Kominato Beach was added to Your Favorites!
Ogasawara NP, Tokyo
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
The beach was once called Pukunui, from Hawaiian puka nui, “big hole.” The name points to 2 swim-through holes in the shore rock—an old island-language clue hiding in plain sight.
The rounded rock pillows at Kominato formed when lava erupted underwater and chilled against seawater. They’re andesite; at Tsurihama Beach, the pillow lava is boninite—a different volcanic rock.
Green turtles may nest on Kominato’s sand in summer. Across Ogasawara, this species is both conserved and still part of a regulated food tradition—an unusual local balance between wildlife protection and island cuisine.
Kominato has Ogasawara’s largest-scale coastal forest of Hernandia trees. After repeated typhoons opened its canopy in 1997, seedlings sprang up so densely that a study described the forest floor as “like bean sprouts.”
At night, land hermit crabs emerge from Kominato’s coastal grove to forage. These familiar island neighbors are nationally protected as a Natural Monument, and the park’s beach guide notes that many live here.
Some of Kominato’s beach grass hides a conservation twist: chigaya is non-native to Ogasawara. Researchers found it dominating areas likely once occupied by native beach vines and shrubs.
Kominato’s evenings are dark enough for the Milky Way to appear sharply against the sky, according to Tokyo’s official guide. The beach’s celebrated scenery has a striking after-dark side, too.
