Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai, 30 January 2025
The Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai is situated in the town of Oarai, which is about two hours north (by train) from Tokyo. I was taking the ferry to Hokkaido from Oarai so it combined nicely with that, but you could easily do it as a day-trip from Tokyo.
If coming from Tokyo, you take a train to Mito Station and then transfer to a local train to Oarai Station. There is a loop bus which runs from outside the Information Centre next to the train station about once an hour and costs 100 Yen, and which has a stop directly at the aquarium. In the Info Centre they said a taxi would cost about 2000 Yen. Walking would take about an hour I guess. There are lockers at the train station to leave luggage in.
Unfortunately I thought the closing time of the aquarium was 5pm (which would have given me three hours there), but it was actually 4pm. I'm not sure if it changes seasonally or if it is always 4pm now, but most information online and on tourist pamphlets says 5pm. Their website currently says 4pm but I hadn't checked that beforehand. This meant that I ignored the closing announcements (in Japanese) from about 3.30pm because I thought they must be for something else, until at 4pm a security guard came and told me they were closed now. I had to rush through the floor I was on, taking photos of each sign on the way without actually being able to stop and look in the tanks (these were the freshwater river tanks). And I had to miss an entire section, the Ocean Terrace, which on the map was labelled with Humboldt Penguin, Californian Sealion, and South American Fur Seal, but which probably had additional tanks for fish as well.
There was also a small museum-type area which I was going to come back to after seeing all the live animals, but of course could not do so in the end.
This aquarium is noted for its huge collection of elasmobranchs. Posts on the forum say it has up to 60 species. I noted down 43 signed species of sharks and rays, but there was a large ocean tank with no signage so I don't know which species were in there (definitely some extra ones because there were stingrays), and there may have been additional species on the Ocean Terrace which I missed.
There was a dolphin show just starting when I arrived so I stopped to watch that. The participants were Californian Sealions and Bottlenose Dolphins. I didn't stay for the whole show, and in hindsight wish I hadn't stopped for even as long as I did because otherwise I might have just scraped through seeing everything before 4pm.
Other mammals on display elsewhere in the aquarium were Spotted Seals in a too-small tank, and North American River Otters in an unusually vertically-oriented habitat. There was also a nice exhibit for Tufted Puffins, which didn't seem too small for the flock.
Sharks are the aquarium's main focus, but there are lots of smaller tanks for marine bony fish, for native freshwater fish, and for marine invertebrates.
Overall the aquarium was very nicely presented, everything was clean and well-maintained, and although a lot of the tanks were on the smaller side most were of an adequate size. Few seemed "too small" for their inhabitants, although the larger sharks could definitely have done with bigger tanks or had fewer individuals.
Signage was amazingly complete. Often in aquariums the signage does not match the tanks well (or at all in some cases!) but here every species in a tank was on the signage for that tank, and in only a few cases could I not find a signed species (and I suspect in those cases it was just that the animal was hiding).
The only tank which appeared to lack signage was the big ocean tank. This is viewed from several points - through a side window, from the front window at "ground" level, and then also from the next floor (again at the front window) - and I looked for signage at each point without seeing any.
Photos in the gallery: Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai Aquarium - ZooChat
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The following list is the 43 species of sharks and rays for which I saw signage:
Ring-streaked Guitarfish Rhinobatos hynnicephalus
Mottled Skate Raja pulchra
Chinese Fan-Ray Platyrhina tangi
Japanese Eagle Ray Myliobatis tobijei
Mandarin Dogfish Cirrhigaleus barbifer
Japanese Sawshark Pristiophorus japonicus
Japanese Angelshark Squatina japonica
Crested Bullhead Shark Heterodontus galeatus
Japanese Bullhead Shark Heterodontus japonicus
Port Jackson Shark Heterodontus portusjacksoni
Zebra Bullhead Shark Heterodontus zebra
Sand Tiger Shark Carcharias taurus
Blind Shark Brachaelurus waddi
Nurse Shark Ginglymostoma cirratum
Tawny Nurse Shark Nebrius ferrugineus
Short-tailed Nurse Shark Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum
Arabian Catshark Chiloscyllium arabicum
Grey Bamboo-Shark Chiloscyllium griseum
White-spotted Bamboo-Shark Chiloscyllium plagiosum
Brown-banded Bamboo-Shark Chiloscyllium punctatum
Epaulette Shark Hemiscyllium ocellatum
Speckled Carpetshark Hemiscyllium trispeculare
Tasselled Wobbegong Eucrossorhinus dasypogon
Japanese Wobbegong Orectolobus japonicus
Spotted Wobbegong Orectolobus maculatus
Northern Wobbegong Orectolobus wardi
Necklaced Carpetshark Parascyllium variolatum
Zebra Shark Stegostoma tigrinum
Copper Shark Carcharhinus brachyurus
Blacktip Reef Shark Carcharhinus melanopterus
Sicklefin Lemon Shark Negaprion acutidens
Whitetip Reef Shark Triaenodon obesus
Broadfin Sawtail Catshark Galeus nipponensis
Indonesian Speckled Catshark Halaelurus maculosus
Salamander Shark Parmaturus pilosus
Graceful Catshark Proscyllium habereri
Bali Catshark Atelomycterus baliensis
Banded Sand Catshark Atelomycterus fasciatus
Blotchy Swell-Shark Cephaloscyllium umbratile
Cloudy Catshark Scyliorhinus torazame
Scalloped Hammerhead Sphyrna lewini
Smooth Hammerhead Sphryna zygaena
Star-spotted Smooth-Hound Mustelus manazo
I have made an almost-complete species list (e.g. missing the inhabitants of the unsigned ocean tank) here: Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai: species list, January 2025 [Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai Aquarium]
The Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai is situated in the town of Oarai, which is about two hours north (by train) from Tokyo. I was taking the ferry to Hokkaido from Oarai so it combined nicely with that, but you could easily do it as a day-trip from Tokyo.
