The 2.1 km and 3.7 km courses of Tokushima Kaiyo Open Water Swim are held amid small offshore islands and beautiful reefs of the Takegashima Marine Park on the Japanese island of Shikoku. The 2.1 km course tends to be more tranquil while the 3.7 km course is swum in the rougher waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Held in late October and organized by World Aquatics open water swimming official Tamako Kihara, the 24.5°C waters of Tokushima are warmed by the Kuroshio Current – which is analogous to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean where its warm, tropical water flow along the eastern seaboard of Japan, then northwards toward the Arctic region.
Race Registration
For more information, visit the race website here and its Facebook page here.
Transportation
For swimmers outside Japan, flights are available from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport directly to the Tokushima Awaodori Airport where swimmers can take rental cars to the relatively isolated coastline of southeastern Shikoku. I took a beautiful 19-hour ferry boat ride from Tokyo to Tokushima, departing Tokyo as the sun set, sleeping overnight on the boat, waking to a dramatic sunrise, and riding down the eastern coastline of Japan via the Ocean Tokyu Ferry service to Tokushima.
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