JAPAN

Tourism operator in Okinawa bets on corals as carbon absorber

The company hopes to encourage visitors to think of climate change as a personal issue through combining sightseeing, environmental conservation and CO2 reduction.

By The Japan Times

• April 13, 2026 at 5:48 AM

Tourism operator in Okinawa bets on corals as carbon absorber Photo: The Japan Times

JAPAN
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Regional Voices: Okinawa
Kazumasa Hayakawa, president of Marine Tourism Development, checks undersea carbon dioxide concentration levels in Naha Port in Okinawa Prefecture in February
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About 10 minutes after departing Naha Port on a clear day, the seascape below a boat reveals a vivid spread of soft corals and schools of tropical fish gliding through the water.Before departure, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the water measured 407.3 parts per million, but at a site where soft corals carpet the seabed, the CO2 level dropped into the 360-ppm range.Marine Tourism Development, an eco-tourism operator based in Naha, has launched a new kind of tour that measures underwater CO2 concentrations in real time while passengers observe the seafloor through a glass-bottomed boat.

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