kenleewrites in 日本

Churaumi means “beautiful sea” in the Okinawan dialect. Its aims to recreate every aspect of the Okinawa’s seas and its aquarium is one of the largest in the world. The “Kuroshio (black current) sea” tank itself holds 7500 cubic meters of water and it’s front panel currently holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest aquarium viewing window.

The highlight of the Kuroshio tank is not the size, but the creatures swimming inside. The main attractions are the whale sharks and the manta rays. Huge creatures!

According to their flyer, they hold a couple of “world first”.

1) “World’s first keeping of whale sharks aiming for reproduction in captivity”. At least we are prepared for when a large alien cylindrical object, which speaks whale shark, threatens Earth’s destruction. Just like in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I just hope they don’t come and speak only Dodo. ><.

2) “World’s first successful maintenance of numerous manta rays”. The way their snuck the word “successful” in there… have there been many unsuccessful attempts?

3) “World’s first large-scale maintenance of living corals in an open system”. They have this “open system” which uses fresh sea water and natural sunlight. Corals seem to be reproducing just fine in captivity under this system.

Lots of people with cameras here.

There’s a restaurant right next to the tank. It serves simple pasta and taco rice. Nothing fancy, but whale sharks sometimes swim up and show off their goods.

Right next door, there’s a section just for sharks. The shark research lab. Just follow the shark skin.

I think they got every shark in this poster.

Including this funny looking “Japanese Angel Shark”.

Ever wondered how sharks reproduce? This chart explains it all… with a rather explicit illustration. ^^. Some sharks lay eggs while others give birth to live young. Isn’t that interesting. I’ve always thought that it was the latter.

The jaws of an ancient shark.

Check out the amount of teeth this guy had in reserves! Ancient and extinct… just the way I like him to be.

More photos from the Kuroshio tank.

There are also other sea creatures in the Aquarium too. Manatees are also quite popular. There are only 2 though and their tank looks really… green.

I love dolphins… more than sharks.

Mainly because I haven’t heard of people dying from dolphin attacks. ^^.

There are quite a few dolphin programs throughout the day. There are 3 different dolphin shows; 2 repeat every 2 hours or so and the remaining has only 1 show time. All shows last about 15-20 minutes.

See dolphins fly.

While the Japanese word for dolphin イルカ (iruka) is usually written in katakana, it does have its own kanji too, 海豚. The kanji means “sea pig”. Such an uncool name.

This is a sad story. They found a sick dolphin and cared for it, only to have it die 2 days later. When they performed an autopsy, guess what they found inside. Please keep out oceans and waterways clean! Don’t litter.

Churaumi Aquarium is a must see spot if you’re in Okinawa. A little far from Naha city; 2 hours by car and 3-3.5 hours by bus.

If you’re going to visit Okinawa, I highly recommend renting a car and driving there. It will probably be more expensive than taking the bus, but it gives you great flexibility in making stops inbetween. I made some stops along the way. Will write about that later on.

Tickets on-site go for ¥1800 for adults, ¥1200 for high school students and ¥600 if you’re in elementary or junior high. There are also group discounts if you’re 20 people or more.

I got my ticket at a convenience store in Naha. Came with a 10% discount. So get the ticket in advance and use the remaining ¥180 to buy yourself one of these Okinawa PET bottle drinks; don’t know what you can do with the remaining ¥30 though. Any ideas?

Here are some random photos I took. Kids, big and small, get to touch some starfish in a play aquarium.

This fish was huge! Just look at his eyeball.

Pucker up. ^^. Fish can’t see straight right?

Tiny fishes.