Originally Posted by
Nagasaki Joe
I hear that Okinawa does not permit swimming on its beaches during January and February and the outdoor pools of many hotels there are also supposedly closed. Is that also the case with the beach and pool at the IHG in Ishigaki (which is also part of Okinawa)? Interesting that January, a cold month in most of Japan, is a low season there.
One hotel pool was filled with water and the beach had a guy with beach chairs, so my presumption is that swimming was allowed. It was reasonably warm (23 degrees Celcius), but a bit cloudy and windy on the day I was there, so nobody was actually doing it.