The is an aquarium located in the ward of Minato in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, near Osaka Bay. When it first opened, it was the largest

public aquarium A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

in the world. It is a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The aquarium is about a five-minute walk from Osakako Station on the

Osaka Municipal Subway The is a major rapid transit system in the Osaka Metropolitan Area of Japan, operated by the Osaka Metro Company, Ltd. It serves the city of Osaka and the adjacent municipalities of Higashiosaka, Kadoma, Moriguchi, Sakai, Suita, and Yao. O ...

Chūō Line, and is next to the

Tempozan Ferris Wheel Tempozan Ferris Wheel is a 112 meter tall ferris wheel located in Osaka, Japan, at Tempozan Harbor Village, next to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, one of the largest aquariums in the world. The wheel has a height of and diameter of . Description Tem ...

History

In 1988, with the aim of redeveloping the

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

Bay Area, the Kaiyukan and Tempozan Marketplace were to be built following the success stories of aquariums and commercial facilities overseas. The aquarium was named "Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan" by the general public and opened in 1990. The number of visitors reached 1 million on the 40 days of the opening and 2 million on the 101 days, The final number of visitors during the year reached 5.6 million, surpassing the national record held at that time

Tokyo Sea Life Park is a public aquarium located in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo. It is located in Kasai Rinkai Park in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, and Kasai Rinkai Bird Garden is also located in the park. It can be accessed from Kasai-Rinkai Park Station. The Predecessor is the U ...

and being the fastest record in Japan. The number of visitors reached 50 million on February 26, 2008. Achievement in 6317 days (about 18 years) is the fastest among aquariums in Japan, and about 60% of the visitors are repeaters. In 2014, the total number of visitors exceeded 65 million. In 2017, the number of visitors reached 75 million, making it the most visited aquarium in Japan.

Exhibits

Visitors will go up to the eighth floor on the escalator, passing through the Aqua Gate, a tunnel tank with various tropical fish. After exiting the escalator is the Japan Forest, which recreates a Japanese forest and holds

Asian small-clawed otter The Asian small-clawed otter (''Aonyx cinereus''), also known as the oriental small-clawed otter and the small-clawed otter, is an otter species native to South and Southeast Asia. It has short claws that do not extend beyond the pads of its web ...

Japanese giant salamander The Japanese giant salamander (''Andrias japonicus'') is a species of fully aquatic giant salamander endemic to Japan. With a length of up to ,black-crowned night heron The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax''), or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and N ...

s and many other native freshwater animals. The walk-through aquarium displays marine life in several habitats comprising 27 tanks in 16 main exhibits with a total volume of 10,941 tons of water. The habitats are from the

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...

area of the Pacific Ocean and these include the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

(

tufted puffin The tufted puffin (''Fratercula cirrhata''), also known as crested puffin, is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family (Alcidae) found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of three species of puffin that make ...

s),

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...

(

California sea lion The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of C ...

s and largha seals),

Gulf of Panama The Gulf of Panama ( es, Golfo de Panamá) is a gulf of the Pacific Ocean off the southern coast of Panama, where most of eastern Panama's southern shores adjoin it. The Gulf has a maximum width of , a maximum depth of and the size of . The Pana ...

(

ring-tailed coati The South American coati (''Nasua nasua''), also known as the ring-tailed coati, is a coati species and a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae), found in the tropical and subtropical parts of South America. An adult generally weighs from a ...

long-spine porcupinefish The long-spine porcupinefish (''Diodon holocanthus''), also known as the freckled porcupinefish among other vernacular names, is a species of marine fish in the family Diodontidae. Diet The species' diet includes sea urchins and hard-shelled mo ...

and

blotcheye soldierfish The blotcheye soldierfish (''Myripristis berndti'') is a species of soldierfish belonging to the family Holocentridae. Description This species grows to a length of TL. The body is oval and laterally compressed and the scales are quite large. ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Rain Forest (

arapaima The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche is any large species of bonytongue in the genus ''Arapaima'' native to the Amazon and Essequibo basins of South America. ''Arapaima'' is the type genus of the subfamily Arapaiminae within the family Osteoglossi ...

red-bellied piranha The red-bellied piranha, also known as the red piranha (''Pygocentrus nattereri''), is a type of piranha native to South America, found in the Amazon, Paraguay, Paraná and Essequibo basins, as well as coastal rivers of northeastern Brazil.

capybara The capybaraAlso called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru). or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydro ...

& green iguanas),

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

( Adélie, gentoo &

king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies: ''A. p. patagonicus'' and ''A. p. halli''; ''patagonicus'' i ...

s),

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

(

Pacific white-sided dolphin The Pacific white-sided dolphin (''Lagenorhynchus obliquidens''), also known as the hookfin porpoise, is an active dolphin found in the cool or temperate waters of the North Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy The Pacific white-sided dolphin was named by Sm ...

s) and

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

( palette surgeonfish,

pennant coralfish The pennant coralfish (''Heniochus acuminatus''), also known as the longfin bannerfish, reef bannerfish or coachman, is a species of fish of the family Chaetodontidae, native to the Indo-Pacific area. Description The pennant coralfish is a s ...

threadfin butterflyfish The threadfin butterflyfish (''Chaetodon auriga'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family (biology), family Chaetodontidae. It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. Distribution ''Chaetodon auriga'' is found in the Indo-P ...

