Every other year I feel the urge to get on a plane and fly down to Okinawa – despite the heat and humidity, which is why usually end up going there only every few years, and in January or February, when my fellow Japanese travelers leave Kansai mumbling “It’s cold! It’s cold!” and switch to “It’s hot! It’s hot!” as soon as the plane door opens in Naha; completely ignoring that 5 to 10°C isn’t cold and 17 to 22°C isn’t hot, but Japanese people like to complain, especially about the weather, like everybody else.
Unfortunately there is not that much to see and do in Okinawa, especially after the 5th visit or so within 15 years, though I enjoyed every trip there tremendously. The latest one in January of this year was basically anchored around the Busena Marine Park Underwater Observatory, after I fell in love with those kinds of places when visiting the *Ashizuri Underwater Museum (or as I called it incorrectly: Ashizuri Underwater Aquarium)*.
Like pretty much all of the underwater observatories in Japan, the Busena one is a bit in the sticks, but overall it’s rather easily accessible – just hop onto a bus from Naha, for example Line 20 to Nago Bus Terminal, and get off Busena Resort Mae bus stop – it takes about 2.5 hours and costs 2200. From there it’s just a short walk to the Busena Marine Park, which includes beaches, hotels, the observatory and a glass bottom boat, which can be enjoyed individually or via a combo ticket (1050 Yen for the observatory, 1560 Yen for the boat or 2100 Yen for both). If you start your day early, you probably can continue to the famous Churaumi Aquarium, but I’d rather recommend doing that together with the Tropical Dream Center and the amazing Bise-Fukugi Tree Road. (All destinations are much easier accessible by car, of course, but you can still reasonably do them by public transport.) The glass bottom boat was a bit underwhelming, to be honest – I guess because most fish are not that interesting to look at from above. The underwater observatory on the other hand… absolutely stunning! I’ve been to four of the six places like that in Japan, and of course it was the one with the most beautiful fish, because it’s the only one in Okinawa – the next closest one is about 800 kilometers north! The observatory itself was the most boring so far, just a rather plain white metal tube, connected by a rusting metal bridge, opened in 1970 and therefore already past the “replace or demolish after 50 years” rule of thumb that seems to slowly wipe out Japan’s glorious Showa era.
(Including the previously mentioned *Ashizuri Underwater Museum*, which was closed in spring of this year after 54 years in business, when a routine inspection found that the connecting bridge would need to be renewed, and never opened again after the Kochi Prefecture Tourism Development Corporation decided that the 500 million Yen renovation wasn’t reasonable – despite having been a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since October 2022. Instead they’ll demolish the bridge and leave the underwater structure as is until a decision about it is made… which can take some time – it’s Japan after all.)
But, yeah, the fish at the Busena observatory – absolutely stunning! I’m not exactly a wildlife expert, but I recognized butterfly fish, surgeonfish and parrotfish as well as Moorish Idols, though I had to look up their English names for the most part. Not much else to tell you, to be honest, so… enjoy the photo gallery and maybe visit the Busena Marine Park Underwater Observatory yourself when in Okinawa – you never know when it might close for good! (Oh, and if you like those kinds of places, also check out the third underwater observatory I’ve written about, the *Katsuura Marine Park Underwater Observation Tower in day trip range of Tokyo*.)
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