Okinawa and the Churaumi Aquarium

Ever since Ashley and I visited Okinawa back in November 2015, we’ve kept the southernmost Japanese prefecture in the back of our minds as a future family holiday destination. This collection of sub-tropical islands 400 miles south of the rest of Japan has got just about everything you need to keep kids and adults entertained – beautiful beaches, mind-blowing playgrounds, lively aquariums and zoos, crumbling medieval castles, thoughtfully-designed museums, and tasty food. A little over eight years after that first trip, we finally got to make that a reality when we flew over to Okinawa in mid-December with the kids and one set of grandparents.

In a way it was a weird time of the year to go to Okinawa, with December bringing much cooler temperatures than one might expect in a tropical paradise. The offseason has its benefits, however, with accommodations being very reasonably priced, combined with the already cheap yen, though we knew the weather would be a bit of a gamble. In the end, we got more rain and wind than clear skies and sunshine, but the kids had a good time and the grandparents had a good time with the kids, and that’s all one can really ask for.

The one sunny day we had was the day we chose to go to Churaumi Aquarium, one of Okinawa’s marquee attractions and one that Ashley and I knew we wanted to bring the kids back to on this trip. The aquarium complex is located on the Motobu Peninsula, in the northwest corner of the island, with the main aquarium building surrounded by other open air exhibits and marine life enclosures overlooking the East China Sea and the distant peak of Mt. Gusuku on Ie Island.

While the porpoise show and the sea turtle pond and the manatee exhibit are all well and good, the star attraction at Churaumi is its massive Kuroshio Sea aquarium, featuring the gentle giants of the ocean – the whale shark. There’s something magical about watching the aquarium’s two whale shark residents swimming slowly across the giant pane of glass separating visitors from the artificial sea, ruling over the rest of the Kuroshio Sea’s denizens below.

The Okinawa Zoo & Museum

Okinawa has a number of other smaller attractions featuring wildlife, though none quite as well-known as the aquarium. The Okinawa Zoo & Museum, located near the centre of the island, is a cozy collection of pavilions and enclosures housing a surprising number of animals from around the world. It’s small enough that you can basically see everything in a morning, which was perfect for the kids, and it had all their favourites – lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, and monkeys galore.

There were some sections of the zoo that seemed newly renovated, and others that had a very dated look and feel, though personally that was part of the charm of the place. Ashley remarked that the older parts of the zoo gave off a 1980s Taipei vibe, which I can sort of sense but can’t really articulate properly. The price of admission also seems to stem from another period – just 500 yen (HK$26) for adults and 100 yen (HK$5.2) for kids four and up. I’d say this was more than fair given the variety of animals and exhibits on display.

Nakagusuku Rendezvous

Okinawa has its own rich history separate from the rest of Japan, including a frenetic medieval period that saw mighty castles erected all over the island as three kingdoms vied for local supremacy. Many of these castles, or gusukus, lie in ruins today, but facilities have been set up around these structures to allow for tourists to have a look around. Nakagusuku is a gusuku located just a little bit south of the zoo, perched on the coastal highlands on the east coast of the island, and one that Ashley and I visited back in 2015.

It was a little overcast and windy when we visited, but it probably was also why there weren’t too many other people at the castle that day. Miles had a great time running around the old castle grounds, climbing up onto the walls and enjoying the beautiful views of the coastal plains below. He probably enjoyed himself a little bit too much on the narrow walkways for my very risk-averse self, but it was fun to see him explore the same places his parents did when we were a little younger, and a little more spry.

The Island of Playgrounds

One of the the unexpected surprises about Okinawa was the absolute quality of its playground sets. We had looked up a number of parks and slotted them into our schedule to fill in our days and give the kids a bit of a break, but I don’t think we realised just how bonkers some of these playgrounds were until we saw them in person. I’m talking about massive climbing net structures, multi-story slides, all kinds of tunnels and mazes, and other seemingly risky design decisions that point towards Okinawans trusting their kids way more than we do in Hong Kong. Okinawa has no shortage of well-known attractions for families and kids – many of which we didn’t even get to on this trip – but I really do feel that you’d be shortchanging yourself if you came here on a family holiday and skipped these playgrounds.

Other Okinawa scenes

I don’t take my proper camera out on holiday anymore – I tried when we went to Tokyo last March, but with the kids and all of our childcare-related paraphernalia it just became too much of a hassle. Phones these days are more than adequate for the kind of quick and easy photo-taking I do nowadays anyway, and then I just try to zhuzh it up a bit in Lightroom. Most of the pictures I take are of family, but here’s the few remaining that I don’t really have a category for – all restaurants/convenience stores, which is kind of a thing in Japan.

This also rounds out our family’s first full year of travel after emerging from the Covid pandemic – a spring trip to Tokyo with friends to celebrate my 40th birthday and catch cherry blossom season, a work trip to Singapore in May to moderate my first industry conference, a friend’s destination wedding that same month in beautiful Jeju Island, a long overdue summer holiday back home in Toronto, a sweet boys trip with Miles in the fall back to Tokyo and the beautiful forest temples of Nikko, a work/eating trip to Bangkok in November, and a short but sweet weekend in Hanoi in December to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Okay, on to 2024!