5 Funny Facts about Swimming Pools in Japan

Show me your swimming pools, and I can tell you all about your culture. While this statement might be a bit over the top, many long-term resident foreigners in Japan will agree that swimming pools in Japan come with their own, sometimes funny, little rules. I am a hobbyist swimmer myself, and when I came to Japan, one of the things that stood out to me is that there are much fewer pools in Tokyo than you’d expect. It seems that Japanese people don’t swim as much for recreational reasons compared to people in the Netherlands. The way things are done here in pools is also very different. Let’s have a look at 5 funny facts about swimming pools in Japan!

Swim wear in Japan

Generally speaking, people don’t like to show too much skin when they go swimming. People in Japan don’t only wear rash guards to the beach to protect their skin from the sun, but surprisingly, many also wear this covering swim gear in indoor pools. When they go for a more serious lap swim, men will usually only wear a Speedo, but ladies still tend to opt for covering swimsuits with longer sleeves and pants. Bikinis are rare at the beach, and in pools you actually don’t really see them even though they are not banned. So feel free to wear a bikini to a swimming pool in Japan, but be ready to feel ‘under dressed’ compared to the rest.

Your swimming outfit is also not complete without a swimming cap and small goggles. A swimming cap is even mandatory to wear in almost every pool in Japan, without one you will be sent home. Goggles are not required, but 99% of people wears them nonetheless. As for accessories, you have to take all of them off, including tiny ear buds.

Mind the life guard

Life guards in Japan tend to be strict! You will hear the whistle at the most minor infraction of the rules, like going the wrong way in your lane, or not wearing the right type of swimming goggles. Life guards also watch slides if there are any, to make sure you are not going with more than one person at the same time, you are tall enough to use it, and to make sure you take the right position (no belly slides are allowed). They will also not hesitate to pull you from the water if it looks like you are not a strong enough swimmer. For swimming pools that are deeper than 1.4 m, kids sometimes have to take a test before they are allowed in the water to show that they can swim well enough.

The funny thing is that you will have a very hard time finding a swimming pool that is deeper than 1.4 m in Japan, most pools aren’t deeper than 1.2 m so you can comfortably take a rest whenever you want. Other rules that life guards will often reinforce are no diving, no jumping in the pool, and no prolonged underwater swimming.

Mandatory break time

Every 2 hours, you will hear a loud whistle and the request to vacate the pool. This is a mandatory break time of 10 minutes that happens in every pool in Japan. The reason for this break is for everyone to take a rest. They also double check that nobody is in trouble and retrieve any items that might have been lost in the water.

Swimming aids for adults

While you are not allowed to use larger goggles, snorkels, or fins, what you will often see is that adults who look like competent swimmers use swimming aids. Why would they do this? They actually use these aids for training purpose, such as perfecting their arm movements by holding a floating device between their legs and training their legs by holding a swimming float in their hands. Swimming with a perfect stroke is considered important, and you will not see many swimmers just paddling or using a breast stroke at a relaxed pace.

Swimming lessons for kids in Japan

Bringing your kids to swimming lessons is just one of those necessary evils in the Netherlands, and most parents are relieved once the kids have their first 2 diplomas and are therefore capable of swimming without supervision and saving themselves if they would fall into the water. The main reason to learn how to swim is that you don’t drown when you accidentally fall into the water, and to be able to have fun doing it. This is a bit different in Japan.

Here, many kids who take swimming lessons do so for at least a year or 3, and progression is extremely slow. They learn each part of each movement one by one, and are first taught all 4 strokes (breast crawl, back crawl, breast stroke, butterfly) before they learn how to swim further than 10 meters at a time. It takes around 3 years to become proficient for most kids, and then it is time to train for timed competitions. As you can see, learning how to swim in Japan is very serious business, and the reason to learn how to swim is for physical fitness and if you are talented, competition. Having fun in the water and learning how to save yourself and someone else in case of an accident are not really taught in regular swimming class in Japan.

It is also good to note that not everybody learns how to swim to begin with, as school swimming is usually quite limited. One of the reasons is that the temperature is only considered warm enough if it is above 25 degrees and not raining, and most of the time this only happens during the month before the summer break and the summer break itself, making swimming classes in school a rare occurrence.

Conclusion

So are things all bad when it comes to swimming in Japan? Definitely not, the upside of all these rules is that accidents are less likely as safety comes first here. You’re also less likely to lose your valuables, and you’ll be surprised how fast you will actually prefer wearing a swimming cap. Kids and teenagers also don’t run wild in Japanese pools like they often do in the Netherlands, making recreational swimming a bit chaotic for adults and quieter kids sometimes. Those who prefer more peace and order will love swimming in Japan!

As for my son, while it took the best part of 3 years to learn how to swim, he’s now a much better swimmer than me with a great technique. So while it took forever, Japanese swimming class did pay off in the end.

5 Funny Facts about Swimming Pools in Japan