DESERT in Japan!!Must see this AMAZING place!!鳥取砂丘 鳥取県鳥取市

Desert in Japan!!Must see this amazing place!!鳥取砂丘 鳥取県鳥取市

Explore Japan's Vast Sand Dunes
National Park

Tottori Sand Dunes are the one part of San'in Coast National Park, designated as national park in 1963, having diverse geomorphological and geological features.
Especially, Tottori Sand Dunes were also designated as a national natural treasure being evaluated as scientifically valuable, due to its undulation as a coastal dune, unique geographical features and plant communities peculiar to dunes, including wind ripples, Saren (stripe pattern on sand), sand poles, and round leaf chaste tree (vitex rotundifolia).

Created by Nature

Tottori Sand Dunes are the masterpiece of nature created over thousands of years.
This great dunes measures 16 km from east to west, and 2 km from north to south. “The hill of sand,” carried by wind and Sendai River that flows from Chugoku Mountains, has been accumulating for 100,000 years, and thus the expansiveness fascinates 1.3 million people who visit annually.
There are many unique geographical features and tourist spots, and you can see their various expressions that change according to the seasons and the time of the day.

It’s just like a natural theme park.

The Tottori Sand Dunes (鳥取砂丘, Tottori sakyū) are sand dunes located near the city of Tottori in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. They form the only large dune system (over 30 km²) in Japan.

The dunes were created by sediment deposits carried from the Chūgoku Mountains by the Sendai River into the Sea of Japan. Sea currents and wind help bring the sand from the bottom up onto the shore, where the wind constantly rearranges their shape. The dunes have existed for over 100,000 years, but the area of the dunes has been steadily decreasing due to a government reforestation program following World War II. Additionally, concrete barriers erected to protect the coast (the part of Sanin Kaigan National Park) from tsunamis have disrupted the currents responsible for bringing the sand to shore. Authorities have adopted measures to stop the shrinkage of the dunes, partly because they attract a significant amount of tourism to the area. The Tottori prefectural government has attempted to dump sand off the shore near the dunes in the hopes that it will wash ashore, as well as employing the manual removal of encroaching grassy areas.The lasting ability for these efforts to protect the dunes is as yet unknown. Each year, around two million visitors—mostly from within Japan and East Asia—visit the dunes.

The Sand Museum

The Sand Museum in Tottori Sand Dunes is the only indoor museum exhibited sand sculpture specially. They exhibit the highest quality sand sculptures every year by the executive producer and the professional sculptor from all over the world.

"Tottori Sand Dunes" are the materpiece of nature created over thousands of years.
At such a vast nature, "the Sand Museum" was opened on November 18, 2006. They exhibit sand sculpture using sand from dunes, following our purpose to get to know the beauty and possibility of sand.
The exective producer, Katsuhiko Chaen, the Japanese sand sculptor, and we invite world-class sculptors from all over the world and creat sand sculptures. Thanks to them, we can see the highest level of sand sculptures exhibit in the world every year.
They change the theme and exhibition every year based on our exhibit concept, "Travel around the World in Sand." After finishing exhibition term, sand sculptures come back to sand. You can only see these for a brief time. However, this is the biggest attraction of sand sculptures. These are temporary and non-permament art. Once you visit here, let's enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime oppotunity to meet our sand sculptures.

They opened in 2006, and the 1st exhibiton, "Italy / Renaissance", is perfectly open-air exhibition. Then, the 2nd ""World Heritage / Asia Edition", the 3rd "Austria", and the 4th "Africa" were held under the huge tent.
For more comfortable and accesible envirionment, they build the special exhibition hall in 2011, and we re-open as the first indoor museum for sand sculpture in April, 2012. The 5th exhibition is "The United Kingdom". The 6th "Southeast Asia", the 7th "Russia", the 8th "Germany", the 9th "South America", the 10th "The United States of America", the 11th "The Nordic Countries", and the 12th "South Asia" were held in every year.
Then, the next exhibition is "Czechia and Slovakia".


This video Includes:
The 10th Exhibition

"Travel around the World in Sand, The United States of America - Visit the Land of Liberty and the World Renowned Natural Splendor -"

Exhibit 19 sculptures such as Mt. Rashmore and Skyscraper which are the symbol of American culture and history.

Tottori Sand Dunes The Sand Museum

2083-17 Yuyama, Fukube-cho, Tottori City, Tottori, 689-0105, JAPAN
Phone : +81-857-20-2231 / FAX : +81-857-20-2232

Mon.-Fri., Sun. 9:00AM to 4:00PM
Sat. 9:00AM to 6:00PM
(According to the future situation, it could change.)