ParkSaiki · JP
Marinoporisu Memorial Park
Marinopolis Memorial Park (マリノポリス記念公園) sits on a small promontory jutting into Saiki Bay on the Bungo Kuroshio coast of southern Oita, a few minutes' walk from JR Asamiura Station. It was created in 1986 to commemorate the 'Marinopolis Concept', Oita Prefecture's ambitious plan to develop the region's rugged ria coastline around fisheries, tourism and balanced industry — and the world-first sea-ranch experiment that was trialled here. The park's signature landmarks are the very machines that made the experiment famous: an automatic acoustic feeding robot and, beside it, the 'Bungo Solar' array — the world's first offshore solar-power system, built in 1986 to run that feeding robot. Today the panel-and-tower monument is set within a ponded plaza with a fountain, making this a curious seaside mix of marine-research heritage and open public ground. But most visitors come for the view rather than the technology. From the park you look almost straight across at Bungo Futamigaura, the sacred married rocks of Kamiura bound by a great shimenawa rope, and out over the open Bungo Channel — on clear days the mountains of Shikoku hang on the horizon. The park is one of the area's prized spots for watching the year's first sunrise, and a friendly place to stop on a coastal drive, with covered benches, clean public restrooms and parking.
