Photo/Illutration The observation deck in Shirasaki Ocean Park in Yura, Wakayama Prefecture, on April 10 (Shinichi Katsube)

YURA, Wakayama Prefecture--A coast here is attracting hordes of visitors with a view so magnificent that it’s been nicknamed “Japan’s Aegean Sea.”

“We will show off the spot’s beauty and draw in even more people,” said a representative of Yura town.

Shirasaki Ocean Park, home to the Shirasaki coast and marked by clear waters and white rocks, hosted more than 160,000 tourists last year, a record high over the five years from 2017.

“The fact that it’s outdoors means there’s less risk of visitors contracting coronavirus infections,” said a representative of Yura town’s tourism promotion division. “It’s also closer to the Keihanshin area around Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe (than other tourist destinations in Wakayama Prefecture).”

A music video featuring Hyde, a famous musician hailing from Wakayama, was filmed at the park and released last summer. It likely contributed to the tourism boom, the municipal official said.

There were 48,300 sightseers between September and November.

The upward trend has continued despite the overall decrease in sightseeing nationwide amid the ongoing health scare.

A captivating sight comprising the blue Pacific and white limestone can be seen from the Shirasaki coast. Though limestone was aggressively dug up from the Meiji Era (1868-1912) through the Showa Era (1926-1989) for cement production, the mining site was shut down in 1972.

Shirasaki Ocean Park started operations in 1997, and it is characterized by a log house, an observation deck, a camping site and a diving facility equipped with one of the country’s largest divers’ pools.

There were 148,587 visitors in 2017, according to Yura town. The figure was down to 102,714 in 2018 because the park was temporarily closed after being severely damaged by Typhoon No. 21 in September.

The observation deck and tourism information bureau reopened in April 2019, while a souvenir store and a restaurant resumed operations in October that year. Annual visitors, however, were a meager 59,064.

Shirasaki Ocean Park closed for a month in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus crisis. An accommodation facility began accepting guests on May 22 that year to coincide with the park’s restart, bringing the tourist number back to 117,987.

The visitor number further rose to 165,948 in 2021.

According to preliminary data from Wakayama Prefecture’s sightseer survey, 24.8 million tourists, 30 percent lower than the record number logged in 2019, traveled to the prefecture last year.

Of them, 4.6 million visited Wakayama city and 2.4 million went to the noted resort area in Shirahama.

Both figures were down 30 percent from 2019 as well.

Yura town plans to have a designated administrator, such as a private company or organization, operate Shirasaki Ocean Park from April 2023.

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