The Waste Chronicles: Japan’s Indoor Beach

If you travel about 1,200 miles south of Tokyo to the island of KyÅ«shÅ« you will end up in Miyazaki, a popular honeymoon getaway spot that is also considered to be one of Japan’s great surf destinations. Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the south and east and covered with craggy volcanoes rising from lush green forests, Miyazaki is an outdoorsperson’s paradise. According to Outdoor Japan, Miyazaki is one of the most recognized spots for waves in Japan. Its beaches are long and clear; its weather is warm, and swells can be found there all year round. In fact, until recently, Miyazaki has been the dominion of professional surfing in Japan. But the inexplicable thing about Miyazaki, a place that has almost too much beach than it knows what to do with, is that it’s also home to the Seagaia Ocean Dome, a synthetic, temperature-controlled beach that, with a capacity of 10,000 people, is one of the largest water parks in the world.

The Ocean Dome, which is part of the Phoenix Seagaia Resort (where the 2000 G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit took place), is a monstrosity. Its man-made ocean is comprised of 13,500 tons of heated, salt-free water that crashes against a sanitized beach made from 600 tons of polished marble chips. The temperature inside is controlled so the climate remains unchanged 24-hours a day, 365-days a year. Tide machines generate waves big enough to surf while a fake volcano, which emerges from a rainforest ecosystem of plastic trees and mechanized parrots, erupts every hour. If visitors get bored laying on the synthetic beach, surfing the predictable waves, or seeking adventure in the plastic rainforest, they can visit the many shopping centers or grab a bite of fast food.

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The Ocean Dome is designed to be so realistic that visitors will feel they are actually outside experiencing the real thing – a paradise within paradise. This may provide vacationers a visit to the beach without fear of sunburn or a cloudy day, but at what price? It’s hard to imagine that the resources needed to supply energy for the water park and deal with the waste of its 10,000 daily visitors won’t affect the natural beauty of Miyazaki. And on a more spiritual level, what happens to mankind’s relationship to nature when a new generation grows up preferring to surf in climate-controlled domes than in the actual ocean?

The Seagaia Ocean Dome is just a theme park, not the end of the natural world. But as the global community  becomes more aware of climate change and cinches its belt tighter against needless waste, hopefully more visitors to Miyazaki choose to stay outside.

[Via: Weird Asian News]