Tottori Sand Dunes

The Tottori Sand Dunes (鳥取砂丘, Tottori sakyū^?) are unique sand dunes located near Tottori City in Tottori Prefecture, Honshū, Japan. They are located at approximately 35.53° N 134.25° E and consist the only large dune system in Japan. Tottori (鳥取市; -shi) is the capital city of Tottori Prefecture in the ChÅ«goku region of Japan. ... Tottori Prefecture (鳥取県; Tottori-ken) is located in the Chugoku region on Honshu island, Japan. ... HonshÅ« (本州 Literally Main State) is the largest island of Japan, called the Mainland; it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait. ...

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 from tsunamis have disrupted the flow of currents responsible for bringing the sand to shore. In recent years 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 of yet unknown. Each year, around 2 million visitors - mostly from within Japan - visit the dunes. The Sea of Japan (East Sea) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. ... Biodiversity on a 15-year-old reforested plot of land. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Tourists at Oahu island, Hawaii Tourism is the act of travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes, and also refers to the provision of services in support of this act. ...

References

• Natural Beauty of Japan, NHK
• Tottori Prefecture Guidebook

NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo NHK (, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai), or the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, is Japans public broadcaster. ...

External links

• Photos of dunes
• `In the Shrinking Dunes, Stalking a Creeping Green Enemy` New York Times. August 23, 2006