Japan
Tottori Sand Dunes
Wind-rippled dunes rise above the Sea of Japan, with camel rides across the sand.
Japan has a desert, or the nearest thing to one. Dunes rise fifty metres from Tottori's coast on the Sea of Japan, shaped by wind into ridges and bowls that shift with every storm. The landscape defies every postcard of Japan — no temples, no cherry blossom, no bamboo. Just sand, wind, and the improbable sight of camels silhouetted against the sea.
The Tottori Sand Dunes run for some sixteen kilometres along the coast and up to two kilometres inland, the largest dunes in Japan. They took shape over 100,000 years from sediment the Sendai River carried down from the Chūgoku mountains and the sea and wind threw back at the land. The biggest bowl, the Ō-suribachi, drops fifty metres from rim to floor, and on its slopes the sand collapses into curtain patterns while the wind combs ripples across the rest. Camel rides, sandboarding and paragliding operate on the dunes, and the Sand Museum next door commissions sculptors from around the world to build a new exhibition each year from nothing but sand and water.
Family
Sandboarding, a camel ride and the Sand Museum give families a full day entirely unlike anything else in Japan.
Friends
Paragliding off the dune crest, sandboarding races, and the plain novelty of a desert day in Japan make this a group highlight.
Couple
The dunes at sunset, when the ridgelines throw long shadows and the Sea of Japan turns gold, are worth the trip on their own.
- Dunes up to fifty metres high run for sixteen kilometres along the Sea of Japan — the largest sand dunes in the country.
- Paragliders launch from the dune crests on the wind off the Sea of Japan.
- Camel rides, sandboarding and fat-tyre cycling operate across the dune field in the warmer months.
- The Sand Museum next door unveils a new exhibition of sand sculpture by international artists every year.
Matsuba crab hauled from the winter sea, legs snapped and dipped in vinegar.
Tottori's pear, the twentieth-century nashi, crisp and dripping, sold at stalls from late summer.
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