Okinawa Must Visit: Churaumi Aquarium!

After a challenging 3 day-battle to the start of our trip, Day 4 turned out to be one of the best days we’ve ever had on this Okinawa trip! We visited Churaumi Aquarium (one of the highlights of Okinawa), Okuma Beach and Cape Hedo!

Day 4 – 13 January 2019 (Sunday)

Day 4 will be separated into two posts - Churaumi Aquarium in one and Cape Hedo and Okuma Beach in another!

Woke up rather later than usual since we had already bought our breakfast from the night prior. Sometimes, it’s better to sleep in to recuperate so that the rest of your trip isn’t affected due to fatigue.

TIP: If your hotel doesn’t have breakfast included, not to worry! Japanese conbini (convenience stores) have great deals on meals. They are a delicious and cheap alternative. Get your breakfast from the night before and keep it in your hotel room’s fridge. Sometimes, conbini food go on discounts late into the night. Worth it!

Finally, it was time to head to the highlights of this trip – the Churaumi Aquarium! Located in the Northern region of mainland Okinawa, the aquarium is also conveniently located near the Motobu port, where you can visit Ie Island as a day trip.

Destination 1: Churaumi Aquarium

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Where to Stay?

Many people always ask me how I select the location of the accommodation. Most of the time, my accommodation selection is amazing. Of course, there are misses, like selecting Hotel Koza without properly factoring in driving distances and duration. In Northern mainland Okinawa, there are many natural and touristic sights to visit around this region. So it is definitely, highly recommended to stay at least a night around the northern region. I would say spend more time in the Northern region than in Naha city!

Take note, cost is always a factor no matter what. However, there are 2 more guidelines I can share to ease accommodation planning in Okinawa (outside of Naha City).

Driving or Not Driving?

Consider whether you are driving or not. In this case, getting to places in mainland Okinawa (or anywhere in Okinawa, really) mostly require a car. Taking the bus is plausible but not feasible if your trip duration is less than 2 weeks. Car rentals are really very very cheap if you book in advance so plan apppropriately!

With that said, I do hope you consider renting a vehicle (at least in Okinawa). It is not very expensive. With a vehicle rental, you will have one lesser problem to get to the accommodation after regular bus services. Also, you can get to visit lesser known touristy sites because they are not serviced by regular bus service and maybe far from the touristic routes!

Have you read our Driving in Okinawa experience yet?

Nightlife or Nature?

Do you wish to stay where there is nightlife? Or do you want to stay in the nature where you can stargaze?

This really depends on you as a traveller, and whether your travelling buddy is on the same page as you. You might be the kind to want nightlife, and Okinawan bars and izakayas thrive late into the night. Then, it is best to stay in smaller cities rather than the countryside or small towns.

However, the opposite is true if you enjoy waking up to crickets or stargazing. There is still light pollution in Nago City and other smaller cities, so you won’t get the nature experience. I’ve also seen some AirBnBs that are located in small villages which are truly beautiful introduction to Okinawan countrysides. There is also very few nightlife, if any. So you would have to drive out to the city to the nearest conbini. It’s really up to you.

Now back to Churaumi Aquarium!

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Parking at Churaumi Aquarium (Ocean Expo Park)

Availability of Lots

Some of you might be worried since the Aquarium is the top attraction of Okinawa, aside from Shuri Castle. However, don’t fret! Parking at the Churaumi Aquarium is free. Not only that, there are so many Carpark Attendants assisting the car flow on every single floor and block of the carpark. They will assist you to find the nearest lot to the elevators.

Accessibility

Like most parts of Japan, the areas at the parking and the park itself is very, very wheelchair friendly (except for the sandy beaches of course). There are also elevators and escalators to aid movement.

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Getting Tickets

As mentioned in my Day 1 post, I booked our Churaumi Aquarium tickets via Klook. I had also picked them up at the Domestic Terminal of Naha Airport (it was the only way available).

The Aquarium grounds were really huge! We had a great view of the sea which was amazing.

When we entered the Aquarium, we were so excited to see a petting area! It was such a great way to let the young and the old to feel the textures of sea creatures.

