Top 2 in Top 10 Most Beautiful Aquariums You Should Visit in Japan.
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Address: 424 Ishikawa, Motobu, Kunigami District, Okinawa 905-0206, Japan
Open: November 1, 2002
Area: 2 hectares
Number of animals: 21,000
Number of species: 740
Japan is a country with many large and famous aquariums in the world, one of which is the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. This is the most appreciated place in terms of breadth and species diversity that hardly any aquarium can match.The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is part of Ocean Expo Park, established in 1975 on the Motobu peninsula of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In 2002, the aquarium was renovated and home to 26,000 marine creatures from over 740 different species. Currently, Okinawa Churaumi has been recognized as the largest and best aquarium in the world.
Originally, Okinawa Churaumi was just a part of Okinawa's Ocean Expo Commemorative National Government Park established in 1975. It was later designed and rebuilt to become a large aquarium. The world's largest aquarium opened in 2001. Naming this aquarium is also complicated because Japanese people have to vote publicly to choose the name. In the Okinawan dialect, “Chura” means “beautiful” or “graceful” and “Umi” means “ocean.” True to its name, it recreates the beautiful waters of Okinawa in a giant aquarium. This aquarium was built to honor and protect the unique beauty of the marine species of this southern island.
When coming here, visitors will be overwhelmed with the vastness and design structure of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. This place is divided into 3 areas according to the living conditions of creatures according to the water layer, with the area of the exhibition and sightseeing building of 10,000 m2 with more than 77 large and small aquariums. In particular, the main aquarium has a size of 8.2 x 22.5m, a thickness of 60cm, can hold water up to 7,500 m3. The aquarium is arranged so that visitors will start from the beach on the 4th floor and then go deeper and deeper until the 1st floor. Like experiencing the depth of the ocean in reality. On the way down to the aquarium, in addition to watching marine species in the 3 main tanks, visitors can also participate in other activities, watch dolphin shows, see the traditional Uminchu-style gate, etc. You can listen to free talks on ocean life and watch staff feed sharks and rays.