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. Os ...

Chūō Line, and is next to the Tempozan Ferris Wheel.

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 ...

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 ...

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 otters,

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 herons 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 ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

(

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 ...

(

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, long-spine porcupinefish and blotcheye soldierfish),

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: ' ...

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 (biology), type of piranha native to South America, found in the Amazon basin, Amazon, Paraguay River, Paraguay, Paraná River, Paraná and Essequibo Ri ...

s, capybara & 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 cont ...

( 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'' ...

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 ...

(

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 & threadfin butterflyfish), Seto Inland Sea ( common octopus, Japanese spiny lobster &

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 mada ...

), 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 gr ...

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''. All species in the genus are very similar, and it is difficult to identify ''Aurelia'' medusae without genet ...

& 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,

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 rays,

scalloped hammerhead shark The scalloped hammerhead (''Sphyrna lewini'') is a species of hammerhead shark in the family Sphyrnidae. It was originally known as ''Zygaena lewini''. The Greek word ''sphyrna'' translates into "hammer" in English, referring to the shape of thi ...

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 ...

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 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 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 (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

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 ...

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 Dubouze ...

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 ...

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 stingrays and small sharks like brownbanded bamboo sharks 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 Selachi ...

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 subtr ...

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

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 primaril ...

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 wel ...

, California Sealion, Sea otter, 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 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 exclu ...

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

Research Research is " 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 attentiveness ...

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 managem ...

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 while at Cambridge Seven Associates. Peter Chermayeff also builds the Lisbon Oceanarium and other buildings. TV personality 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