Arab News Japan

TOKYO: If Japanese are looking to experience the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula without leaving Japan, they could head toward Tottori Prefecture on the Japan Sea coast to visit Tottori Sand Dunes.

Tottori Sand Dunes extends along the Sea of Japan coast near Tottori City. The area is designated as a special protected section of the San’in Coastal National Park, spreading 2.4 kilometers north to south and 16 kilometers east to west.

San’in Coastal National Park was designated as quasi-national park in 1955 and was promoted to a national park in 1963. More than 1 million tourists visit the dunes every year.

The dunes were formed over 10,000 years ago from the granite rocks of the Chugoku Mountains that were blasted into sand and carried by sea and wind to the coast.

While the sand may resemble a desert, dunes are in fact different from deserts. A dune is a mound or hill of sand piled up by the wind, while a desert is an area where the annual precipitation is less than 250mm, or a place that has an excess of evaporation over precipitation. Tottori gets plenty of precipitation throughout the year although the heat can be desert-like at times in the summer.

The Tottori Sand Dunes are proud of their desert-like appearance, which explains the presence of camels in the area that tourists can ride. It may not be Arabia, but it can sometimes feel like it.