Japan Lights: Sunshine Aquarium [2/2]

Sunshine Aquarium [2/2]

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After an amazing journey through the ocean it’s time to take a look at how life looks in rivers around the world. Are you prepared for Waterfront Journey in Sunshine Aquarium?

Waterfront Journey

First part is the Amazon and African Rivers. Here in a really big tanks are fishes but not only- there are some other animals, like turtles, and a lot of flora. There are plants, long grass and fallen trees. It’s worth seeing just how well it was “decorated”.

Next part, “From Water to Land- The Amphibian World” is full of... amphibia! There are some looking quite normal, like frogs (mission golden-eyed tree frog for example looks pretty nornal) and crabs (who were thrown into this group for company I guess) but there are also some less common ones. It’s possible to see a lot of poisonous frogs, as well as some really rare animals.

Golden poison frog and dyeing poison frog

Axolotl

I’ve mentioned crabs being thrown in for the company. There’s a tank, looking more like an open platform, with tiny plants stick into the sandy ground, that is full of really minuscule crabs and tadpoles. To see them it’s necessary to actually bent over the platform.

Just on the opposite side of amphibia there is a “Scaled Creatures- the World of Reptiles” section. Here are big turtles (which are really adorable- they stay in a group, always close to each other. They even walk over the other’s shells not minding it at all- a big family literally supporting each other!) and lizards.

Group of turtles and soa-soa water lizard... I guess.

Next part are the lake seals- there’s two of them in a tank looking like and Arctic lake. They are really big and even both have names!

Baikal seal

Finally, at the end of the second floor, there are tanks with lots of tiny colourful fishes. There’s one tank for Australian Sea “The Great Barrier Reef”, one for Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean, and one for Okinawa Sea “Shiraho”. The last one is “Sea of Clownfish and Anemones”.

Just before the the staircase there’s a shop with WiFi spot and vending machine area. next to the door to the shop there are some machines where one can win little animal figurines (which are of course on the display).

Aquarium's shop

The shop, called Aqua Pocket, is full of merchandises- keychains, figurines, stuffed toys, pencils, chopsticks, towels, - all shaped as fishes. It’s a really good place for any fish-loving person.

Marine Garden- Sky Journey

Marine Garden is a great place during the day. It’s on the roof, under the sky. I’d strongly recommend to come there before it starts getting dark, since animals go to sleep quite early (which I’ve learned the hard way). The most amazing thing there is a Aqua Ring- a huge tank in a shape of a ring which is placed a few meters above the ground, where the live animal viewing is held. Just next to it is a Sea Lion beach and a performance stage. On the opposite side there’s a Kanola Cafe- a nice place to stop by and rest a while, while eating fish shaped treats. It's quite sapcious and have a really nice atmosphere.

Even during heavy rain, Kanaloa Cafe looks like a warm, nice place

Cafe's menu

The animals in the Marine Garden are (among others): penguins, asian otter, sea lion,pelicans, and some other fishes. It’s worth planning a trip in advance to see performances: there’s a Sea Lion Feeding, Water Show, Sea Otter Feeding, Penguin Feeding and Pelican Feeding. Most of them involve tricks and commentary. The animals in Sunshine Aqua Ring can be seen from 10am to 5pm.

Make sure to come to Marine Garden before it gets dark, or it will be all you'd see

A few words about how it works

Ticket prices:

Adults- 2000 yen
Youths (7-15 years old)- 1000 yen
Children (4-6 years old)- 700 yen
Seniors (age 65+)- 1700 yen

Visitors with disability certificate and one companion- 50% discount

There’s also an annual pass which costs as much as two visits! So, for the adult it would be 4000 yen. There are also special bonuses like 20% discount for Planetarium ticket and 5% discount for purchases inside Aquarium.

Opening hours:

From April to October: 10am to 8pm
From November to March: 10am to 6pm

last admission is an hour before closing time

It takes approximately up to 3 hours to see everything in aquarium. Still, if someone chose to go in the evening it would be best to start with the last part which is Marine Garden, since it’s on rooftop and under only the sky and have all the birds and mammals see them before they will go to the night's rest.