Shichirigahama

Where it sits. Shichirigahama is the long dark beach on the western side of Kamakura, curving for roughly three kilometres from the rocky headland of Inamuragasaki to the fishing quarter of Koshigoe. The name reads as "seven-ri beach", but the ri involved is the short local Kamakura ri of about 654 metres rather than the standard unit of nearly four kilometres, which is why the arithmetic lands under three kilometres instead of twenty-seven. The sand is grey-black because it carries a heavy load of magnetite eroded out of the Tanzawa and Hakone volcanic rocks; hold a magnet close and the grains stand up on end. The beach faces southwest across Sagami Bay, so Enoshima sits offshore to the right, the ridge of the Izu Peninsula closes the far side, and Mount Fuji rises directly behind the island through the clear months.

What stands behind the sand. There is no promenade in the European sense. National Route 134 runs the length of the beach on a low embankment, and above it the Enoshima Electric Railway threads the bluff, with Shichirigahama Station tucked into a curve of houses. The Kamakura Prince Hotel occupies the headland at the eastern end, and Kanagawa Prefectural Shichirigahama High School stands on the same rise. At the western end, a low cluster of buildings known as Weekend House Alley holds the beachfront restaurants that made the area a Tokyo weekend fixture — the Australian breakfast import that opened there in 2008 is still the reason a queue forms at ten in the morning. A large public car park sits behind the seawall, which is why the beach fills faster on sunny weekends than its size suggests.

The history in the sand. This coast has been a stage for a long time. In 1333 Nitta Yoshisada's army worked around the Inamuragasaki point to break into Kamakura and end the shogunate, and the headland still carries a monument to it. On 23 January 1910 a rowing boat carrying pupils of Zushi Kaisei school capsized off the beach and twelve boys drowned; the disaster produced one of the best-known Japanese elegies of the era and a bronze memorial of two mourning sisters that still stands in the small park on Inamuragasaki. From the 1960s the same water became one of the founding grounds of Japanese surfing, and the Shōnan surf industry that grew up along Route 134 has never left.

On screen. Shichirigahama and its immediate surroundings have carried a remarkable amount of animation. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is set here in all but name: its Minegahara High School is drawn from Shichirigahama High School on the bluff, and the seawall, the bus stops, the station and the crossing gates recur through the series with the buildings intact. The Slam Dunk crossing sits at the beach's western end. Elfen Lied opens on this shore, and live-action drama crews and car commercials use the Route 134 stretch constantly, usually shooting westward into the late sun. The result is that a great many visitors arrive already knowing what the place looks like from a specific angle.

The water, honestly. Shichirigahama is a surf beach, not a swimming beach. Unlike Yuigahama and Zaimokuza on Kamakura's other side, it is not run as a supervised bathing beach in summer — there are no lifeguard towers and no seasonal beach huts, the shore drops away quickly and rip currents along the middle section are strong and well documented. People do swim, but they do so unsupervised. Kamakura's beach ordinances also apply here: smoking is restricted on the sand, and rules introduced after complaints about noise and drinking limit what can be run on the beach in summer. The sand is coarse and stony in places, so footwear helps.

Getting there and timing. Shichirigahama Station on the Enoden is about eight minutes from Kamakura and twenty-five from Fujisawa, with the beach two minutes downhill through an underpass. Driving is possible but Route 134 jams solid on fine weekends and through the summer, particularly late in the day when everyone stops for the sunset. The rewarding season is the cold half of the year: from roughly November to February the air is dry, the horizon is sharp, the sun sets over the sea rather than the land, and the silhouette of Fuji behind Enoshima appears most afternoons. Autumn brings typhoon swell and the best surf; June is grey and humid; the beach at seven in the morning in any season belongs to dog walkers and the line-up.