Japan

A surprise to many.

This will come as a surprise to many, but Diving in Japan is simply stunning. Japan is a multifaceted modern dynamic country, steeped in tradition and not without it’s difficulties. But its diving is quite simply world class. The main dive location is Okinawa Island which lies 3 hours south of Tokyo by Air. Closer to Hong Kong, than its own National Capital, this long island has hundreds of dive sites on its east and west coasts.

Okinawa Has wrecks to the north and reefs and walls all along the west coast. This is where we predominantly dive from boats and occasionally from the shore.

20 Miles offshore the Kerama Islands are located. These islands take an hour and half to get to- but they have 200 dive sites in and amongst the islands. Our preferred partner in the area is reef encounters who organise our dive tours. Under the leadership of Doug Bennet, they know some of the most secret and excellent sites. In addition to this, the Sunabe Seawall dive sites are host to long fields of hard and soft coral unrivalled in size and quality anywhere in Asia.

Okinawa is a true Asian Island, but it is also a true pacfic island, with the attending beaty and clear water. It just happens to have a city of 1m people at the south end of it. This in turn gives it the added advantage of having an excellent international airport.

Yonaguni Jima

A plethora of Pacific islands lies even further to the south of the main islands of Okinawa. These have steep walls, and coral boulder fields that are packed with vibrant schools of fish. Japan’s diving is one of the best-kept secrets world of the global diving industry.

We were first lured to Yongaguni with tales of schooling Hammerheads and a lost city submerged below the surface. In 2012 we found just that the underwater ruins at Iseki Point and schools of hammerhead sharks swirling around us. Since then we have been HOOKED! Read African Oriental founder Raf Jah’s personal tales of diving on Yonaguni Jima HERE.

We offer Japanese diving as a stand-alone tour, or we are happy to combine this with land tours from our partner Inside Japan tours. Japan is also on our list of guided expeditions.

Mainland Japan

We also offer tours in mainland Japan to add to your dive adventure using our partners Inside Japan Tours. Prices remain the same and we use their expertise on the main islands to make your holiday perfect. We also suggest that you combine your Japanese diving with a China Rail tour or even the trans-Siberian express to take you the whole way home. All of which we can arrange.

Japanese Diving Highlights

Onaguni Jima – Ancient ruins abound underwater along with Schooling Hammerheadsharks in the cool months.
Irimote Jima – Dive with Pacific Mantas and explore untrodden reefs.
The Kerama Islands – 200 dive sites only 25 miles from Naha City, in clear water packed with fish, sharks and schools.
Okinawa – Great reef diving with amazing macro and passing pelagics.