Camping at Kotohikihama Beach
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
This summer we took a few camping road trips to explore more of Japan. One of my favorite places by far was Kotohikihama beach. This beach was amazing for a variety of reasons and we definitely hope to visit again.
 |
| Beach at Kotohimihama - Kyoto, Japan |
 |
| Alex on the beach at sunset |
Kotohikihama is on the Sea of Japan side about six hours from Nara, in the Kyoto Prefecture. A fellow teacher recommended this beach and loaned us her tent to camp for a few days. The camp was perched on a cliff of sorts overlooking the Sea of Japan with the ocean shore just below. We visited in August so the weather was hot and perfect for swimming, beach combing, and snorkeling.
I have not been a big fan or snorkeling since I had a not so pleasant experience in Hawaii with fish that were too comfortable with tourists nibbling my arms for food. I have since stayed primarily on the beach venturing into the ocean generally when I get too hot and then only to cool off and return to the much more predicable shore.
The first thing we noticed about the beach was that it made this really cool sound when we ran on it or slid our feet on it. The beach is known as a singing beach or in Japanese, "Nakisuna" which literally means singing sand or harp-playing beach. It was really, really cool and I have never been on a beach like it.
 |
| Stephanie on the singing sand beach |
The snorkeling was fantastic and I broke tradition and spent a fair bit of time snorkeling along the rock formations near the shore. Visibility was roughly 30 - 40 feet and there were a ton of creatures to been seen and in the case of our family, captured. We brought small nets and buckets which were soon filled with starfish, octopus, baby flounder, sea urchins, sand dollars, large snails and a variety of other colorful small fish. Our family thoroughly enjoyed the beach and tried to savor every moment.
 |
| Starfish and another salt water fish |
 |
| Octopus Bob caught in the reef |
 |
| Alex holding the octopus - why, well because he could |
 |
| Our treasures for the day snorkeling |
Octopus is a very popular menu item here in Japan and several people came over when we caught this one to tell us how to cook it and that it is very oishi or delicious. You can see it gets tired of being messed with and inks the water while Alex is trying to pick it up.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, there was a natural onsen on the BEACH! There was an outdoor onsen, (think hot tub) built right on the beach and each morning about nine they would turn on a pump to fill the onsen with water and leave it on until the beach officially "closed" about five pm. It was really hot and a great way to warm up after getting cold snorkeling in the ocean.
The facility had showers and bathrooms so it was much more like camping at a state park than roughing it like we have on some occasions. We BBQ'd Japanese style and wished we could stay much long.
 |
| Japanese style BBQ at the beach |
We also met a Japanese family from Osaka who invited us to light fireworks with them and hangout one evening. It was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to get back and spend more time at this gem. We ended up giving the octopus we caught to this family instead of eating it ourselves.
 |
| Family from Osaka who invited us to set off fireworks with them |
In His service with a gratitude,
K. Chadduck