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

(

common octopus The common octopus (''Octopus vulgaris'') is a mollusc belonging to the class Cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. The ...

Japanese spiny lobster The , ''Panulirus japonicus'', is a member of the genus '' Panulirus'' of spiny lobsters. It grows up to long and lives in the Pacific Ocean around Japan, Taiwan, China, and Korea. ''P. japonicus'' is the subject of commercial lobster fisher ...

red seabream Red seabream is a name given to at least two species of fish of the family Sparidae, ''Pagrus major'' and ''Pagellus bogaraveo''. ''Pagrus major'' ''Pagrus major'' is of great culinary and cultural importance in Japan, and is known as mad ...

), Coast of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

( Japanese anchovies and South American pilchards), Cook Sea Strait (

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when fully ...

s, deepwater burrfish & scarlet wrasse), Japan Deeps (

Japanese spider crab The Japanese spider crab (''Macrocheira kaempferi'') is a species of marine crab that lives in the waters around Japan. It has the largest known leg-span of any arthropod. It goes through three main larval stages along with a prezoeal stage to g ...

s, elephant fish & Hilgendorf's saucord) and a jellyfish gallery (

moon jellyfish ''Aurelia aurita'' (also called the common jellyfish, moon jellyfish, moon jelly or saucer jelly) is a species of the genus ''Aurelia (genus), Aurelia''. All species in the genus are very similar, and it is difficult to identify ''Aurelia'' medus ...

& northern sea nettle). The largest tank is the Pacific Ocean tank which is deep and holds of water and a variety of fish including

Indian mackerel The Indian mackerel (''Rastrelliger kanagurta'') is a species of mackerel in the scombrid family (family Scombridae) of order Perciformes. It is commonly found in the Indian and West Pacific oceans, and their surrounding seas. It is an impor ...

Pacific bluefin tuna The Pacific bluefin tuna (''Thunnus orientalis'') is a predatory species of tuna found widely in the northern Pacific Ocean, but it is migratory and also recorded as a visitor to the south Pacific. In the past it was often included in '' T. thyn ...

reef manta ray The reef manta ray (''Mobula alfredi'') is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, one of the largest rays in the world. Among generally recognized species, it is the second-largest species of ray, only surpassed by the giant oceanic manta ra ...

scalloped hammerhead shark The scalloped hammerhead (''Sphyrna lewini'') is a species of hammerhead shark in the family (biology), family Hammerhead shark, Sphyrnidae. It was originally known as ''Zygaena lewini''. The Greek language, Greek word ''sphyrna'' translates into ...

s and two

whale sharks The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...

. The tanks used in the aquarium are made of of

acrylic glass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

. The largest single pane measures six meters by five meters by thirty centimeters and weighs roughly 10 tons. At the thicknesses used, regular

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

would be unwieldy and would not have the desired transparency. The most popular animals on display are the whale sharks. In 1990, the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium (predecessor of Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium), were the first in the world to whale sharks in captivity, but did not exhibit them. At that time, the Osaka Aquarium was the only facility in the world that owned whale sharks. In 1994 the aquarium successfully captivated a

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

which was the second in the world at the time. Later in 1995 the aquarium managed to successfully hold an

ocean sunfish The ocean sunfish or common mola (''Mola mola'') is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It was misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was actually a different species, ''Mola alexandrini''. Adults typically weigh between . The spe ...

in captivity. The "New Interactive Area" that opened in 2013 allows visitors to see the animals up close and possibly touch them. In the "New Interactive Area", 3 zones are constructed, the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

Zone, in which you see

ringed seal The ringed seal (''Pusa hispida'') is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The ringed seal is a relatively small seal, rarely greater than 1.5 m in length, with a distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light g ...

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

Zone, where you can see

southern rockhopper penguin The southern rockhopper penguin group (''Eudyptes chrysocome''), is a species of rockhopper penguin, that is sometimes considered distinct from the northern rockhopper penguin. It occurs in subantarctic waters of the western Pacific and Indian O ...

s, and the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

Zone, in which you can directly touch

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...

s and small sharks like

brownbanded bamboo shark The brownbanded bamboo shark (''Chiloscyllium punctatum''), is a bamboo shark in the family Hemiscylliidae that can be found in the Indo-West Pacific from Japan to northern Australia, between latitudes 34° N and 26° S. It is regularly bred i ...

s and coral catsharks. In 2020, the museum shop was reopened on February 22 after renewal work was carried out to coincide with the 30th anniversary of its opening.

