Last Updated: May 18, 2024

Come to Katsuura

Chill Out on Chiba’s Boso Peninsula

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

How I ended up in Katsuura is a bit of a strange tale. The afternoon that I decided on a whim to go was a hectic Thursday. Exhausted to the core but also revved up by caffeine, I felt emasculated in the face of the deliverables that I had promised as a freelance marketer. Making my anxiety worse was the fact that I was dependent on others to get the job done. It would be one thing if it were just me but the tasks in front of me were something that the Japanese staff I was working alongside would need to do on my behalf.

Teetering on the brink of complete burnout, I knew that I needed to step away from the situation for a minute. With the warning signs no longer something that I could ignore, I booked a seaside hotel in a location as far removed from central Tokyo as I could fathom. Even now, how I ultimately settled on Katsuura is a bit of a mystery to me. Memories from that day are a bit hazy but I think I remember seeing a picture of the torii above in my collection. That said, my little getaway was just what the doctor ordered.

If you’ve never heard of Katsuura before, I suspect that you’re not alone. Found on the southernmost tip of Chiba Prefecture’s Boso Peninsula, a place like Katsuura rarely welcomes international tourists…