Tropical Dream Center 6: Victoria Greenhouse

Then there's this stand alone greenhouse, when you first go in its an aquarium of I want to say Amazonian fish? A few huge fish, one a catfish.

Then you go upstairs to find the greenhouse, lots of cute pitcher-type plants...

Other non-Okinawan plants...

giant water lilies... all in a greenhouse that is actually hotter than the others, certainly hotter than it was outside that day, it was a gorgeous day!
At the end of the greenhouse is a random banyon, I'm assuming was cultivated to hang in the middle of the path as a single twined hanging for photo ops. The Japanese are as big on photo ops as Disney!

Tropical Dream Center 5: Panel Exhibition

I was in luck and happened to go to the center while they had a panel exhibit about the wild orchids of Okinawa - finding them in the wild... which was less about how to find them and more about pictures of them in the wild. Which makes sense, wouldn't want every Tom Dick and Harry running up to these places and pulling them out to take home. It was nice though, there were explanations for the Japanese names.

Being a panel exhibit, it didn't photograph too well, which is sad because by this point Coryn was bored to tears, though Carter was asleep for most half of the center.

Here's the other half decent pic.

Then we found ourself in the observatory, the spiral looking building that any who haven't been yet assume is the center itself. Its not much though, the interior is a tribute to the people who study and film nature along with a display about growing orchids from seeds.
the view at the top is lovely of course.

Tropical Dream Center 4: Karasawa Library

Not sure who Karasawa is, at least in relation to the center, but he's obviously a botanist of some kind. There is an entire room full of orchids that I'm sure are related to him somehow, though if its ones he's named, bred, drawn, grown, I don't know.

He must publish or at least add to books that have been published, some with pictures, some drawn, and one that looks like it might have been written for children with fairies on the orchids!

Most of the ones in this 'library' are unusual looking.
This might be my favorite...

But they are all quite beautiful.

Tropical Dream Center 2: Fruit Tree Greenhouse

Cucumber Tree

Flowers from the Box Fruit Tree hanging over the path.Box Fruit

Jack Fruit

Mmm... Mango... You Wanta Da Mango... yes, they bag their mangos before they fall off the tree, no need for constant vigil to catch them at peak ripeness :)

Tropical Dream Center

So, we continued our trip to the Expo Park with the Tropical Dream Center... here is the entrance, yes, thats Coryn running ahead

The walking path towards the first greenhouse gives a nice view if the dream center itself. There are five different greenhouses, the first three of which are dedicated to orchids.

Though they aren't exclusively orchids, I think... I haven't looked up this cobra plant yet, it might be.

orchids with such finely bisected petals to look fuzzy....

and well, lots of orchids. I was unfortunately too late to see the vanilla in bloom, but there was plenty to keep me occupied even without an international orchid festival going on. and, it was very much so not busy... I highly recommend walking through when visiting the aquarium.

International Orchid Festival 2

You may have hear that the world of orchids is very intense, and its true, whether it be coaxing the flowers to grow and bloom perfectly or the search for rare finds in the wild, the fact that there is a black market for orchids is proof alone that many love this sport perhaps a little too much. I couldn't pay full attention to what I was looking at while entertaining the kids, so I didn't get to see all they had displayed nor did I know until I got home what I accidentally captured. Competition extends beyond showing a potted plant or cut flowers to include commercial and themed displays (commercial I'm assuming to be what you would see in a store window). That being said... here are a few winners.

One of the placed displays... couldn't tell you what place, but it has a ribbon.

First place cut flowers.

First place potted.

Grand Champion I believe.

Not sure about this one.... might have been top of the 'hanging' flowers... note how its hung from the ceiling.

International Orchid Festival

Eeeeeee!!!! I had to go this year since it will likely be my last opportunity. It was spectacular! Held annually at the Tropical Dream Center located within the Ocean Expo Park near the Churaumi Aquarium, this festival is an orchid lover's dream. Not only do they have the orchids displayed from competitors in three divisions but also orchids to buy, orchids for decoration, and well... more orchids! (This explains why they have orchids in the air terminal) I took many pictures before we even went into the building... here are a few.

And Coryn on the Japanese payphone. He did really well while we spent 2+ hours looking at flowers. Often taking pictures... some of which actually turned out.

Another Aquarium Visit

Here we are about to go in, Coryn got his hat from a Japanese "Jellybean Man" (aka clown), we chose to go on a Japanese holiday... not sure which one, whichever happens Feb 11th.

Kids loved the touch pool of course.

This is Carter's first real experience here... 4 days and 4 months don't really count as memory building experiences, as you can see he enjoyed it, he pointed a lot and didn't cry the whole time we were in there.

Trying to get those last couple of figures for Dad. We scored! Got a great white shark, now there's just the sting ray and big turtle left.

Fighting over treats at the dolphin show.

ChuraUmi Aquarium

Coryn gazes with wonder at the beautiful and sometimes quite large fish in the three story aquarium, the second largest in the world. Churaumi means 'beautiful ocean' in a combination of chura - okinawan for beautiful and umi - japanese for ocean.
They have a 'petting zoo' of starfish and sea cucumbers, Coryn mostly likes to play with the water.
They have quite the collection of interesting specimen including these garden snakes, wall climbing-air breathing-jumping fish, and others.
The aquarium is so large it is the only one to contain not just one but three whale sharks, many manta rays, and a variety of other fish, as well as three scuba divers who were working on a section of the tank while we were there.

They have other smaller sites too, a manatee house, sea turtle pools, and free dolphin show areas. All around a fun place to visit on this little island.