Neil Duckett

Over the past week i’ve had a great mate of mine from Australia in town. Motts has made the most of his time here in Tokyo and has also managed to get a few days down to Kyoto mid week and a day in Nagoya Sunday for the Sumo.

Motts has been a massive supporter and regular reader of this site since it’s launch and it was great to show him somethings i love about Japan first hand. On the weekend It was too hot to do the next installment on the JR Yamanote Line although he was angling for it … instead we spent a lazy Saturday down at Shonan Beach, Enoshima.

Shonan Beach is about an hour away on the Odakyu line if you take the Limited Express Romance Car, the hour is made easy with a few cans of the local brew.

It was hands down, one of the best days i’ve had in Japan, sitting in a bar on the beach is something i’ve done in many many countries and Saturday was the first time i’d done it in Japan.

It’s a different side of Japan down that way, and the memories of past holidays in Ilha da Itaparica in Brazil and Jomtien Beach in Thailand came flooding back.

The beach isn’t exactly the golden sand of the Gold Coast and the water isn’t the bluest in the world, there’s also plenty of shite that’s been washed up on the shores.

All that aside, Shonan Beach was and is a lot of fun, i will be back, many times throughout this summer.

Time for a beer before hitting the sand. Beers are a tad expensive but you have to expect that at a tourist destination like this … 600 yen isn’t that bad.

There’s a good crowd down there on the weekends, stretching quite a long way up the beach.

Plenty of tanned bodies, male and female.

The first sign of a bar on the beach, things were certainly looking up.

And looking up further again.

Old mate hasn’t just gone half way here, he’s oiled himself up a bit too.

The water was surprisingly warm.

This looks like us for the day, as much as it’s great to get down the beach, it’s nice to get out of the direct sun and keep yourself hydrated.

It wouldn’t be a true beach bar if the barman wasn’t shirtless and shoeless.

It doesn’t take long to meet other patrons of the bar. Motts has caught on to the mandatory peace sign in photos already.

Too bad the bloke taking the photo had a thing for the roof and not more of the girls.

The girls numbers grew throughout the day, as did our dialog with them. Oh to be 19 again.

I actually had some video footage of the girls but did 2 things wrong, 1 didn’t change the setting to beach so i caught a LOT of glare and 2 i had it set to full HD so i’m not able to upload to Vimeo. That’s reason enough to go back down there.

The bar i spent most of the day, doesn’t look like much but the basic ones are often the best.

Taking advantage of the outside shower.

Heading back up the walkway the crowds were dispersing quickly.

Over the river and back to the station.

Some likely lads cruising in the Impala.

Even the station was a highlight down Enoshima.

While we waited for the Romance Car we managed another brewski.

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