Everyone is crazy about this beach: Sea, sand and snow meet and form an extraordinary landscape

A beach with sea and sand is common, but if we add snow to the equation, the scenery becomes a magnet for travelers and photographers from all over the world.

Otsu
The photograph that is running the world. Photo: Hisa Matsumura

Covid-19, Flu A, fuel crisis, Euro2024, political and social controversies. The last few days seem to go hand in hand with the state of the weather: unstable and troubled.

If, on the one hand, this second week of July is being fickle from a meteorological point of view, some everyday events are not far behind. But not everyone is bad. In fact, some are so chaotic that they become the target of fascination.

Pink lakes, musical caves, marble caves. There are several natural and visually impressive (but equally confusing) phenomena that deserve to be visited. However, there is only one beach that combines water, sea and snow.

Yes, you read it right. It seems like a scenario as incomprehensible as the weather forecast for this week (with temperatures with highs and downs and rain that comes and goes... and comes again), but that's the way it is.

Imagine a beach where golden sand mixes with pure white snow. Next door, the blue sea completes the picture. This is precisely the dazzling natural phenomenon that occurs in Japan, and that is winning the attention of the world.

On Otsu beach, located on the coast of the city of Toyokoro, in Hokkaido (the second largest island in Japan), sand, sea and snow meet to turn the panorama into a unique visual spectacle. But beware, because this representation is limited and temporary. What does this mean? That happens every year, yes, but for a short period of time.

If, from March to December, this destination is nothing more than a common beach, between January and February, thousands of snow enthusiasts and animals such as seals, sea eagles and Steller sea lions, come together in Otsu to take advantage of that environment of extremes.

Those who have already been there have no doubts: it really looks like one of those places out of a movie. We are not surprised to know, therefore, that even NASA has studied this phenomenon.

Why does this happen?

It all starts on the Amur River in Russia, which, at the end of October, begins to freeze due to the cold winds of eastern Siberia. These are also responsible for dragging seawater into the river water. This junction causes the water mass to become cooler and then freezes, and the ice is transported south.

"Through the Sea of Okhotsk, the ice follows the Sakhalin Stream and then reaches the island of Hokkaido," reads an article published by 'Versa'.

It is more precisely on Otsu beach that the ice stays until mid-March, and after melting, the beach is again like any other we know.

Otsu
The ice crystals.

Such ice stones that lodge in the sand are polished by the grains and have a look of precious stones - a phenomenon known as "ice gems", which attracts tourists and photographers from all over the world.

In fact, this beach became especially known in 2021, when professional photographer Hisa Matsumura shared on Instagram a photograph that shows the whole scene: the encounter between the sea, sand and snow.

San'in Kaigan Geopark: A UNESCO Heritage Site

And it is not only because of the incredible phenomenon that this beach is special. Otsu is part of the San'in Kaigan Geopark, declared Global Geopark by UNESCO in 2010.

Here there are several geological phenomena related to the formation of the Sea of Japan. "There are estuaries, dunes, sandbanks and volcanoes, valleys and rare plants that form an environment full of biodiversity that covers cities, towns and provinces where about 400,000 people live," wrote the 'MAGG'.

"Since the region has suffered some earthquakes, there are even geosites where you can visit the heritage related to natural disasters. There are also thermal sources often used for medicinal purposes."