Ōmori Beach of Memories Park

photo by Syced · CC0 1.0

photo by Syced · CC0 1.0

White sand brought from Shōdoshima, and no swimming: the river next to it pollutes the water

A beach of pale sand inside Tokyo, with the sand brought by ship from Shōdoshima, in the Inland Sea. You can lie on it, play beach volleyball, bring a kayak, but you do not go into the water, and the sign says so clearly. The tide uncovers a mudflat where children look for shells, and that is the part that recalls what this stretch of coast was before it became a park.

Opened on the first of April 2007, twelve and a half hectares including the water, it was the first park run by a Tokyo municipality with a sand beach and a tidal flat inside it. The area was seaweed country: nori was grown and dried here and sold throughout the city, and a museum opened on 6 April 2008, the Ōmori Nori-no-Furusato-kan, keeps the tools of that trade. The swimming ban is not generic caution, and the municipality states the reason: waste water ends up in the Uchikawa canal, which flows out right next to it, and the water quality is not good enough for bathing.

ℹ️ Free entry. The beach area is open from 5:30 to 21:00 and closes from 29 to 31 December; the plaza is always open. No swimming and no fishing anywhere in the area. You may bring kayaks and rowing boats, but only if you register beforehand, and only if they are under six metres and without a motor. Car park one hundred yen per half hour, shower one hundred yen per five minutes. From Heiwajima Station, on the Keikyū line, it is fifteen minutes on foot.

🚉 Heiwajima · 13 min walk

Sources: city.ota.tokyo.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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