Where NOTHING means EVERYTHING
The Motobu Peninsula is perfect for a relaxing holiday by the sea
If there’s one place that encapsulates the beautiful ocean in Okinawa Prefecture indoors, it’s the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at the Ocean Expo Park in Motobu. The aquarium building facing the East China Sea rears up like a gigantic castle, and a stream of people enter as if drawn to it.
“Our large fish tank is one of the biggest in the world. It contains a whale shark that holds the world record for the longest survival at an aquarium or other facility,” says Asuka Kinjo, 30, who is in charge of publicity and planning at the aquarium.
“It also contains a reef manta ray and many other fish.”
The aquarium opened in 2002 and attracts more than 3 million people a year, according to Kinjo.
I listen to her brisk explanations as we walk past the crowd at the aquarium. Various creatures from both shallow and deep parts of the ocean are kept in a total of 77 fish tanks at the aquarium, she explains.
“On weekdays, many students from across the nation visit our aquarium on their school excursions, even during the off-season. If you want to see the fish in a tranquil atmosphere, I suggest you come in the early morning or the early evening on a weekend,” Kinjo says.
The Ocean Expo Park encompassing the aquarium is part of the Okinawa Commemorative National Government Park and is located on a 71-hectare lot that was the site for the Okinawa International Ocean Exposition. That event started in 1975, three years after the reversion of Okinawa to Japan from the United States.
Walking through the vast lot of the Ocean Expo Park takes more than an hour.
The park also encompasses the Tropical Dream Centre featuring rare botanical plants, the Oceanic Culture Museum and a man-made beach. The park showcases the charms of Okinawa Prefecture and is meant to attract tourists not only from other parts of Japan but also from China and South Korea.
The town of Motobu once flourished thanks to its bonito fishing.
As a reminder of that time, there are many restaurants that serve Okinawa soba using bonito soup stock.
I happened to come across a monthly handicraft fair in a small marketplace operated by the town government where you can find vegetables, home-cooked dishes and breads, and pins made from seashells bearing carved motifs. There is even an improvised flower decoration class.
Madoka Seta, who sells handmade daily commodities, confirms my suspicion that the market attracts few tourists at the fair.
“That’s the attraction,” she laughs. “Items sold here aren’t meant to follow fashion. We all bring what we like and people who like them come and we chat together. I like to spend time relaxing this way.”
The tourism association in the neighbouring Nakijin village boasts a catchphrase that reads “Nuun Nenshiga” in large letters. The phrase in the local dialect means, “We don’t have anything special, though.”
That’s not true – the village has plenty of attractive tourist spots including the ruins of Nakijin Castle, a Unesco World Heritage site. However, association Director General En Matayoshi, 45, says that he would rather promote the village as a place with “nothing special”.
“Recently, more and more people are attracted to [places in] Okinawa [Prefecture] that aren’t meant to be tourist destinations,” Matayoshi explains. “Our village is warm even in winter. The inns are cheap and not very crowded. It’s good we have nothing special.”
On my way back from Nakijin to Motobu, I spot a roadside stall selling citrus tankan, a type of tangerine grown in the prefecture. The fruit looks tough and difficult to eat, but to my surprise, it’s sweet and has a strong aroma.
“We don’t ship them to the mainland, so you should buy them here now,” says tangerine farmer Naohide Urasaki, 60, adding that tankan is grown outdoors all year round, so freshly picked tankan is sold even in midwinter.
In this region, which is some distance from Naha and other lively places in the southern part of the main island, the few tourists who come exist happily side by side with the daily life of local people.
After the summertime bustle and the typhoon season are over, the beach on Sesokojima island in Motobu regains its calmness and time slows down again. On a fair day, it might be nice to sit on the beach and do nothing but watch the gentle East China Sea.
IF YOU GO
<Naha Airport is about a three-hour flight from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. The Ocean Expo Park is about a two-hour car drive from the airport.
<For more information, call the Ocean Expo Park’s management office at (0980) 48 2741, the Motobu Tourism Association at (0980) 47 3641, and the Nakijin Tourism Association at (0980) 56 1057.
