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| A view of Sotoura Beach. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
On Monday, July 31, I visited Sotoura Beach in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, for the first time. Given that it's the southernmost point on the Izu Peninsula, it goes without saying that it took me a long time to get there. Luckily, I was able to take an limited-express train directly to Izukyu-Shimoda Station from Yokohama Station for 5,000 yen, a rather reasonable price. On the way back, however, there were no more limited-express trains in service, so I had to take local trains. (Thankfully, I didn't have to change trains a whole lot, but it certainly was a long trip back!)
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Why did I travel so far to see this random beach? Well, it's a filming location in The War of the Gargantuas (1966)! Some locals are trying to pull a heavy object out of the ocean before the thing they're trying to pull starts pulling them toward the water instead. Then Gaira suddenly pops out of the sea, sending the terrified locals scurrying away.
It's a fairly short scene in the movie, but it's one that made an impression, especially the triangular rock (or would that be an islet?) seen in the background. I first saw War of the Gargantuas when I was about eight years old, which was the perfect age to see this movie. I never thought I'd one day walk around the beach featured in the film, but life is full of surprises.
Since school's out in Japan, there were a lot of families at the beach, so photographing the area was a little tricky. Still, I was able to get some pretty good shots without swimmers or other beach-goers in them, so it all worked out in the end.
I didn't go swimming, even though I considered it. With all the stuff I brought with me, I decided it would've been too much trouble. I haven't ruled out returning someday with a lighter load and a bigger emphasis on having fun than documenting a filming location, but we'll see how that plays out. Even if this visit turns out to be a one and done for me, I'm pretty satisfied with it.
Below are just some of the photos I took at Sotoura Beach. Enjoy!
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