"We went to the beach on the mainland," said a foreign friend, "and it wasn't very nice."
Why not? I wondered. The Seto Inland Sea has some great beaches.
"Well," she said, "first of all we had to pay ¥1,000 just to park the car. Then another ¥1,000 for a one-tatami mat size shade structure that would have protected us from the sun for only an hour or two before the afternoon rays would have come in anyway. The whole experience made going to the beach more like a business. We just wanted to hang out at the beach for a day!"