Beaches in Japan

An archipelago of some fourteen thousand islands spanning subarctic to subtropical, with a beach culture that is short, formal and firmly seasonal. Swimming beaches open and close on published dates, typically from early July to the end of August on the main islands, with lifeguards, jellyfish nets and beach houses in place only during that window; swimming outside it is not prohibited but is not done, and the facilities are shut. The Okinawan islands in the far south-west are the exception — tropical, reef-fringed and with a season that runs from spring to autumn, along with the only genuinely warm sea in the country. Japan is also the country most willing to build a beach where it wants one, whether by importing Australian sand at Shirahama or reclaiming a shore out of Tokyo Bay at Odaiba, where swimming is restricted for water-quality reasons most of the year. The Sea of Japan coast is rougher, emptier and colder than the Pacific side, with sand dunes at Tottori that are the largest in the country. Practically: typhoons reach the country from July to October, which overlaps the whole of the swimming season; tattoos remain an issue at some beach facilities, pools and public baths, with cover-up patches the usual workaround; and the sea off much of the Pacific coast is patrolled and roped rather than open.

Two of the three are artificial and reclaimed beaches; the rest are atoll and lagoon beaches. Together they account for 8.4 km of shore. · computed from the 3 records below