Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

The Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (海遊館 Kaiyūkan, known as the Kaiyukan) is an aquarium located in the ward of Minato in Osaka, Japan, near Osaka Bay. It is one of the largest public aquariums in the world, and is a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA).

The aquarium is about a five-minute walk from Osakako Station on the Osaka Municipal Subway Chūō Line, and is next to the Tempozan Ferris Wheel.

Exhibits

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 area of the Pacific Ocean. The largest tank is 9 metres (30 ft) deep and holds 5,400 cubic metres (190,699 cu ft) of water and a variety of fish including manta rays and a whale shark.

The tanks used in the aquarium are made of 314 tonnes (346 tons) of acrylic glass. The largest single pane measures six meters by five meters by thirty centimeters and weighs roughly 10 tons. At the thicknesses used, regular glass would be unwieldy and would not have the desired transparency.

The themes, displays and their respective organisms at Kaiyukan are as follows;

Tunnel Tank

  • Chromis notata
  • Siganus fuscescens
  • Rays and similar

Japanese Forests

  • Oriental small-clawed otter
  • Satsukimasu
  • Japanese giant salamander and similar

Aleutian Islands

  • Sea otters
  • Rainbow trout
  • Sebastes inermis and similar

Monterey Bay

  • Spotted seals
  • California sea lions

Panama Bay

  • Coati
  • Porcupinefish

Ecuadorian Jungle

Antarctica

  • Variety of penguins

Tasmanian Sea

  • Pacific dolphins

Great Barrier Reef

  • Chromis notata
  • Butterflyfish and other species

The Pacific Ocean

This is largest tank in the aquarium.

  • The whale shark
  • Manta ray
  • Bluefin tuna and other large fish

Seto Inland Sea

  • Fish native to Seto, Japan

The Giant Kelp Forest

  • Sunfish
  • Squid and other species

Chilean Rocks

  • South American pilchard
  • Japanese anchovy and other species

Cook Strait

  • Sea tortoises and other species

Japanese Trench

  • Japanese spider crab
  • Largehead hairtail
  • North Pacific giant octopus
  • Marbled rockfish and other species

Deep sea Zone

  • Giant isopods
  • Japanese lobsters
  • Trumpet fish and other species

Jellyfish Area

  • Varieties of jellyfish

Architecture

The Kaiyukan’s conceptual design, architecture, and exhibit design was led by Peter Chermayeff of Peter Chermayeff LLC while at Cambridge Seven Associates.

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Artyom Fedosov
27 May 2016
The main aquarium is marvelous, depth of 8 floors filled with whale sharks, tiger sharks, oceanic manta rays, stingrays and schools of fish. You can pet some sharks and rays on the end of route. *_*
Rob M
28 January 2017
The largest in the world, with 8 floors that spiral down a large center tank that’s 9 meters deep and holds 5,400 cubic meters of water.
Panisha Chan
10 September 2015
Get the aquarium pass from the train station (2,500 yen) to take advantage of a day pass on non-JR train line and a discount on other attractions in the city.
Lyndee Cantos
16 January 2017
Entrance fee for the aquarium alone is 2300¥. Other entrance fee packages are available i.e., aquarium+ferriswheel, aquarium+cruiseship etc. Very crowded during weekends and holidays. A must see!
Cameron
31 March 2017
Their tanks don't do a great job of pretending to be real, but you can overlook that when everything is bigger and crazier than other aquariums. Whale shark! Giant spider crabs! Crowded AF.
Tom Van Goylen
19 March 2015
Amazing aquarium with a huge center tank that has a lot of sharks, sting rays and the whale shark. Also lots of different squid and you can pet some sharks and sting rays at the end of the tour!
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Map
Japan, 〒552-0022 Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Minato-ku, Kaigandōri, 1 Chome−1, 海遊館 Get directions
Mon-Sun 9:30 AM–8:00 PM

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