Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

This guide to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium traces how the vast acrylic viewing window in front of you came to be built, following the small Shikoku company Nippura through the exacting process of fusing several slabs of acrylic into one seamless pane strong enough to hold back millions of liters of seawater. You'll hear about the round-the-clock curing and polishing that went into hiding every joint, and the anonymous technicians whose work you're looking through whenever you approach the glass. Run a hand along the pane and see if you can find where one slab ends and the next begins.