Jodogahama Beach

Jodogahama Beach (�ò“yƒ–•l, Jōdogahama, lit. "Pure Land Beach") is a beautiful beach just outside of central Miyako City in Iwate Prefecture. It is one of the more famous tourist sites along the Sanriku Coast and part of the Sanriku Recovery National Park.

Jodogahama features a beautiful white pebble shoreline and clear, calm waters punctuated by jagged, rocky islands. This memorable landscape invokes images of the "Pure Land", a Buddhist concept of paradise, which the beach derives its name from.

Ranked one of the one hundred best beaches and swimming spots in Japan, Jodogahama Beach is particularly popular in summer. It attracts visitors with its clear inlet that is sheltered from the open ocean. A rest house near the beach provides showers, toilets, changing rooms, a shop and a dining hall. The rest house and several other tourist facilities in the area were destroyed by the 2011 tsunami, but were rebuilt in the meantime.

A visitor center is located at the main parking lot of Jodogahama Beach. The center has a small, free museum about the coastline and its natural features. Several short walking trails lead from the visitor center to the beach, the boat piers, to several viewpoints in the surrounding pine forests and to a fishery museum with lots of displays about the historical and modern fishing methods used in the local waters.

Two different boat cruises are offered around Jodogahama. The large Umineko-maru sightseeing ship not only provides views of the coast but also provides a transportation link between Jodogahama and the Minato Oasis Michi no eki roadside station in Miyako's fishing port. The small boats of the Blue Cave Cruises give visitors a close up view of the sharp, rocky islands opposite Jodogahama Beach and also visits the Blue Cave (Aonodokutsu), a small cave that is accessible only from the sea and is named for its cobalt blue water. All cruises get accompanied by the local seagulls (umineko).