Asahihisuikaigan Park Golf Course あさひヒスイ海岸 パークゴルフ場

Park golf — Japan's beloved outdoor pastime for all ages — finds a spectacular home along the Sea of Japan coast in Asahi Town, a small municipality at the far eastern edge of Toyama Prefecture where the mountains of the Hida range tumble almost directly into the water. The course sits within a coastal park that takes its name from the hisui, or jade, that washes ashore on these beaches. The Itoigawa-Fossa Magna geopark region just across the Niigawa border into Niigata Prefecture is world-famous for this jade, and the Asahi coastline shares that same geological character — the beach itself is part of the draw.

Park golf uses a distinct putter-only format played with a larger wooden mallet and a hard ball, on compact holes designed for accessibility and fun across generations. Courses like this one are genuine community infrastructure in rural Japan, as welcoming to grandparents and young children as to regulars who take their scoring seriously.

Toyama Prefecture offers one of Japan's more dramatic backdrops for any outdoor activity: the Tateyama peaks rise sharply inland while the Japan Sea stretches west. On a clear day the coastal views here are genuinely striking, and the jade-hunting tradition along these shores gives Asahi Town a character that goes well beyond an ordinary seaside park.