A wide park beside the beach to play in
The sea is about average here, but the vast park beside the beach is wonderfully open. There is plenty of shade, barbecues are allowed, and it is a very easy place to spend time.
There are five pavilions like the one in the photograph, spaced along the green in front of the beach, and the green has plenty of tree shade as well. You can take your time here looking out at a beautiful sea.
The park beside the beach has an open space where ball games such as catch and football are allowed. There is a basketball court and a skateboard park too, and because the children's centre is close by there is some small playground equipment for children. At weekends the open space is sometimes given over to football tournaments and the like, but even then there is plenty of room for a family to play.
You can barbecue on a broad stretch of lawn. The day I took this photograph was a weekday, but on early-summer weekends it fills with local people. The barbecue plots here have no time limit, so you can spend the whole day. Students who have finished eating form a circle and play volleyball.
The grains of sand on the seabed are fine, so the water clouds easily. The photograph shows it on a clear day with calm waves — you cannot expect better clarity than this. The gradation is a little below average for an Okinawan beach. On a clear day you get a fair showing of the clear blue at the water's edge, the emerald green inshore and the deep blue further out.
If you are not going into the sea, the pavilions described among the things to recommend are the best place to escape the sun. If you are swimming, claiming a patch of tree shade beside the beach will keep you cool. There are three or four patches large enough for several people to sit in.
The toilets and the foot rinse are free and open 365 days a year, from 9 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. The showers are coin-operated at ¥100 a time and are available in summer only, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Even in high season no beach hut or kiosk opens here, and the nearest convenience store is a good ten minutes' walk away. There is a drinks vending machine beside the beach. If I had to name places to eat that are reasonably close and worth the trip: Parlour Wakaba, a cheap and generous local Okinawan diner; Petit Restaurant Emerald, a Western restaurant that is petit in name only; and, for an Okinawan-style bento, Parlour Kitty.
One plot (9 m × 9 m) costs ¥2,160. It is available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and you may stay the whole time; the lights come on after dark. Bookings are handled by the Nago City Labour Welfare Centre (0980-52-3183), open from 9 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. (until 5 p.m. on Sundays). All they book is the plot — equipment, food, mats and tents you have to bring yourself. The most popular supplier of equipment and food is Ganaha Meat. Even the ¥864 per person course comes with 250 g of meat, two yakitori skewers, two sausages and vegetables, and they deliver the equipment and food and collect it afterwards. Besides Ganaha Meat, I have seen gas stoves from Tokumura Shokuhin here.
There is no hire of marine gear or beach parasols at any time of year.
Marine activities are not allowed at this beach. In return, the sea here is quiet.
Snorkelling is forbidden both inside and outside the swimming area. In winter, when there are no lifeguards, nobody will stop you, but the reef here is not clearly formed, so even swimming out will show you few fish.
You can practise yoga on the beach at 21st Century Forest all year round. The scent of the sea breeze, the sound of the waves, the warmth of the sun, the gradations of the sea, the changing sky — yoga is a way of taking in the nature of Okinawa with your whole body. Book beach yoga here.
As noted among the points to check above, the sand on the seabed is fine and soft, so the slightest wave action brings the clarity down.
In Japanese (for maps, taxis and car navigation): 21世紀の森ビーチ 沖縄県名護市宮里２丁目２
We run beach yoga here too. Check availability and book in a few steps.