyoto is shedding a new light on this folklore and developing a new hiking route in the countryside of Kyoto.
    • Summer
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        The World is Our Playground

        The Pasche family has been cycling and living out of a tent in remote corners of the planet for the past 13 years on four continents spanning 50 countries.
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        Adventure Travel World Summit in Hokkaido

        The ATTA will host their first Adventure Travel World Summit in Asia in Hokkaido, Japan. We caught up with ATTA Director Shannon Stowell to find out more about the adventure travel industry and how it continues to grow and evolve.
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        The Sweet Secrets of Brewing Mead

        Wander into the world of mead brewing and find yourself immersed in a fascinating journey spanning centuries and continents.
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        The Knights in White Lycra

        Each year a group of cyclists head to the deep north towards Tohoku’s vast rice fields and coastal trails to help transform the lives of neglected children.
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        Sea to Table in Yamagata

        An unforgettable way to intimately explore the Shonai Region in Yamagata is a culinary experience bringing bounty of the sea straight to your table.
    • Autumn
    • Winter
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        CAMP3 Clubhouse in Madarao

        Keith Stubbs, a veteran in the snowboard industry, transitioned from rider to coach and instructor trainer for Snowboard Instruction New Zealand. After coaching in various Japanese resorts, he has established a permanent base in Madarao, outlining his plans for the area and future snowboard endeavors.
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        New Horizons in Shiretoko

        During another epic powder season, two seasoned winter sports enthusiasts traded their snowboard bags for camera bags and traveled to Eastern Hokkaido to explore the frozen landscape and broaden their winter horizons.
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        Silent Resilience

        Curling athlete Sayuri Matsuhashi’s journey to the top of her sport is an inspiration to deaf athletes and women juggling their roles as mothers while also pursuing their professional dreams.
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        Heritage Hunting in Hokkaido

        Travelers venturing beyond Hokkaido's popular winter resorts will discover a land with a rich cultural and natural history, a proud indigenous people and a community striving to preserve their heritage.
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        Shizukuishi

        Northern Honshu’s Iwate Prefecture, known for heavy snowfall, features Shizukuishi—a powder-rich resort area with views of Mt. Iwate. Snow enthusiasts seeking lesser-known gems can enjoy exceptional snow quality and uncrowded resorts, including Shizukuishi Ski Resort, Amihari Onsen Ski Resort, and Iwate Kogen Snow Park, offering affordability and traditional hospitality.
    • Near Tokyo
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        Getting Dirty in Japan

        “Getting Dirty in Japan” is about getting out of your comfort zone and into some exciting outdoor adventures and destinations in Japan.
    • Near Kyoto
    • All Regions
    • Article Map
    • Ocean and Beach
      • getting dirty in japan

        Getting Dirty in Japan

        “Getting Dirty in Japan” is about getting out of your comfort zone and into some exciting outdoor adventures and destinations in Japan.
    • River and Lake
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        Heritage Hunting in Hokka...

        Travelers venturing beyond Hokkaido's popular winter resorts will discover a land with a rich cultural and natural history, a proud indigenous people and a community striving to preserve their heritage.
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        Getting Dirty in Japan

        “Getting Dirty in Japan” is about getting out of your comfort zone and into some exciting outdoor adventures and destinations in Japan.
    • Mountain and Land
    • Sky
      • getting dirty in japan

        Getting Dirty in Japan

        “Getting Dirty in Japan” is about getting out of your comfort zone and into some exciting outdoor adventures and destinations in Japan.
    • Snow and Ice
      • camp3 clubhouse madarao keith stubbs outdoor japanvideo

        CAMP3 Clubhouse in Madarao

        Keith Stubbs, a veteran in the snowboard industry, transitioned from rider to coach and instructor trainer for Snowboard Instruction New Zealand. After coaching in various Japanese resorts, he has established a permanent base in Madarao, outlining his plans for the area and future snowboard endeavors.
        shiretoko hokkaido outdoor japan

        New Horizons in Shiretoko

        During another epic powder season, two seasoned winter sports enthusiasts traded their snowboard bags for camera bags and traveled to Eastern Hokkaido to explore the frozen landscape and broaden their winter horizons.
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        Silent Resilience

        Curling athlete Sayuri Matsuhashi’s journey to the top of her sport is an inspiration to deaf athletes and women juggling their roles as mothers while also pursuing their professional dreams.
        shizukuishi skiing snowboarding outdoor japan

