Katase Enoshima Eastside Beach

I thought this was the first time but thanks to my blog I found out I came here almost to the day six years ago!

Although I did come to Enoshima beach, last time it was Katase Nishihama Beach (Westside). I was a bit confused with the names of the beaches around here. Was it Shonan, Katase or Enoshima beach?

After a bit of research and translating, Shonan refers to this coast of beaches, similar to how Kujikurihama covers the Chiba side. Some say Katase, and others says Katase-Enoshima so that's my conclusion!

Enoshima beach is split by Enoshima Island, which one day I might check out if I have enough time. It looks interesting.

To get here the cheapest way is via the Odakyu line (610 yen). From Shinjuku you can take a one hour rapid train to Fujisawa station, and then walk to the opposite side of the platform to get the local service which terminates at Katase-Enoshima station. From there you take a short walk across the footbridge and either go the Higashihama (east) side, or the Nishihama (west) side of the beach. Super easy.

Enoshima Beach feels very different from other beaches I've been to. Today was absolutely packed.    The loudspeaker was blaring incredibly loud with horrible J-pop, and announcements that seemed to come every five minutes.

The crowd here were quite young. My first question I felt like asking was "How old are you?" in case I was chatting up some jailbait. Seriously! Also, once I got in the water I felt like there were many more guys than girls here :(

The water is quite shallow so this would be a good place for kids, although it's noticeably dirtier with tiny furry algae, and I noticed a used bandaid floating by. Ew. Maybe it was just today but I seemed to get stung by jellyfish particles more often than usual. Every now and then I heard someone say "Ittai" (ouch!).

By the time 5pm rolled around, they started playing the go home music ("Auld Lang Syne", the default closing time song in Japan). For a beach? That's pretty strange. Once that finished and people started going home, it was quite blissful hearing the natural sound of waves. Almost felt like a different beach!

A big disappointment though is this beach is SO dirty. A lot of people just leave their trash on the beach when they go home. Lots of blue tarps and empty bottles, cigarettes left behind. I saw a floatie ring that it seems like every girl has when they go to the beach.

I grabbed it to take next time. It was pretty difficult to let the air out though. That's probably why. Anyhow, it's mine now, and it's pink!