Japanese Beaches

Ok, so Japan is a country with quite a bit of coastline (34,751 Km of it to be exact). And this doesn't even take into account the thousands of smaller islands that make up Japan. And with all of this coastline, you can count on quite a few beaches...
And this is where the debate beings.

Japanese beaches are an object of great debate. Some claim them to be the most beautiful in the world, and some claim them to be nothing short of a crying shame. So who is right? Can visiting a beach in Japan enhance your time, or simply steal it right from under you.
It's possible that the answer sits somewhere in the middle. As a consulting company specializing in Japan itself, we have had the opportunity to see a variety of beaches from as high up as Aomori, to as low as Yamaguchi Ken, and feel that it depends on location more than anything.
For example, we found that the beaches in the more southern area of Japan tended to be much cleaner (both in actual cleanliness, and in air quality), as well as less crowded (which completely depended on the day). However, unfortunately the water seemed to be plagued with a rather large number of jellyfish...
While in the areas closer to Tokyo, as you may have expected, both air quality and the condition of the beach (as well as the density of the crowds) were much different.
Which brings us right back to where we started...

But it would seem that beaches have a slightly different use for the Japanese than for the rest of us... There was something that we noticed at almost every single beach we went to....
Almost nobody was in the water... And after a great deal of research and talking with more people than we probably should have, we came to one simple conclusion:
For Japanese people, the beach is for looking. Not for swimming.
Now, this isn't to say that nobody goes in the water, but the water seems to be mostly for children.

A survey taken in June of 2010 showed that in a test group of nearly 500 Japanese, more than half, had absolutely no interest in going to the beach this year, and more than 75% hadn't bothered to visit last year.
With results like these its pretty hard to get pumped about visiting a beach in Japan. But in the end we all have our own personal preferences so we say go for it!

With over 1000 beaches on the 4 main islands of Japan alone, you're bound to find a few you like! So take the time, travel around, and check em out!!

JLC