Beaches in Japan

We are planning to visit Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima in May using a Japan Rail Pass. Can anyone please recommend beach resorts that can be added to our itinerary for say a two or three day stay?
Thanks in advance!

May is not summer in Japan. If you want a beach resort where you can swim, you need to go to Okinawa.

If you want to see the coast, Izu is easily accessed from Tokyo.

I think that JLady is being a bit harsh. I visit Japan every May, and to me it is already warm enough to enjoy the sea. The ocean temp is still cool, but not extremely so. And until the May rains (in the last week of the month) the weather is usually nice.

That said, you won't see Japanese swimming, except for hardcore surfers. I realise that Japanese natural 'comfort' attitudes are more conservative than my Australian idea.

I also know that the coast is not as welcoming or well-developed as in my home country. But I like it, anyway.

I can't tell you hotels or even town, but within striking distance of Tokyo are Chiba and - yes - Izu.

North of Kyoto is Wakasa Bay and the Tango Peninsula. And a very beautiful coastline stretching all the way west, but perhaps out of your time range.

If it is just proximity to the sea that you want, rather than surf, consider Shiraishi Island in Okayama region, between Hiroshima and Kyoto/Osaka. Or Shodoshima Island, a little further toward Kyoto.

One of these days someone is going to write a good guide book on coastal Japan. It is a very undervalued leisure-scape, even by Japanese.

And perhaps a little after that someone is going to discover what a potential sailing and kayaking paradise Japan is ....

But those guide books are going to be necessary, because getting to the good sites means having to sidestep ugly ones. In that respect, Japan is like parts of Europe, where nature-love was aroused just too late in history.

Again, if it is just the soothing proximity to water, there are waterfront hotels on both coasts of Lake Biwa. These are useful bases for local exploration, especially if you rent a car.

Not 'world-class spectacular', but a very nice counterpart to urban experiences in Japan.

Shirahama (Wakayama Prefecture) beach opens in May. You can go to Shirahama from Kyoto by JR (Kyoto - Osaka - Tennoji - Shirahama). This is the first beach in Kansai to open. Other beaches are open in July and August. If you are willing to bath at your own risk at a beach and you don't mind cold water, I recommend Amanohashidate, which belongs to Kyoto Prefecture and can be accessed by JR, too.

Wow, the thought of a non-surfer swimming in May is indeed shocking to us Japanese! Are you sure you're wearing an ordinary bathing suit instead of a wet suit??

In any case, you do have to keep in mind that a lot of beaches in Honshu won't have life guards, venders and various conveniences until around July 1st. So in May, you usually have to swim at your own risk if you're in Honshu.

It really isn't that cold, even in a bathing suit. Just a bit fresh to me, and I am no iron man.

I have a theory about why Japanese have such 'tame' swimming habits. For most of Japanese history the sea has been a place for fishing and kelp harvesting, sometimes pearling, and also maritime trade; it is not a place for everyone. It smells (because of the kelp) and because of storms and seismic activity it has often been an enemy, hence the incredible spread of coastal concrete tetrapods. Leisure is a new phenomenon and old feelings do not change fast.

When Australians, by now long evolved from our repressed European origins, see a coastal bay we want to swim in it. We are strong swimmers - lifeguards are hardly an issue, and the less vendors and 'convenience' the better.

But when Japanese see a bay they see a farm. They also have a more realistic idea about the pollution that 150 million people produce, even though it is pretty well controlled for a population of that size.

Finally, the sea in Japan often has a kind of lonely beauty. For the very few Japanese who get to be near it out of season, looking is enough.

Incidentally, Shirahama is a bit like being in another country. My understanding (urban myth?) is that its fine sand is partly imported at the start of each summer. True?

