Hey all-
Sorry if this is a stupid question. I currently reside in Hawaii and am going to be moving to Japan in December. I am an amateur/”for-fun” triathlete and like to work swimming into my training 1-2 times a week. In Hawaii, it’s very easy to find swimmable beaches with calm water where people respect your space.
Are there any such areas in Japan (specifically around Tokyo)? I looked on Google and most of the results pointed to public pools. Obviously, this is fine if it’s my only option, but I really love swimming in open water! Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks for any and all help
4 comments
Tokyo has islands. Shikine-jima in particular is excellent for swimming with many coves and even underwater hot springs to visit. But it is a long and expensive (or overnight and cheap) ferry ride from central Tokyo.
The pool at the Tokyo American Club is supposed to be excellent, but that alone does not justify the cost to join.
As for public pools, most are horribly crowded. The one good place I have found is actually in Kawaguchi City just over the border into Saitama. The Kawaguchi Shimin Pool in Aokicho Park 青木町公園 is a deep and cool outdoor pool with hardly anyone using it on weekdays.
Gonna be frank here – for open water you’re probably SOL in Tokyo. The closest thing you could do is swim in Tokyo Bay (don’t do this) but aside from that the closest real beaches and swimming spots around going to be about 2 hours *one way* and if you’re working 9-5 there’s no way in hell you’ll ever be making a 4 hour round trip 1-2 times a week if you’re living anywhere central at all. Keep in mind that nearly the entirety of Tokyo Bay is built out with artificial islands and shipyards – not to mention the water is not that clean, certainly not clean enough that you’d want to swim in it. I mean, it’s not like polluted, but it’s not for human pastimes.
Hakkejima Marine park might be the closest beach, but that’s south of Yokohama and as mentioned, probably a 2 hour trip one way.
Hawaii is nice because most of the people there and cities are set up in such a way that you’re probably never more than 15 minutes from the ocean, but remember that the Tokyo metro area is like closer to 2x bigger than the entirety of Oahu.
If you are able to give us a better idea of where you’re going to be living, that would help a ton too.
My neighbor is an avid surfer. Most mornings he gets up before sunrise (and in the summer that’s saying something) and drives around an hour to kujukuri beach in Chiba to get some early morning waves before driving an hour home and getting ready for work.
I’ve talked to other surfers who have a similar routine but instead they go to shonan beach in Kanagawa.
The beaches are only crowded in July & August, which is when they’re officially open and have life guards on duty.
I lived in Hayama for 10 years. The Hayama/Zushi area has swimmable water for what you want. From Tokyo the Chiba area is worth checking out but these areas are hours away from central Tokyo.