After a cold and harsh winter, more and more days of blue skies are peeping through in Niigata. Beautiful scenes of blue skies and cherry blossoms can be seen in various parts of the prefecture.

When the weather improves, you will see many people coming to the beach in Niigata City for a walk.

The beach car park is swarming with cars. Businessmen taking a short break from work, people with children, the elderly and truck drivers. They are enjoying the refreshing view of the sea on the still wind-chilled beach.

I have been sitting in the passenger seat in the parking lot of the beach, working on my computer while listening to the sun and the sound of the waves. I work tick-tock inside the company, feeling the spring breeze with a cup of coffee in my hand, which I bought at a 7-Eleven on the way. I'm using tethering, so the internet is OK... something more stylish than working at Starbucks! I was excited by myself.

By the way, to get here, you have to drive along the Seaside Line, a road along the coast of Niigata, which is also wonderful. You drive through the Niigata sand dunes, but the waves, pine forests, sandy soil and strong winter winds make you feel as if you are driving abroad, as the dunes are covered with unique vegetation.

In fact, these Niigata dunes are quite something, aren't they? The Niigata dunes, which are distributed continuously from the port of Iwafune in Murakami City in the north-east to the foot of Mount Kakuda in the south-west, are approximately 70 km long! The dunes in the Echigo Plain, where the Shinano and Agano Rivers flow into the sea, show various changes along the way and are quite spectacular.

The most famous sand dunes are the Tottori Sand Dunes. Incidentally, the Sarugamori Sand Dunes in Aomori Prefecture are said to be the largest sand dunes in Japan, measuring 2.4 km from north to south and 16 km from east to west. They are said to be about 1 to 2 km wide and 17 km long in total. I don't really know on what basis they are the largest in Japan, but this makes me think that Niigata is pretty good too.

Niigata's dunes don't get much tourism PR, but with a scale this large, there must be some amazing sights to see. I would like to explore Niigata's dunes for their spectacular scenery as the weather is going to be nice from now on.