Kamakura Beach

There is this beach in Kamakura Japan that we used to always go to; it was about a two mile long strip of sand in a little cove. On one side of the beach it had a jetty that came out; past the waves. At the end of the jetty an old grey stone temple with overgrowth and green moss covering most of it; it had an awesome overlook of the ocean.

In the summertime they would build bars to drink at rite on the sand all along the beach. And then take them down off the beach before the wintertime when the surf gets higher up. I would get a bottle of tequila and a gallon of orange juice; drink some OJ then add a little bit of tequila and keep adding tequila as I go (Hobo Tequila Sunrise). By the end of the day I was pretty much just drinking straight tequila though.

We would go out swimming and boogie boarding in the five to ten foot barrels with the locals. Swimming out, the waves would crash over the top of me and I had to swim under them. I would swim out past where the waves break and would tread in the water. Watching the beach appear and disappear through the ten foot high swells would lift me up and down like a buoy in the water. Then timing it just right, I would catch a wave and come riding the boogie board rite into the shore.

I could just sit there all day drinking and watching everyone surf and see all the beautiful Japanese girls in there bikinis walking up and down the beach. We could always tell who the Yakuza on the beach were, because they would be wearing long sleeve shirts to cover up there tattoos. I would like to think they didn’t flash there ink because they were there on the beach to have a good time just like everyone else, but they probably just didn’t want their tattoos to fade.

The Yakuza controlled a small area at the far end of the beach. They had a beach house close to the water and would be there all day and night parting. I would always stop walking and turn around before I got too close. We found the hard way you don’t walk in front of their house and obstruct their view of the ocean.

At night, all the bars along the beach would put on live music for everyone to enjoy. It started out in the evening with live reggae or classic rock bands and as the evening progressed they would have a DJ up there spinning' records. I was out in Japan during the climax of techno music.

I fallowed the tiki torches down the dark beach and I started to hear the thumping of the techno beat. There were large camp fires with lots people dancing in the sand around them. The DJ booth had green lasers coming off it and I could spot the people with glow sticks and multicolored flashing LED lights. There were some people out wadding in the surf spinning and juggling fire as they dance to the music. Once I got up to the bonfire to dance; only then was I truly free.