---
title: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
url: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/okinawa-churaumi-aquarium/
lang: en
journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/okinawa-sakura/
---

# Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

A little of each town’s story　/　Motobu, Okinawa

An aquarium inside Ocean Expo Park; the present building opened in November 2002. The great tank, the Kuroshio Sea, holds 7,500 cubic meters of water and measures 35 by 27 meters, 10 meters deep. The acrylic panel between visitors and the water is 8.2 meters high, 22.5 meters wide and 60 centimeters thick. A whale shark 8.8 meters long has been kept here since March 1995, and the aquarium was the first in the world to keep several reef manta rays together and breed them.

424 Ishikawa, Motobu, Kunigami District, Okinawa (in Ocean Expo Park)

## This moment in the journey: The Kuroshio Sea

On to the Churaumi Aquarium, famous for its enormous tank. It was my first visit. A whale shark glided slowly across the blue water.

Rays spread their fins like wings and schools of fish glittered. Garden eels peered up from the sand.

The whale shark passing right in front of me made my heart race. I stood before the great tank and watched the fish swim as they pleased, for as long as I liked.

![A whale shark crossing the great tank above a watching figure](https://karigurashijourney.com/img/okinawa-sakura/s54-1200.jpg)
- Sources: https://churaumi.okinawa/haisai/
- Sources: https://churaumi.okinawa/guide/access/
- Sources: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/沖縄美ら海水族館

Read this scene in the full journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/okinawa-sakura/