Dive Sites in Japan - Scuba Diving at its Best!

Diving Overview for Japan

Japan may not be an obvious choice for scuba diving but in fact it offers over 2,000 dive sites! There is a huge variety on offer as the Japanese archipelago ranges from warm, sub-tropical Okinawa to the freezing cold northern Hokkaido where you can go ice-diving!

The Izu Peninsula (1 hour from central Tokyo) is the most popular mainland diving destination, also famous for its hot-spring! Further down the coast is Futo, well known for its eagle rays, and on a clear day you can see Mt Fuji from Kumomi and the tiny island of Mikomoto.

The Izu Islands (a chain of 7 islands) and Ogasawara islands offer some great diving and are more southerly where the waters are warmer and clearer.

Okinawa (3 hour flight from Tokyo) is a tropical paradise in the south with some of Japan's best diving. English is widely spoken here as the US military has most of its Japanese forces based in Okinawa. The waters a beautifully clear and warm, there are lots of wrecks from WWII, although most are too deep for recreational diving, you can dive the USS Emmons (destroyer escort) from the Kerama islands. There are colourful reefs full of unique nudibranchs, Sea Fans, mantas and hammerhead sharks. Here you can find just about anything including caves, air domes and underwater ruins!

For the adventurous diver, you can go ice-diving in the Sea of Okhotsk off the coast of Hokkaido where there are many beautiful ice drifts. Most sites in Northern Japan are very cold and require dry suits but offer a spectacular dive, completely different from Southern Japan, you may see unusual fish such as the Sheephead.

Japan offers a wide variety of diving, some areas are cold and have very strong currents only suitable for experienced divers so check with local dive centres for the most up to date information.

Videos of Japan