Feature
Ritomo Miyata’s summer break has officially begun and as he revealed prior to his holidays, he will be jumping on a plane and heading back home to Japan.
While there, expect the ART Grand Prix driver to take a trip to the beach and to eat plenty of seafood at his hometown of Kanagawa, as he recently recalled why it was so special for him growing up there.
“I'm from Kanagawa, which is next to Tokyo. My house is close to the sea, and it's similar to Monaco or Nice. So, when I grew up there, I was always going to the sea, especially in the summer season, there will be a lot of people.
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“Also, I eat a lot of fish, because the seafood is good there, so that's my hometown, it's very nice. It's quite a close community, but a lot of tourists go to my hometown.
“Growing up, I was by the beach, not every day, but when I train, I go running by the beach and my father's favourite hobby is to go fishing also. So, when I was a kid, I would go fishing as our house was close to the sea, it's a really nice memory.
“I am racing a lot now, but during the summer and winter break, I'll go back to Japan, and when I go back, I remember all my childhood memories, it's very nostalgic.
“I would also recommend that people visit the restaurants in my hometown. They are very amazing, very cheap, but also very good quality, so I would invite people to go to these restaurants.
“My hometown is a bit far away from the racetracks though. We have Suzuka, but that is in the Mie Prefecture, and then you have Motegi, which is at the Tochigi Prefecture, so it's about two hours away from Kanagawa, and Suzuka is more, about five or six hours.
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“As kids, my parents took us to the track, but actually many drivers, their hometown is Kanagawa, Tokyo. My driver friends also grew up in Kanagawa. Yuki Tsunoda as well, so I met him in the same prefecture.
“Yuki and I started in go karting around the same time, so I met him when we were five or six years old.
“But in the summer or spring, many people do a lot of beachy sports, but to be honest I never did that, I was always focusing on my racing. But you have people who like surfing, especially during the summer break, crazy people.
“But again, there is a lot of good fish, so many people go fishing, and then we eat it, very good quality. The people are also very nice, so it's a really nice place.
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“Growing up there, my favourite things were the sea and the beach. I went a lot as kid when I was a student. There are many summer events, so I went with friends, and I was driving go karts, so I have a lot of shared memories with friends.
“It's always good to spend time at home, and the beach has always given me a nice feeling, a natural feeling, so the beach is my favourite place.”