Ocean Expo Park

What to know

Ocean Expo Park (海洋博公園, Kaiyōhakukōen) is a sprawling park at the tip of the Motobu Peninsula in northern Okinawa Honto. It was built in 1976 to commemorate the Okinawa International Ocean Expo held the previous year. The park's star attraction is Churaumi Aquarium, widely regarded as Japan's best aquarium.

The park stretches about three kilometers along the coast and is so vast that small buses run on several routes for 300 yen per ride or 500 yen for a day pass. Attractive walking paths also connect the various sites and facilities.

Besides Churaumi Aquarium, the park offers several other interesting facilities: The spacious Oceanic Culture Museum, located near the central gate, displays ship replicas and informative exhibits about ocean-based cultures from Asia and the South Pacific, including a giant replica of a Lakatoi canoe from Papua New Guinea and a trade ship used by the Ryukyu Kingdom. The museum also houses a planetarium.

Right next to the museum is the Native Okinawan Village, a small open-air museum featuring over 20 residences and other buildings from different time periods and regions of Okinawa. Admission is free, and visitors can wander at their leisure.

A variety of tropical plants can be seen across Ocean Expo Park along walking trails and in two arboretums. Additionally, the Tropical Dream Center is a well-maintained botanical garden with a wide range of tropical trees and plants in multiple greenhouses. The center also features a 36-meter tall observatory tower that resembles the Tower of Babel.

At the northern end of Ocean Expo Park lies Emerald Beach, an attractive sand beach divided into three separate areas facing different directions: one for playing and swimming, one for resting, and one for viewing.