4.5Tsuruoka City Kamo Aquarium(466 reviews) - Extraordinary Thursday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Spent 1-2 hours Aquariums
When Kerrie said she wanted to visit an aquarium whose specialty was jellyfish I thought she'd finally lost the plot. But it was amazing ! The aquarium has a lot more than just jellyfish, but there is no doubt that jellyfish are their "thing" and it is the jellyfish that you'll remember most of all after visiting. The aquarium is located on the coast about a 20 minute taxi ride from Tsuruoka train station (and town centre). We caught the train to Tsuruoka and then took a taxi to the aquarium. The staff at the aquarium were then happy to call a taxi for us when we wanted to return.See more..
According to our daughter the original aquarium (and surrounding area) was destroyed by the tsunami in March 2011- all the fish were killed and the mammals had to be moved to other locations, In less than 1 year they have totally rebuilt the aquarium and restocked it - incredible! The aquarium itself was amazing - seals, fish, crustaceans, eels. The building itself is built around a very tall tank spanning several floors and at the bottom you can walk through a tunnel that represent the merging of sea currents near Fukushima. It reminded me of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. The whole aquarium was based around how the sea, and it's contents, is a resource that must be conserved - especially for Japan as it is a major source of protein. The only slightly worrying bit was a section where you could catch a fish and have it cooked for you! Overall we had a very enjoyable visit.See more..
We walked from JR Rikuzen Tagasago Station to the aquarium (could have took a taxi instead, cost about JPY1000). The aquarium has 2 floor, indoor tanks on the first, and outdoor tanks and show on the second. The variety of sea creatures are quite decent compared to other aquariums in Japan. The shows are the highlights. We are quite impressed with the dolphin show and the seal interactive performance with the spectators. Bonus - Squirrel cage! Visitors can walk into the cage to look at the cute squirrels close up. We spent about 2.5 hours in the aquarium. Worth a visit! Do give me a thumbs up if u find the review useful. Thanks See more..
This place is very reasonably priced and the drive without taking the toll road doesn't really add that much time and is quite beautiful. It was about $10 for adults and $5 for our elementary aged kiddos. You just purchase tickets from the ticket machine inside the doors. There are a nice selection of sea life etc., but the tanks are very small and that is a little heartbreaking. I'm certain the dolphin tank isn't more than 12 foot deep and there were two bottlenose dolphins just circling in there. We did get to see the trainers work with them and they seem very content and knowledgeable with them. The show they have is about 15 min long and all in Japanese but you get the idea of what's happening. There is a small cafe where you can purchase lunch but the ticket machine is all in Japanese and we couldn't figure out what was what. Lol. There's also an ice cream place inside by the dolphin show as well as a Hello Kitty popcorn vending machine and beverage vending machines. Yen only for everything. The gift shop has a good selection of gifts to send home as well. All in all, an enjoyable trip. See more..
4.0Oga Aquarium Gao(128 reviews) - Pleasant experience Thursday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Aquariums
The aquarium is located on the coast of Oga peninsula with beautiful sea sights. Even though it was small, it was organized quite well. There were two polar bears. Fortunately, we were there at their feeding time, and were able to watch them looking around, jumping in a pool, grabbing apples from a hole on the wall, etc. Besides bears, there were penguins, jellyfishes, and other fishes in a big water tank. In addition to that, they exhibited Akita’s local fishes, such as sandfish and fishes lived in rivers. It was a pleasant experience. It took a while to drive from Akita airport, but we saw Japanese countryside, rice fields with so many different dragonflies on the way to the aquarium. It’s worth to go, if you have time, I think.See more..