        Shizukuishi

        Northern Honshu’s Iwate Prefecture, known for heavy snowfall, features Shizukuishi—a powder-rich resort area with views of Mt. Iwate. Snow enthusiasts seeking lesser-known gems can enjoy exceptional snow quality and uncrowded resorts, including Shizukuishi Ski Resort, Amihari Onsen Ski Resort, and Iwate Kogen Snow Park, offering affordability and traditional hospitality.
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        Northern Shinshu’s Secret Stash

        A weak yen, revenge travel, and excellent ski conditions have led to high demand, booking out popular resorts like Hakuba and Nozawa Onsen this year. Fortunately, lesser-known gems like Togari Onsen, near Nozawa Onsen and Madarao, offer charming alternatives for powder seekers.
    • Travel
      • camp3 clubhouse madarao keith stubbs outdoor japanvideo

        CAMP3 Clubhouse in Madarao

        Keith Stubbs, a veteran in the snowboard industry, transitioned from rider to coach and instructor trainer for Snowboard Instruction New Zealand. After coaching in various Japanese resorts, he has established a permanent base in Madarao, outlining his plans for the area and future snowboard endeavors.
        shiretoko hokkaido outdoor japan

        New Horizons in Shiretoko

        During another epic powder season, two seasoned winter sports enthusiasts traded their snowboard bags for camera bags and traveled to Eastern Hokkaido to explore the frozen landscape and broaden their winter horizons.
        sayuri matsuhashi double role curling athlete japan outdoor

        Silent Resilience

        Curling athlete Sayuri Matsuhashi’s journey to the top of her sport is an inspiration to deaf athletes and women juggling their roles as mothers while also pursuing their professional dreams.
        ainu tour daniel moore outdoor japan hokkaido

        Heritage Hunting in Hokkaido

        Travelers venturing beyond Hokkaido's popular winter resorts will discover a land with a rich cultural and natural history, a proud indigenous people and a community striving to preserve their heritage.
        shizukuishi skiing snowboarding outdoor japan

        Shizukuishi

        Northern Honshu’s Iwate Prefecture, known for heavy snowfall, features Shizukuishi—a powder-rich resort area with views of Mt. Iwate. Snow enthusiasts seeking lesser-known gems can enjoy exceptional snow quality and uncrowded resorts, including Shizukuishi Ski Resort, Amihari Onsen Ski Resort, and Iwate Kogen Snow Park, offering affordability and traditional hospitality.
    • Food and Drinks
      • camp3 clubhouse madarao keith stubbs outdoor japanvideo

        CAMP3 Clubhouse in Madarao

        Keith Stubbs, a veteran in the snowboard industry, transitioned from rider to coach and instructor trainer for Snowboard Instruction New Zealand. After coaching in various Japanese resorts, he has established a permanent base in Madarao, outlining his plans for the area and future snowboard endeavors.
        shiretoko hokkaido outdoor japan

        New Horizons in Shiretoko

        During another epic powder season, two seasoned winter sports enthusiasts traded their snowboard bags for camera bags and traveled to Eastern Hokkaido to explore the frozen landscape and broaden their winter horizons.
        sayuri matsuhashi double role curling athlete japan outdoor

        Silent Resilience

        Curling athlete Sayuri Matsuhashi’s journey to the top of her sport is an inspiration to deaf athletes and women juggling their roles as mothers while also pursuing their professional dreams.
        ainu tour daniel moore outdoor japan hokkaido

        Heritage Hunting in Hokkaido

        Travelers venturing beyond Hokkaido's popular winter resorts will discover a land with a rich cultural and natural history, a proud indigenous people and a community striving to preserve their heritage.
        shizukuishi skiing snowboarding outdoor japan

        Shizukuishi

        Northern Honshu’s Iwate Prefecture, known for heavy snowfall, features Shizukuishi—a powder-rich resort area with views of Mt. Iwate. Snow enthusiasts seeking lesser-known gems can enjoy exceptional snow quality and uncrowded resorts, including Shizukuishi Ski Resort, Amihari Onsen Ski Resort, and Iwate Kogen Snow Park, offering affordability and traditional hospitality.
    • Races and Events
      • sayuri matsuhashi double role curling athlete japan outdoor

        Silent Resilience

        Curling athlete Sayuri Matsuhashi’s journey to the top of her sport is an inspiration to deaf athletes and women juggling their roles as mothers while also pursuing their professional dreams.

        Winter News and Notes

        Check out the latest news and winter events held at ski resorts all over Japan in 2024!
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        In nearly e...

Surf to Turf with David Stant

From the Hawaii surf to Keio’s stadium turf, David Stant is making waves in Japan. 

It’s a rainy day at Keio University with a typhoon heading this way, but Keio Unicorns Coach David Stant couldn’t be more stoked. After a vigorous morning of practice – the last one before the American football season starts – he looks forward to surfing some typhoon swell in Kamakura.  

