are bikinis normal

i'm going to japan with my bf ,i was thinking if it was alright to wear bikinis in the beaches,cos i've heard that people in asian countries are pretty conservative and dont wanna appear as some easy foreigner girl

I've been to several beaches in Japan, and bikini's are the normal wear for women.
So you should be fine.

Yes, on the beach a bikini is perfectly normal. Nobody walks around anywhere off the beach in a bikini top though.

thanxfor that, so i can put up a thong with 0 probs?

Yes, thank God.

Thongs are another issue.

"Regular" bikini bottoms are normal. Thongs are usually not seen (or I haven't seen them) in Japan.

send me a pic and i'll give my professional opinion, honest

No, we were talking about regular bikinis. Wear a thong bikini and you will attract a lot of attention and shocked looks- I have never in 11 years here seen a Japanese woman wear a thong bikini and I don't ever expect to.

While I definitely see women in two-piece bathing suits, I'd like to point out that they may not be what the OP is referring to when she mentions a bikini. Women here (at least in the Tokyo outdoor hotel pools and the beaches within day-trip distance of Tokyo I've been to) tend to wear bikinis that are a bit more "full coverage" on both the top and bottom...I've not really noticed string bikinis, and last summer the style among the young women I know was to wear a bikini with a skirted bottom, which is fairly conservative by western standards...but a very cute style. Maybe I'm just getting old (ha! I'm 26) but I think in Asian countries in general, if you're already going to stand out as a tourist, it may be a bit better to error on the side of caution in terms of swimwear.

Just my 2 cents :)

Butt, i've seen a more than a few women (young ladies) wearing thongs/t-backs in kamakura. fewer in numbers, butt also around the minami boso area & some smaller (off the map) beaches around izu, by both japanese and gaijin.

As the above people said, bikinis at beaches are the norm, and you will see a lot of girls wearing them around areas near the beach. As for g-strings, I have seen a few girls at beaches wear them, but very few and far between. Definitely not the norm.

especially if you like gyaru-kei~~~~~~~~~~

thanx 4 ur advice guys------
& at civil places or tourist spots -tanktops skirts shorts -are normal ?, my trip is planned for late april or early may

sheila, are you going to Okinawa? If it is anywhere in mainland Japan, you would be very brave to swim or wear a bikini at that time of the year- even shorts and a tanktop are a bit premature, it is not really properly warm here until June, and late April can still be quite chilly- in Tokyo it snowed earlier this week!

As long as it is legal,I think you should just wear what you want.