How Japan Chose Its 100 Best Bathing Beaches

Japan has thousands of bathing beaches, and for decades the official honours came in shorter lists: 55 beaches chosen in 1998, then 88 in 2001. In May 2006 the Ministry of the Environment went further. From 191 beaches nominated by local governments around the country, it selected 100 as the 100 Best Bathing Beaches — in Japanese, the Kaisuiyokujō Hyakusen.

Five ways of looking at a beach

Rather than rank beaches on water quality alone, the ministry scored each one from one to five stars on five different points of view. Beauty covers the scenery and how the beach sits in its landscape. Cleanliness covers the water and the sand. Calm is about how relaxing the place feels. Gentleness takes in safety, lifeguards, facilities and barrier-free access — how kind the beach is to the people who use it. Richness looks at the nature around the beach and the life of the community that keeps it. Every beach page in this guide shows the five scores the judges gave, so you can look for the kind of beach you actually want: the five-star-beauty bay and the five-star-calm local beach are rarely the same place.

The special selections

Twelve beaches were singled out for a further honour, the special selection: ten on the sea, one on a lake — Lake Biwa's Makino Sunny Beach — and one on an island, Honjima Tomari in the Seto Inland Sea. They are marked with a badge throughout this guide.

An old list, honestly labelled

The selection dates from 2006 and has not been re-run since. Facilities change, and a beach's official swimming season, lifeguard cover and current water quality are things to confirm with the town or city before you travel — each beach page links its facts to the official sources they came from. What the list still gives you, better than any ranking since, is a complete map of the beaches Japan's own judges thought most worth keeping: famous white-sand bays like Shirarahama, volcanic coves on the Sanriku coast, castle-town beaches, and small local strands that no international guidebook has ever printed.