Churaumi Aquarium introduces night program

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at Okinawa Expo Park in Motobu has scheduled a new event called “Churaumi Night Aquarium” to run from Dec. 7th through Jan. 6th.

The idea is to offer visitors new ways of enjoying the aquarium and educate them about aquatic animals’ night-time activities, while also improving night tourism contents that is suitable for the whole family.

For night-time visitors, the aquarium is open from 6 to 9:30 p.m. The last entry is an hour before closing time at 8:30 p.m. The night-time entry is ¥1,260 for adults.

At night time, the aquarium will place a sofa in front of the Kuroshio Sea, the huge main tank of the facility, where visitors can relax watching whale sharks and giant mantas gliding by. The Churaumi Aquarium just added a new resident into the tank; a huge oceanic manta that was recently introduced into the tank as the first and only one of its kind on exhibit anywhere in the world.

The aquarium has created a breeding program for the monster, the world’s largest ray that measures about 4.6 meter across, about one meter wider than the reef manta rays that the aquarium is already breeding.

During the period of the night aquarium, Jumbo Tours will operate every night a bus tour with arrival and departure in Naha. The tour costs ¥5,500 fo0r adults including the aquarium entrance fee.