Busena Marine Park Underwater Observatory

This guide to the Busena Marine Park Underwater Observatory in Okinawa opens with a question: how do you let someone stand on dry land and still see the ocean floor without getting wet. It traces the answer back to 1970, when engineers off the coast of Nago built a tower reached by a footbridge stretched over water, two years before Okinawa reverted to Japan, betting that tourists would pay to see a living reef through glass. You'll hear how the chamber sits five meters below the surface, reached down a spiral staircase that winds past the waterline itself. Take a moment at the round windows, where the reef press right up against the glass.