THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
May 29, 2020 at 17:21 JST
Popular tourist spot Enoshima island seen from Katase Higashihama Beach in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, on May 28 (Tadahiro Hata)
FUJISAWA, Kanagawa Prefecture--Beaches close to Tokyo that are normally jam-packed will probably not open to swimmers this summer due to fears about a spread of the novel coronavirus.
Kanagawa prefectural authorities set strict conditions in proposed guidelines on opening beaches, such as only allowing those who made reservations to use hugely popular “umi-no-ie” beach huts that offer food, drink and shower facilities.
As a result, Kugenuma Beach, also known as Katase Nishihama Beach, and Katase Higashihama Beach are unlikely to open this summer.
Associations that operate the beaches are in the final stage of deciding whether to open the beaches, and will soon report their decision to the Fujisawa city government, sources said.
The beaches, located near the popular tourist spot of Enoshima island, draw hordes of visitors, mainly from the Tokyo metropolitan area, each summer.
According to the Environment Ministry, Katase Nishihama Beach was the country's most popular beach with 1.014 million visitors in fiscal 2018. The figure for Katase Higashihama Beach was 554,000 visitors.
Other municipalities in Kanagawa Prefecture, such as the Chigasaki city and Oiso town governments, separately announced they will not open Southern Beach Chigasaki and Oiso Beach this summer.
In the Kansai region, the Kobe city government announced May 27 it will cancel the opening of Suma Beach and other local beaches.
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