Tama, you gave me a pang of nostalgia.. I love the smell of kelp and other seaweeds. I am European (now a North American)born and raised by the Atlantic Ocean and we most certainly swim and surf in the ocean on unmanned beaches, from May to late October. Some of the best beaches are in South Western France. There is a stretch of about 250 km of beaches with golden sand, along a huge pine forest dotted with inland lakes that have safe beaches. Most resorts are small and widely spaced so it is only a matter of walking 1 km away from a resort main beach to find solitude. However the Atlantic can be unforgiving for those that haven't been raised nearby. The tides are powerful and there are strong undercurrents.

It is important to be careful. I don't want to give the impression one should be blithe about the sea - anywhere.

I hope the original poster finds somewhere nice, but if (as with so many threads) they never reappear here this is a discussion worth having anyway.

"a lot of beaches in Honshu won't have life guards, venders and various conveniences until around July 1st"

Being from New Zealand, this comment interested me. Most beaches in New Zealand don't have life guards, vendors or any conveniences at all and that is how we like it!- absolutely unspoiled, without crowds of people, concrete tetrapods or piles of plastic garbage.

Unfortunately due to the high population I haven't seen a beach like that in Honshu.

Tama said "When Australians, by now long evolved from our repressed European origins, see a coastal bay we want to swim in it." Normally I would have the same reaction but unfortunately most of the beaches I have seen in Honshu give me the opposite feeling. The hordes of people and plastic bags and bottles everywhere make me not want to swim there. I still go because my husband enjoys the beach but I usually spend half an hour or so each time picking up garbage, just because I can't stand to see it.

Much as I love Japan, apart from Okinawa and a very few other places, I think the beaches are not attractions here, and especially if you are from Australia or New Zealand I would just stick to the places that Japan is rightly famous for and save the beach holiday for somewhere else.

Tama, my ancesters were pirates, my father was the captain of his college swimming team, I love to swim, I love to visit the sea any time of the year and when I do I always touch the sea water, but I don't want to swim in May even if you give me a million bucks. Btw however, the Japanese are traditionally known to hold annual "kanchu suiei taikai (chilling swimming events in mid winter)". It's supposed to make you healthy and bring fortune.

But if there is any cultural reason why the Japanese do not swim until summer, it's probably because they have learned from experience over the centuries that the cold water can be dangerous than you'd think.

Sorry, didn't realise there was a warning for going off topic. I've said enough anyway.

I agree about Kobe, especially the Suma beach to the west of Kobe. When a tourist ask about a town,a sight, how to go from --to-- etc. I think that those of us who have been there/ done that have the duty to tell that person both the pro and the cons as each one of us sees it.
the crowded and built up French beaches similar to Japanese beaches that one poster mention are in the on the Cote d'Azur in the South (Mediterannean sea). The ones I lived by are in a totally different region, the Southwest. Called the Silver Coast (Atlantic Ocean) they are not crowded or built up,as they are between the Ocean and a huge forest, an area where, until the late 18th century,no cultures could be grown and the moving sand dunes swallowded villages etc. even now it is not easy to go there without a car.

Uco-san, I wanna hear more about the pirate ancestors. Seriously!

BTW I don't disagree with anything you - or anyone else - have written. I know I have been lucky in my timing (May water temperature) and in finding relatively clean beaches. I have in the past shocked Japanese friends by swimming in the Nihonkai in November.

But Sira's comments do remind me about the more prevalent reality.

Anyway - pirates please!

Like some people say here, i also think that Japan is not the best country for beach resorts, although they have some really nice ones in Okinawa. but whats funny is that I have met three Aussies (each different time, outside of Japan)who told me that "Japan has really good surfing spots!" So if youre thinking about surfing in Japan, maybe you will hit some nice waves!? Google "shimoda" and i think youll find some good places to swim.

My limited experience with beaches in Japan has been around Enoshima and Hayama - close to Tokyo, nice little towns. But the sand more than the water is what I find ugly; it is fine and grey; volcanic sand I think, not the nice golden or white sands I am used to in the states or Europe. It's like dust; it clings.
Then there's the trash. I know there are beaches with REAL sand, but I don't know where they are. Other than Okinawa.