Today, we're going on a trip. Are you ready? OK, here's a list of things we'll need: a large vinyl ground sheet, portable picnic tables, a tent, boxed lunches, a cooler for the beer and a thermos for the cold tea. Have you guessed where we're going yet? No, not camping. A few more hints. We'll also need umbrellas, not for the rain, but in case we should have to leave the tent in our swimsuits. We'll also need large, blowup animals. Have you guessed where we're going yet? Yes, the beach! And we're going Japanese style.

You see, going to the beach is no simple matter in Japan. It's an event that requires hours of planning and is so exhausting that going to the beach has become a once-a-year event. No wonder adults look back on their childhood trips to the beach with such nostalgia -- they were such rare events.

Where in the West we consider a swimsuit and a beach towel sufficient to go to the beach for a day, in Japan, the idea is to take as many things as possible. It might even be merely an excuse to clean out the storage area of the house, which as far as I can guess is on top of the roof next to the satellite dish. Where else could they store those plastic, foldup picnic tables and eight-pole "sun tents" that everyone seems to have?