JPN: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
424 Ishikawa, Motobu, Okinawa, Japan
Daily: 8.30am - 6.30pm
Opened in late 2002, Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium used to be the largest aquarium in the world until it was surpassed by Georgia Aquarium in the USA in 2005. The name of the aquarium comes from the Okinawan word chura (lit. beautiful) and the Japanese word umi (lit. ocean). It welcomed its 20 millionth visitor on 30 March 2010.
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JPN: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium <YOU ARE HERE!>
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In 1975, World's Exposition was held in Okinawa at its Ocean Expo Park. When it was over, the park began to lose tourist counts, so it was believed that a new aquarium would help revive the vibrancy of the area and, at the same time, celebrate Okinawa's marine tradition.
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| Hello, Nemo! I didn't manage to capture a photo of clownfish inside the aquarium, I think. |
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| The giant whale shark is the pride of the aquarium. |
An adult ticket used to cost ¥1,290 (~S$16.00), but at the point of writing, it's ¥1,880 (~S$23.30). That's around 45% increase over 5 years.
Near the entrance is a touch pool. There were lots of people there, and since I've touched starfishes and sea cucumbers before, I decided not to join the crowd.
I took lots of photos there, but I may not be able to tell the exact species of the various fishes, so bear with my random captions as always.
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| It's said that the aquarium receives around 3.5 million visitors annually pre-COVID-19 days. |
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| Dory: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming~" |
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| That puffy starfish reminds me of Honey Stars. |
If I'm not mistaken, below is an aquarium that's a reproduction of the actual Okinawan sea.
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| Even though it was taken with a rather old Sony smartphone, this photo isn't too shabby, right? |
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| Don't you love the cerulean blue colour of that fish? |
Set on 19,000 square metres of land, the aquarium consists of four floors. There are 77 tanks containing 10,000 cubic metres of water altogether.
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| Let's play our part in saving the coral reefs across the globe! |
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| Unlike in many other aquariums, this particular fish wasn't so active that I could take a photo easily, |
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| A hangry fish be like... |
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| Those are Okinawan fish called Ryukyu Ayu, which unfortunately have perished from the local ocean. |
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| On some days, I just want to be like a stonefish. |
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| Do you agree with Brooke Burke that shrimps are the cockroaches of the ocean? |
Are you a fan of jellies?
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| I hope this photo doesn't trigger any phobic reactions in anyone. |
Kuroshio Sea is the name of the main tank, which holds 7,500 cubic metres of water where about 60 species live.
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| The gigantic tanks is 35 m long, 27 m wide and 10 m deep. |
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| It's always soothing to watch the fishes swimming gracefully. |
Feeding time!
Shark Research Lab aims to educate the public about, well, sharks. Only a few species attack people, and surprisingly, they have a small appetite.
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| Dolphin's brain is quite highly developed. |
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| It was ages ago when I last had shark meat and its fin. |
There are 10 species of sharks exhibited there.
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| I can only recognise a hammerhead shark in this particular photo. |
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| When you've had a bad day... |
Here's another short video clip for you.
Aqua Room has got a ceiling made of acrylic, allowing visitors to pretend that they're on the seabed with the various marine lives swimming above them.
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| Give way to the big guy! |
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| Melon would love to swim inside too. |
Let's venture into the deep sea!
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| I'd love it to be glazed with kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce) and grilled. |
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| They're illuminated by UV light, am I right? |
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| Did I just scare that little fella? |
We've finally come to the last section of the aquarium.
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| Feed me now! |
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| Some of the exhibits only have descriptions written in Japanese. |
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| A megamouth shark swims with its enormous mouth wide open, filtering water for plankton and jellyfish. |
My BFFs and I certainly had lots of fun and learning at the aquarium.
The record for a whale shark in captivity is one that, as of 2017, has lived for more than 18 years in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.
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