A $350 million superyacht spotted cruising Hawaiian waters has been identified as the floating palace of Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.
The 114.2-meter vessel, named Nausicaä, turned heads this week after social media posts showed it off Waikiki one day and near Maili the next, with locals and tourists alike scrambling to figure out who owned the mysterious ship. Videos and pictures posted on social media this week showed the massive vessel off Waikiki one day and near Maili the next.
“Did anyone else see this off of the Waikiki shore the other day?” One post read.
“Massive yacht off Waikiki. Never seen one like that,” another added.
The unique looking ship had people speculating about who the owner could be and whether it was connected to the military.
“At first, I thought it was a military vehicle,” visitor Ted Reddy told Hawaii News Now after seeing it off Maili on Tuesday.
“I’d be curious to see what they’re doing here.”
Before it was spotted near Maili, locals in Molokai recalled their reaction when they saw it too.
“My wife woke me up. She was like, ‘Oh, you need to come outside and see this,'” local Kenny Adachi told the news outlet.
Turns out the luxury yacht is owned by Maezawa, 50, a billionaire fashion entrepreneur and art collector, according to superyachtfan.com.
Its name, Nausicaä, comes from the iconic Studio Ghibli anime “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,” by Hayao Miyazaki.
The name can be found in Greek mythology and means “burner of ships” or “she who shines among the ships,” Super Yacht Times reported.
The massive vessel is impressive to say the least, able to accommodate up to 18 guests with nine cabins, and a crew of over 36.
The floating palace comes with the billionaire essentials: a sushi bar, two-level art gallery, helipad, swimming pool and table tennis area.
It was designed by Marc Newson and built by German designer Lurssen, a yacht building shipyard based in Bremen, Germany.
The eccentric art collector even has a revolving gallery aboard the yacht for works by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool and Richard Prince.
Maezawa’s eccentric lifestyle has even extended to his children — who reportedly once hurled a bowl of cereal at a $110 million Jean-Michel Basquiat painting because they were frightened by the artwork.
The bizarre incident happened aboard another luxury vessel.
The ship cruises at around 14 knots with a top speed of more than 20 knots.
The Nausicaä can even transform into a silent, battery-powered sanctuary when anchored, shutting down its generators while its 2-megawatt battery bank runs the onboard systems.
Maezawa’s appetite for adventure goes well beyond yachts — he became the first private passenger to visit the International Space Station and has also been selected for a planned trip around the moon aboard SpaceX’s Starship.
“It is extremely challenging for a design project, of any description, to literally deliver on the vision conceived and presented at concept stage,” Newson acknowledged in a statement about the vessel. “Here, I am very proud to say that every detail, at every scale, has been realised at the most coherent level. Working with an immensely creative client has enabled rare opportunities to push the boundaries and test the limits of form, material and functionality.”
The delivery of Nausicaä in May 2026 marked a milestone for Lürssen, with CEO Peter Lürssen declaring: “The delivery of Nausicaä has given me a profound connection to my great-grandfather, Friedrich Lürssen, who built the world’s first motorboat in 1886,” He continued: “I am incredibly grateful for that. While innovation drives everything we do, Nausicaä has truly broken new ground, just as the 6-metre REMs did 140 years ago.”
In the viral moment that first set Hawaii abuzz, the futuristic vessel’s unusual curved profile and extensive black glazing led many to mistake it for a military craft. The confusion spread across social media platforms as the yacht appeared off multiple Hawaiian islands, with commenters marveling at its scale and speculating about its purpose. The sightings came shortly after Nausicaä’s delivery and transit from the North Sea toward Gibraltar, suggesting Maezawa had routed the vessel through the Pacific for its maiden voyages.
The yacht’s most distinctive feature is its Skydome, a glass structure formed from seven vast curved panes, each measuring 3m x 2.8m and 62mm thick, with each pane weighing 1,050kg. It forms part of the owner’s study and is fitted with bespoke internal bronze shutters.
Nausicaä was built to Ice Class 1D specifications, allowing her to operate in light ice conditions, and has been engineered with provision for a future methanol fuel cell system.
The vessel was previously known as Project Cosmos during its four-year construction at Lürssen’s Rendsburg shipyard, with work beginning in January 2022 and the yacht hitting the water in August 2025.
Nausicaä is currently understood to be continuing her voyage through Pacific waters following the Hawaiian sightings.