Day 6: The Ocean Dome

Hey all!

Just writing this before I crash for the day. I am beat from spending the day at the Ocean Dome. The Ocean Dome is located in Miyazaki, Japan. This place is incredible. Not only was it a gorgeous and captivating place to spend the day, but it’s also an amazing feat of engineering and science. Essentially, the Ocean Dome offers an indoor beach experience with the perfect weather 365 days a year.

The one thing that struck me as weird is the location. Take a look at this photo. The Ocean Dome is actually only 300 meters away from a natural, FREE beach! It’s about $50.00 USD to get into the Ocean Dome for a day, while the free one is about an hour a day. It took my be surprise, until I took the tour with Mr. Takashi San, the PR Chief for the Ocean Dome. He reminded me that Japan gets a lot of snow, rain, and cold weather. He said there is realistically only 4 months a year that warrant going to the actual beach.

The Ocean Dome is the largest indoor Water Park in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records. It is also the 84th largest clear spanning dome (of any type) in the world. It is truly a masterpiece of retractable steel beams rocketing towards the sky. It measures 300m in length, and 100m in width. The building was designed by the Mitsubishi Company, with a price tag of two billion dollars. It was completed in 1993, inaugurated in July.

Imagine a beach where the sky is always blue, it’s never too hot or cold, the water isn’t filled with salt and pollution, and the surf is always perfect. It has its own flame-spitting volcano, crushed white marble “sand,” and it also boasts the world’s largest retractable roof, providing a permanently blue sky. Temperature, wind and humidity are closely controlled to provide an ultra-safe “seaside” experience. Every hour, the volcano erupts and the hi-tech wave machines start up, starting a few minutes of sanitized surfing. I can honestly say, I never seen anything flow so smoothly, as to provide a natural feeling environment quite like the ocean dome did.

Take a look at http://www.seagaia.co.jp/english/odr/od.html for information on specials and events they’re having if you’re ever around to check it out!

Matt