Do not worry about the sea creatures being poisonous. They are most probably not (well, I don’t think they are!). There is always someone manning the area. Also, you are not allowed to take the creature out of the water. I’m sure these sea creatures have a defense mechanism when they are out of the water, so be safe than sorry!

Next, we viewed all the different animals from different ecosystems. I especially enjoyed the part where there were small schools of colourful fishes swimming in one direction. When a bigger predatory fish or creature comes about, they scattered! Absolute delight… to watch!

Did you know that corals are animals too?

The thing about aquariums is that these exhibits are conducted in controlled environments just like zoos. So it is easier to replicate ecosystems that are not native to Japan, such as underwater creatures living in swampy, warm environments.

Aquariums are also not just only about fishes. There are also jellyfish, crabs and more!

The Ultimate Highlight of Churaumi Aquarium

If you Googled ‘Churaumi Aquarium’, you would have seen this right?:

And if you do get to go to Churaumi Aquarium, you will get to see it!

Along the way, you will find yourself going through a huge hall, where the café is at. Usually the café has the best seats to relax and is usually full. Reservation is required. We didn’t reserve, but there were other vantage points from the upper floors so it didn’t matter.

This is not the best section yet.

Moving further away from the main hall, you will go through this really cool “tunnel” where you feel like you’re the exhibit to the sea creatures. The fishes will swim all around you, and you truly get to see how these creatures live in harmony (albeit in a controlled environment).

Occasionally the big whale or stingray will swim above you.

Things to Buy?

Of course, like many other touristic attractions, there are small pop-up food carts and a souvenir shop. I found the stuff rather expensive, so I didn’t really get anything. The photos I took that day was enough to keep as memories.

Do I Recommend This Place?

Yes, definitely! The ticket price is rather fair, considering the size and scale of the aquarium. It used to be the largest aquarium in the world, before some other aquarium took over the award. I say, it is really a worth-it choice to explore, especially when the weather is not so good.

One of the best parts I would say is the petting area. I’m sure families with young children will enjoy a lot from visiting this aquarium. Most of the information are in simple English, which makes a trip to this aquarium a good educational opportunity. I myself learned a lot about the life cycles of these animals!

There are also other exhibits at the Ocean Expo – so if you have a family with kids, definitely spend 1 to 2 days at this park. 1.5 days is a comfortable time frame to explore everything. You can also picnic on the beach in the evening time to watch the sunset. Yes, this area is facing the west, so sunsets, I assume, would be very beautiful!

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Destination 2: Yakiniku Motobu Farm

By lunchtime, we were super famished! Prior to the trip, I had used Savor Japan‘s website to look for recommended restaurants like in Day 1 where we dined at DINING Hana. Similarly, we were on the lookout for meat, meat and meat! As I cannot eat pork, we looked towards having beef.

And lo and behold, Yakiniku Motobu Farm (not halal friendly) came up on the list. I made a reservation a week before the trip, and got my confirmation! Also, we specifically chose this place due to the location – it was located in Motobu, which was not far at all from the Ocean Park Expo!

Like many other food establishments in Japan, lunch sets are way cheaper than dinner sets, sometimes by 50%! Always request for the lunch menu – the dinner menu is always on the table. During periods with heavy crowds, some waiters forget to prepare the lunch menu.

We ordered two sets of the beef platter, where there are different parts of the cow served to us. Some textures of the beef was really very weird, because we had never tasted it back in Singapore. With all the beef, we had fun grilling them!

For 2200 yen/person, we had two plates of beef, one bowl of udon, a bowl of rice, some condiments (soy sauce) and Okinawan salt. Okinawan salt surprisingly has a very unique taste, similar to storebought sea salt. However, they usually add a bit of pepper to spice up the taste (bottom right of the picture above).

After lunch, we went to the souvenir-slash-market next door, which sold a lot of Okinawan snacks and souvenirs at a slightly cheaper price. Highly recommended! Total damage spent at the shop was 3207 yen – I daresay that it was one of the better places to get Okinawan salt in various “flavours”.

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Look forward to the next post, where I’ll be sharing with you the second part of Day 4. Hint: We went to Okuma Beach and Cape Hedo!

Have you read the other Okinawan posts? 🙂

Click here for Day 1.
Click here for Day 2 & Day 3.
Click here for our experiences on driving in Okinawa.