Tottori Sand Dunes Wide Camera

This is the wide-angle camera on the Tottori Sand Dunes, operated by the official dunes channel. Where the standard camera holds a tighter frame, this one takes in the full breadth of the dune field and the Sea of Japan behind it.

The dunes are the largest in Japan, running roughly 16 kilometres east to west and 2 kilometres inland. The sand is granite from the Chugoku Mountains, weathered and carried down the Sendai River, pushed out to sea and then blown back ashore by the coastal current and the winter monsoon — a cycle that has been running for tens of thousands of years and has not stopped.

The wide framing is what makes this angle worth watching. You can follow a weather front crossing the whole dune field rather than catching it in one corner, and on windy days the wind ripples form and are erased across the visible sand in a matter of hours. The Umanose ridge, about 47 metres high, shifts position noticeably in strong wind.