“I get the best of two worlds here,” Stant says. “I get to do what I love, coaching football and surfing. I love surfing during typhoons and, once we’re done with practice, I’ll go surf.”

Football and surfing might seem like dissimilar pursuits. One look at Stant, and you might wonder how he embraces both worlds as well as wonder how this Hawaiian guy ended up in Japan.  

Stant caught his first wave when he was 8 years old near his home on Oahu’s North Shore. His father, David Stant Sr., was one of the founders of the prominent North Shore surfing patrol club Da Hui.  

“Surfing is my first love,” Stant says. “My line comes from Duke; we got that lineage with surfing. Duke Kahanamoku taught my dad surfing, then my dad taught me.” As he got older, he fell in love with football. His father was initially against this, fearing Stant would get injured. But as most teenagers would react, this made him want to play even more. He couldn’t stay away from the water and still managed to fit surfing into his busy routine.

“I wasn’t a real good student. I would go surf during school, come back in time for lunch, then go to (football) practice,” he laughs. After high school, a year at Southern Oregon University and a serious knee injury, he returned to the islands. He needed to get back into the sports scene and decided to try professional surfing. He hated it.  

“Once I decided to go pro, surfing became a job. I always had to surf, always had to compete,” he said. He was also a good 80 pounds heavier than the average surfer. “Most pro surfers are smaller, so they can surf tiny waves. But not me,” he said.  

Fate brought him back to football when Arizona Western came looking for a linebacker. He received a full scholarship and played there for two years, then earned another offer from perennial powerhouse Wisconsin. He turned it down. “There’s no surf there,” he points out.

Instead he returned to Oahu, earning a full scholarship from the University of Hawaii Warriors. He continued to surf in his North Shore backyard and was an alternate for the Eddie Aikau Invitational. It was a hectic, crazy three years as Stant rushed from the South Shore for football to the North Shore to surf.  

At 27, Stant was one of the oldest college players in the country. He was too small to make the NFL and had already undergone more than 25 surgeries. But as luck would have it, recruiters from the Japanese football team Seagulls visited the Warriors during Stant’s senior year and brought him on board.  

With some basic Japanese knowledge, he arrived in Japan only to discover the X League, Japan’s top-level American football league, had banned foreigners after learning a Hawaiian player would be joining them. Little did Stant know the devastating blow to his playing days would kick off his coaching career. The Seagulls decided to keep Stant as a defensive line coach.   

“When I started coaching, the Seagulls had just gone from Division 2 to Division 1. They were good, but they still had a ways to go,” Stant recalls. “But every year we got a little better as recruiting improved.”  

By Stant’s third year, when he was promoted to head coach, the team started winning championships, thanks to the well-tuned chemistry between the players which Stant helped recruit to create the team he wanted.  

In 2007, Stant moved back to pursue one of his dream jobs, coaching at Kamehameha School. But six years later, Japan called him back.

“At the beginning of 2013, my wife said, if the Seagulls go to the Rice Bowl this year, we should go (to Japan) and support them,” he recalls.  

The Seagulls had already won two games in a row, so things were looking good. Stant’s wife booked flights for the whole family, and they witnessed the Seagulls win the Rice Bowl that season for the third consecutive time since 2011. During this vacation, Stant was approached by one of his former Seagulls players, Hiroki, and told him about a coaching job opening at Keio University.  

Keio’s football team is unusual in that the players are not necessarily football players. “It’s a difficult school to get into, and the kids come for education—not football,” Stant explains as we watch his team of 175 players train.  

Although most of them are in their freshman year and considerably smaller than the average football player, Stant is optimistic.  

“We get good kids, smart kids. If we make it to the Koshien Bowl this year, the impact will be tremendous for football in Japan. It will show you also need to be smart to win,” he believes. The Unicorns currently place third in Kanto Region’s college football league with its main rivals being Waseda, Nichidai and Hosei University. One of Stant’s goals is to show that, although practice and muscle memory are important, it also takes strategy, recruiting and training to build a successful team.  

Still, coaching a team at one of Japan’s top academic institutions comes with its challenges. “I have to come down on some of our guys when they overthink things,” he says.  

“I have to train them to let their bodies react. If you’re a fighter, you don’t think you’re going to jab; you just jab. Sometimes it’s good to think, but there are times they think too much. Hopefully we get the right formula.”  

Between coaching, catching waves and visiting his family back home, Stant is a busy man. Yet he also finds time to expand the famous Da Hui clothing brand. He clearly enjoys it all and has no regrets, attributing his success to the people who supported and invested in him, and his belief that, “Everything in my life has been about timing and being prepared to do the job when it comes along.”

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