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This was published 12 years ago
Summer on the main island of Japan is hot, humid and often just plain hard work.
The baking heat is omnipresent. In response, much of downtown Tokyo has become a city that lives, ant-like, underground. Venture onto the baking streets and the 35 plus temperature makes you gasp for breath, break out in an instant sweat and, quite simply, dream of being someplace else.
Japan’s Enoshima beach reeks with pollution making it impossible to feel refreshed on hot days.Credit:Glenn Carmichael
So it is not surprising that during these muggy summer months the Japanese consider a trip to the beach an important escape.
For the 30-odd million people around Tokyo many will choose to visit the Shonan Peninsula and, in particular, the numerous beaches around Enoshima Island.
The mess on Japan’s Enoshima beach made one long for the crisp beauty of Sydney’s Bondi.Credit:Glenn Carmichael
Now Enoshima is famous for several things including the island itself, which sits a few hundred metres offshore. It is where Benzaiten, the goddess of music and entertainment is enshrined. It also features picture postcard views of Mount Fuji, especially during the clearer winter months. A short one-hour trip by train from Tokyo, the area has always been a popular place to visit.
It is easy to see the parallels with Sydney's Bondi Beach. Close to town. Picture postcard views. A melting pot of old and young people. A thriving tourism industry and firmly entrenched local community. And, critically, a heaving mass of humanity during the summer months.
However this is where the similarity ends.
Over the past few decades, Australia has worked diligently to protect the natural environment and keep our beaches in great condition. This has not been difficult as, for many Australians, a visit to the beach is almost a spiritual experience. A place of contemplation. A spiritual cleansing of sorts. Pure white sand and crystal clear waters.
Unfortunately, the Japanese summer hordes save their spiritual activities for the shrines and temples . . . and treat Enoshima's beaches with total contempt.
For two months during the summer the beach is a pigsty. Fast food wrappers, empty beer and soft drink cans, dog turds, broken glass, rotting fruit, a million plastic bags and a billion cigarette butts. The smell of decay makes one want to dry retch.
It is futile trying to escape the crud by getting into the water — it feels like an oil slick. And faeces floats everywhere.
During summer, the Government also builds wooden structures on the sand – yes, on public land — and rents them out to the highest bidder as food marts, tanning salons and beach bars. Convenient? Yes. Attractive? No. Sacrilegious? I think so.
Then there is the built environment surrounding the beach. It is understandable that the sea walls are high and strong. Tsunamis are a real threat. However, concrete in a natural setting never works that well — especially given how much concrete is in sight. It is not just the concrete seawalls. It is the concrete buildings. The roads. The jetty. Concrete is sprayed everywhere. You know the area is in trouble when you start referring to concrete as a colour.
The surrounding infrastructure on the shoreline – including tacky love hotels, gaudy food chains and ugly car lots manned by aggressive dudes flogging parking spaces – does nothing to help.
The environment at Enoshima Beach really is a bizarre contradiction for a nation that prides itself on cleanliness and orderly behaviour. I was always led to believe that the Japanese truly respect their natural environment. Or perhaps Enoshima Beach is simply a pressure valve for Tokyoites in summer . . . where they can strip off not just their clothes but also any respect they have for their surroundings.
That it takes place at one of the key locations to view Mount Fuji – Japan's Uluru — is just a tragedy. This place has so much potential during summer. Instead it is a disaster zone.
The failings of the government to seriously address this issue deserve attention. However, I suspect other pressing matters, such as the state of the economy, take priority. When iconic Japan Airlines is struggling to survive who gives a stuff about a beach being a toxic waste dump during summer?
Back to summer in Sydney and I have just finished a body bash at Bondi Beach. Clean air. Clean white sands. Crystal clear water.
With 'Bondi Rescue' cameras rolling, I watch as one of the lifeguards instructs about 30 kids to pick up their empty bottles and fish and chip wrappers before they leave the beach.
After living through several Japanese summers on Enoshima beach, I couldn't help but smile and think this the way it should be.
Matthew Abrahams is an entrepreneur. In 2009 he returned from a three-year stint in Japan where he worked in Tokyo and lived near Enoshima Beach.
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