Golden Week 6#: Oki Beach

I left the surfers and drove another kilometre or so down the road to be hit with a sign pointing to Oki Beach. Joy of joys, there was a proper camping site in a grassy field next to the mouth of a small river that emptied into the sea. This was my spot. There was a reason why asizuri Hanto had been so packed. I was meant to stay here instead.


Golden Week officially started the next day and I met a fellow gaigin who was setting up a series of tents for friends that were coming down later. He assured me that by the next morning the camp site would be completely packed as people left work and headed down overnight to spend a few days surfing, camping and chilling out. Oki Beach is one of the most famous spots in Japan for longboard riders.

I put up my tent, marked out my spot and headed back into town to stock up on food and beer, revelling in the idea of a day on a beautiful white sand beach with lush Pacific water to swim in. Over the next few hours his friends turned up and we all made a good show of being on holiday. Throughout the night I was woken many times by cars arriving and noisily setting up camp in the dark. I awoke the next morning to find cars and tents crammed in next to each other. Everywhere you looked surfers were waxing boards and consuming breakfast beers. What was reallycool was that all the girlfriends were surfing too. I discovered why some people at least favour really big people mover vans. Many people had transformed their cars into surf vehicles with beds, storage areas and surfboard hangers built in.

I went for an early morning swim and made myself some breakfast and then spent a truly excellent day on the beach. It was the first hot day of the summer to come and you couldn't wish for better weather.

The next day was grey and cloudy and I decided to move on. This was what the camping spot looked like at this time. Only in Japan could people camp on top of each other in perfect harmony.