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Japanese beach turned into beautiful fantasy world as nighttime ocean glows blue【Video, photos】

Casey Baseel May 9, 2017
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Bioluminescent plankton turn Kanagawa seashore into something that looks more like a Final Fantasy game.

Last weekend an old friend of mine visited me here in Kanagawa Prefecture, and we decided to hit up the coastal city of Kamakura one afternoon to see some of the cultural sights and drink some of the local beer. Since my friend had never been to the town before, we first visited the colossal statue of the Great Buddha, then walked over to Hasedera Temple.

As we climbed up the temple’s hillside staircase, we eventually got above the foliage of the garden below, to a point where the view opens up and you can see the waters of Sagami Bay. But on that day, what waited for us was neither a dazzling blue nor a deep green sea, but a red tide.

ニュースになってる！鎌倉の赤い海！見たのはお昼、、、夜見たかったなぁ。夜は青く光ってたみたい pic.twitter.com/O7g3hJTjAd

— みーたん (@katonyan98) May 7, 2017

An unusually warm couple of days had caused a sudden surge in the Noctiluca scintillans plankton population. Because of that, we didn’t stick around to admire the tarnished view for too long, Had we stuck around until the sun went down, though, we’d have been rewarded. See, Noctiluca scintillans are also known as sea sparkle, because at night they look like this.

十日夜の月が西へ沈むと、
夜光虫の波は一層青く輝きを増しました。
（今朝未明、神奈川県にて撮影） pic.twitter.com/m3Q9hZXlOf

— KAGAYA (@KAGAYA_11949) May 6, 2017

The plankton give off an ethereal blue glow when agitated, with even the natural motion of the sea being enough to trigger the reaction. So when the waves came rolling in during the nighttime ore pre-dawn hours in Kamakura this weekend, they often looked like they do in this GIF.

沈む月と夜光虫の波の動画です。（2017年5月6日未明、神奈川県にて撮影）
もう少し画質が良いものはYouTubeで。https://t.co/7CONKtC9B2 pic.twitter.com/YlNZWSP70v

— KAGAYA (@KAGAYA_11949) May 7, 2017

As if that wasn’t beautiful enough, the whole thing coincided with this year’s annual Eta Aquariids meteor shower, and photographer Kagaya (who recently shared his amazing nighttime cherry blossom photos) was there to capture shooting stars streaking through the night sky above the sparkling waves, in both still photo and video formats.

光る海、流星わたる天の川。
波頭が青く光るのは夜光虫の光。その幻想的な海の上をみずがめ座エータ流星群の流れ星が。
わたし自身初めて見る光景にドキドキしながらの撮影でした。
（今朝未明、神奈川県にて撮影） pic.twitter.com/ZbKRwqzkyZ

— KAGAYA (@KAGAYA_11949) May 6, 2017

夜光虫光る海とみずがめ座エータ流星群の流れ星。動画版。
ミラーレス一眼カメラでビデオ撮影。実際のスピードです。肉眼で見たものに近い映像です。
（今朝未明、神奈川県にて撮影） pic.twitter.com/q4OKjuI88j

— KAGAYA (@KAGAYA_11949) May 6, 2017

Locals and tourists alike were drawn to Kamakura’s Yuigahama beach to record the otherworldly phenomenon for themselves as well.

夜光虫綺麗タゾ!!
みんな鎌倉へおいで(^^)/ pic.twitter.com/BnMJ8l3BqF

— jin_ishii@JK_國分淳一 (@jin_ishiiJK) May 5, 2017

まだまだ見られるよ、鎌倉・由比ヶ浜の夜光虫。
ツイートの反響の多さに驚いております(^o^; pic.twitter.com/Bw882Ud1Ls

— jin_ishii@JK_國分淳一 (@jin_ishiiJK) May 5, 2017

The azure swells were also visible on Zaimokuza Kaigan shoreline, farther east along the coast of Sagami Bay.

鎌倉の材木座海岸。赤潮が発生し、夜光虫がすごい。 pic.twitter.com/30ed8e9cXH

— 村山嘉昭 (@_murayama) May 5, 2017

鎌倉、材木座海岸。昼間、赤潮がすごいと聞いたので、暗くなって行ってみたら…夜光虫！出たっ！！　波打ち際でバシャバシャしたり、歩いたりすると光るのがおもしろい！ pic.twitter.com/LBIyxFRAcP

— 楽しい鎌倉 (@TanosiiKAMAKURA) May 5, 2017

With the weather cooling off, Kamakura’s beaches are expected to be back to normal in short order (Noctiluca scintillans plankton itself is non-toxic), but for those who saw the sea sparkle last weekend, the memory is likely to last a lifetime.

Sources: IT Media, Kinisoku

Follow Casey on Twitter, where his goal for the summer is to spend as much time on Kanagawa’s beaches as possible.