Looking at the picture above, what do you see?. Many people would say ; “I see people in a beach”. If you say so, you are right, but you are wrong if you think that’s a real beach. That’s the largest indoor beach_The Seagaia ocean dome that was in Miyazaki, Japan.
The Seagaia ocean dome was opened on July 30, 1993. The tropical-themed beach was part of the Sheraton Seagaia resort. At the time of its construction, it was the largest indoor water park in the world. It had the world’s biggest retractable roof, which was opened and closed according to the weather conditions; 12,000 square metres of sandy beach, crushed from 600 tonnes of stones, a fake ocean that was six times lager than an Olympic swimming pool, it was filled with 13,500 tonnes of unsalted, chlorinated water kept hot at 28°C, equipped with a wave-machine with 200 variations. It was the largest simulated swimming pool. It had everything a real beach would have but they were all artificial. It even had a fake rock lagoon that would erupt “lava” every 15 minutes. Its retractable roof allowed visitors to enjoy beach combing on rainy days and on sunny days, visitors could enjoy the sun.
The construction of the beach cost 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion USD). The funny part of this story is that this “beach” was built less than a mile from a real beach.
Obviously , this megaproject was a waste of money and resources. It was a show off of excess wealth which Japan has. Not surprising, the indoor beach was bought for less than ten percent of its construction cost and was closed in 2007.
We should try to conserve and enjoy nature more than trying to replicate it. No matter how beautiful or nice the artificial one may seem, it doesn’t change the fact that it ain’t real. Let’s go out and enjoy the wonderful work of mother nature.
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