The tourist town of Oarai lies to the north east of Tokyo and it’s well known for the aquatic attractions of its beach, marina and aquarium. Oarai is also known by knowledgeable golfers as the location of Oarai Golf Club, one of the best golf courses in Japan. 

Created in 1953 by the respected designer Seiichi Inoue, Oarai is one of only a few seaside courses in all of Japan, laid out on the shores of the Pacific with many of its wide fairways doglegged and lined by age-old black pine trees. 

Despite the shelter afforded by many trees around the course, strong winds off the ocean can badly affect good scoring at Oarai, as many professionals discovered when playing the Japan Open here in 1998 – not that the sea breezes prevented Hidemichi Tanaka from winning the competition for the first time.