Shirarahama Beach

Shirarahama is a beach of white sand on the coast of Shirahama, in Wakayama Prefecture. It runs for about 620 metres and draws around 600,000 visitors a year. The town takes its name from it.

The sand is quartz, about 90 per cent silica, which makes it white and very fine. Against it the water reads emerald green. Palms and pines stand along the back of the beach. Shirarahama is on the national list of a hundred good bathing beaches.

The bathing season opens during Golden Week, the run of national holidays at the start of May, which makes Shirarahama the earliest beach on Honshu to open each year. Swimming continues until the middle of September, and lifeguards watch the water through the season.

For part of the year an open-air onsen bath called Shirasuna stands on the beach itself, and can be used in a swimsuit.