A radio communication system, a radio communication apparatus, and a radio communication method allow networks to operate without interference between contending networks. When plural piconets collide on the same frequency channel, a control station of one of the piconets temporarily sets a buffer super frame period to coexist between the piconets. When an apparatus other than a control station receives a beacon signal of the buffer super frame period, a shorter super frame period based on that super frame period is temporarily set to make fine adjustment of the next beacon signal transmission timing. An apparatus that has not received a beacon signal looks for a beacon signal of its own piconet for a redundant time to find a start time of a new super frame period.