Hakkeijima Sea Paradise is a large theme park that includes Aqua Resorts, Pleasure Land, shops, restaurants, and also a hotel. Aqua Resorts includes three distinct major attractions. These include Aqua Museum, Dolphin Fantasy, the Fureai Lagoon, and UMI FARM. There is also the Aqua Theater that features a short movie of marine life from around the world.
The Aqua Museum aquarium is several floors tall and houses a lot of marine life including penguins, sea otters, polar bears, sharks, and many, many more. Depending on the time, you can watch staff interacting with the marine life during feeding time, such as walrus tricks and swimming with the sharks. The Aqua Museum has two gigantic tanks across several floors. It is amazing to ride up the escalator directly through the tank, watching the fish swim around you. The other tank contains the largest fish in the world, whale sharks. At the top, the stadium area can be accessed, where the marine life show is presented. The show is in Japanese, but can be followed quite easily. If you catch the show, you’ll have a lot of fun seeing sea lions catching rings around their necks, walruses blowing kisses and a whole lot more.
Dolphin Fantasy is an aquarium filled with dolphins, viewable through a glass tunnel. It feels like you are underwater as dolphins swim above you, the sun glistening through the water. The dolphins are enjoyable to watch and you can easily spend hours here. Also, there is a giant mola mola, the ocean sunfish. It is slightly strange looking, but fun to observe as it swims around its tank.
The Fureai Lagoon is a more of an interactive experience. It starts with a short introductory video (in Japanese). Get a copy of the English handout, which describes the basic rules. Don’t touch the heads of the dolphin or beluga (white whale), hold onto hats and other items to prevent dropping them into the marine life enclosures, and do not feed the marine life. The Fureai Lagoon is where you can pet a dolphin, beluga whale, and walrus. It is very safe, even for children, and the trainers and staff are very attentive. Outdoor enclosures exist for walruses, sea lions, and penguins.
During your time at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, there are various places to rest, eat and shop. If the Aqua Resorts was not enough, venture into the arcade, try the rides or roller coaster, or even stay overnight at the hotel. An unforgettable experience, an annual pass can also be bought if you are thinking of making return trips.