Research and conservation

Osaka Aquarium are focusing on research on

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

s and Rays. By 2016, Kaiyukan had successfully captivity or breeding 47 species of sharks, 37 species of rays, and 1 species of ghost shark, for a total of 85 species. In addition, the past eight surveys of tagging whale sharks have revealed that they can migrate to the Philippines and dive to a depth of .　 Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan has a research center in Iburi,

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Prefecture, where fish swimming tests and animals to be brought in are carried out in tanks with a water volume of and a water volume of . although it was not exhibited at the aquarium, they succeeded in captivity of

Pelagic thresher The pelagic thresher (''Alopias pelagicus'') is a species of thresher shark, family Alopiidae; this group of sharks is characterized by the greatly elongated upper lobes of their caudal fins. The pelagic thresher occurs in the tropical and subtro ...

for 26 days at the Research Center in Iburi, Kochi Prefecture. Other captivity such as

Chilean devil ray The Chilean devil ray (''Mobula tarapacana''), also known as the box ray, greater Guinean mobula, sicklefin devil ray or the spiny mobula, is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae. It is often observed worldwide, basking just below the surfac ...

, which has not been recorded since

Georgia Aquarium Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It exhibits hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than of water. It was the largest aquarium in the wor ...

captivity in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, was also successful at the research center. In 2001, the aquarium published a research book at the Research Center, publishing the knowledge accumulated by the Osaka aquarium over 10 years on 567 species of fish in 136 families. The research book later received the Kochi Prefecture Academic Publishing Award. In addition, since the opening of the Osaka Aquarium, it has succeeded in breeding

Spotted Seal The spotted seal (''Phoca largha''), also known as the larga seal or largha seal, is a member of the family Phocidae, and is considered a "true seal". It inhabits ice floes and waters of the north Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primarily ...

Pelagic stingray The pelagic stingray (''Pteroplatytrygon violacea'') is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, and the sole member of its genus. It is characterized by the wedge-like shape of its pectoral fin disc, which is much wider than long, as we ...

, California Sealion,

Sea otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the small ...

, etc., and received the breeding award from the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums. aquariums also focusing on breeding and cultivation other than aquatic organisms, and in 1993, aquariums received the breeding award from the association for the first successful breeding of the

spur-winged lapwing The spur-winged lapwing or spur-winged plover (''Vanellus spinosus'') is a lapwing species, one of a group of largish waders in the family Charadriidae. It is one of several species of wader supposed to be the "trochilus" bird said by Herodotus ...

in Japan. In addition, about 200 species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s are exhibited in the Japanese forest area inside the building.

Research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

will be reported in Bulletin "kaiyu(かいゆう)".

Architecture and name

The Kaiyukan's conceptual design, architecture, and exhibit design was led by Peter Chermayeff of

Peter Chermayeff LLC Peter Chermayeff LLC is a Massachusetts-based architectural firm which specializes in aquarium architecture and exhibit design, from conceptual planning to the details of final realization. History The two principals, Peter Chermayeff and Bobb ...

while at Cambridge Seven Associates. Peter Chermayeff also builds the

Lisbon Oceanarium The Lisbon Oceanarium ( pt, Oceanário de Lisboa, ) is an oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. It is located in the ''Parque das Nações'', which was the exhibition grounds for the Expo '98. It is one of the largest indoor aquariums in Europe. Archi ...

and other buildings.

TV personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

Emiko Kaminuma states that it is her role to decide the name "海遊館 Kaiyukan" in Japanese. Kaminuma, who was a member of the name selection committee among the common candidates starting from Marin, chose Kaiyukan, which had only one vote, and said, "It is better to make it an impactful'Kaiyukan'". Emiko Kaminuma said, "There is no impact with a mundane name that starts with Marin. If you express it in three kanji characters, the meaning will be easier to understand, and it will have an easy-to-understand impact like (夢工場). There is. " As a result, it was not named after Marine, which has a large number of votes, but was named Kaiyukan.

Gallery

Aqua gate File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 2013-09F.JPG File:1 Chome Kaigandōri, Minato-ku, Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka-fu 552-0022, Japan - panoramio - jetsun.jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (5262319413).jpg penguins File:Kaiyukan, Osaka, Japan (9229056167).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 3-24 (26216339690).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 3-24 (26489093555).jpg Tasmanian Sea tank File:Dolphins (3595430038).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium(Lagenorhynchus obliquidens).jpg File:サンタ (8276813559).jpg The Pacific Ocean tank File:Whale Watching at the Osaka Aquarium.jpg File:Kaiyukan manta ray.jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (5262933558).jpg Japanese Trench tank file:Japanese-spidercrab.jpg File:Spider crabs at the Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka close below.jpg File:Spider crab at the Kaiyukan in Osaka, Japan.JPG Maldives sea pour File:People touch fishes at Osaka Aquarium 01.jpg File:People touch fishes at Osaka Aquarium 02.jpg File:People touch fishes at Osaka Aquarium 03.jpg Jellyfish Zone file:Small.Jellyfish.Osaka.jpg File:Jellyfish (6159273286).jpg File:Jellyfish, Osaka Aquarium.jpg

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Aquaria in Japan Tourist attractions in Osaka Buildings and structures in Osaka Zoos established in 1990 1990 establishments in Japan