Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
— — a quiet wall of water and slow shapes.
Not only on a wall.
“One of the largest aquariums in the world, on the waterfront at Tempozan in Osaka's Minato ward. Kaiyukan opened in 1990 and is built around a single central tank, the Pacific Ocean tank, nine metres deep and holding roughly 5,400 cubic metres of water. Two whale sharks live in it. The visitor route spirals downward around the tank, so you meet the same animals at different depths on the way down.
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, on ceramic.
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The place, in three passes.
Kaiyukan stands on the harbour at Tempozan in Osaka's Minato ward, beside the Tempozan Ferris Wheel and across the harbour from the Osaka Cultural Hall. It opened in July 1990 to a design by American aquarium architect Peter Chermayeff and has remained one of the largest public aquariums in the world. The building holds about 11,000 tonnes of water across fifteen tanks representing the volcanic ring of the Pacific. The central Pacific Ocean tank is nine metres deep and holds roughly 5,400 cubic metres.
The visitor route is a single spiral that begins on the eighth floor and descends around the central tank, so each animal is met at multiple depths on the way down. Two whale sharks share the Pacific Ocean tank with manta rays, hammerhead sharks, and schooling tuna. The other fourteen tanks reproduce specific habitats: Monterey Bay, the Gulf of Panama, the Aleutian Islands, the Antarctic ice shelf, the Tasman Sea. The aquarium holds approximately 30,000 animals across 620 species.
Open daily, generally 10:00 to 20:00, with shorter hours on some winter weekdays. Adult admission runs around 2,700 yen at the time of writing; tickets are timed-entry and book out on weekends and during school holidays. The aquarium is a short walk from Osakako Station on the Chuo subway line, four stops from Honmachi. Allow two to three hours for the full descending route. The lower levels are reachable by lift for visitors who prefer not to walk the full spiral.