If coming from Tokyo, you take a train to Mito Station and then transfer to a local train to Oarai Station. There is a loop bus which runs from outside the Information Centre next to the train station about once an hour and costs 100 Yen, and which has a stop directly at the aquarium. In the Info Centre they said a taxi would cost about 2000 Yen. Walking would take about an hour I guess. There are lockers at the train station to leave luggage in.
Unfortunately I thought the closing time of the aquarium was 5pm (which would have given me three hours there), but it was actually 4pm. I'm not sure if it changes seasonally or if it is always 4pm now, but most information online and on tourist pamphlets says 5pm. Their website currently says 4pm but I hadn't checked that beforehand. This meant that I ignored the closing announcements (in Japanese) from about 3.30pm because I thought they must be for something else, until at 4pm a security guard came and told me they were closed now. I had to rush through the floor I was on, taking photos of each sign on the way without actually being able to stop and look in the tanks (these were the freshwater river tanks). And I had to miss an entire section, the Ocean Terrace, which on the map was labelled with Humboldt Penguin, Californian Sealion, and South American Fur Seal, but which probably had additional tanks for fish as well.
There was also a small museum-type area which I was going to come back to after seeing all the live animals, but of course could not do so in the end.
This aquarium is noted for its huge collection of elasmobranchs. Posts on the forum say it has up to 60 species. I noted down 43 signed species of sharks and rays, but there was a large ocean tank with no signage so I don't know which species were in there (definitely some extra ones because there were stingrays), and there may have been additional species on the Ocean Terrace which I missed.
There was a dolphin show just starting when I arrived so I stopped to watch that. The participants were Californian Sealions and Bottlenose Dolphins. I didn't stay for the whole show, and in hindsight wish I hadn't stopped for even as long as I did because otherwise I might have just scraped through seeing everything before 4pm.
Other mammals on display elsewhere in the aquarium were Spotted Seals in a too-small tank, and North American River Otters in an unusually vertically-oriented habitat. There was also a nice exhibit for Tufted Puffins, which didn't seem too small for the flock.
Sharks are the aquarium's main focus, but there are lots of smaller tanks for marine bony fish, for native freshwater fish, and for marine invertebrates.
Overall the aquarium was very nicely presented, everything was clean and well-maintained, and although a lot of the tanks were on the smaller side most were of an adequate size. Few seemed "too small" for their inhabitants, although the larger sharks could definitely have done with bigger tanks or had fewer individuals.
Signage was amazingly complete. Often in aquariums the signage does not match the tanks well (or at all in some cases!) but here every species in a tank was on the signage for that tank, and in only a few cases could I not find a signed species (and I suspect in those cases it was just that the animal was hiding).
The only tank which appeared to lack signage was the big ocean tank. This is viewed from several points - through a side window, from the front window at "ground" level, and then also from the next floor (again at the front window) - and I looked for signage at each point without seeing any.
Photos in the gallery: Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai Aquarium - ZooChat
..............................................
The following list is the 43 species of sharks and rays for which I saw signage:
Ring-streaked Guitarfish Rhinobatos hynnicephalus
Mottled Skate Raja pulchra
Chinese Fan-Ray Platyrhina tangi
Japanese Eagle Ray Myliobatis tobijei
Mandarin Dogfish Cirrhigaleus barbifer
Japanese Sawshark Pristiophorus japonicus
Japanese Angelshark Squatina japonica
Crested Bullhead Shark Heterodontus galeatus
Japanese Bullhead Shark Heterodontus japonicus
Port Jackson Shark Heterodontus portusjacksoni
Zebra Bullhead Shark Heterodontus zebra
Sand Tiger Shark Carcharias taurus
Blind Shark Brachaelurus waddi
Nurse Shark Ginglymostoma cirratum
Tawny Nurse Shark Nebrius ferrugineus
Short-tailed Nurse Shark Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum
Arabian Catshark Chiloscyllium arabicum
Grey Bamboo-Shark Chiloscyllium griseum
White-spotted Bamboo-Shark Chiloscyllium plagiosum
Brown-banded Bamboo-Shark Chiloscyllium punctatum
Epaulette Shark Hemiscyllium ocellatum
Speckled Carpetshark Hemiscyllium trispeculare
Tasselled Wobbegong Eucrossorhinus dasypogon
Japanese Wobbegong Orectolobus japonicus
Spotted Wobbegong Orectolobus maculatus
Northern Wobbegong Orectolobus wardi
Necklaced Carpetshark Parascyllium variolatum
Zebra Shark Stegostoma tigrinum
Copper Shark Carcharhinus brachyurus
Blacktip Reef Shark Carcharhinus melanopterus
Sicklefin Lemon Shark Negaprion acutidens
Whitetip Reef Shark Triaenodon obesus
Broadfin Sawtail Catshark Galeus nipponensis
Indonesian Speckled Catshark Halaelurus maculosus
Salamander Shark Parmaturus pilosus
Graceful Catshark Proscyllium habereri
Bali Catshark Atelomycterus baliensis
Banded Sand Catshark Atelomycterus fasciatus
Blotchy Swell-Shark Cephaloscyllium umbratile
Cloudy Catshark Scyliorhinus torazame
Scalloped Hammerhead Sphyrna lewini
Smooth Hammerhead Sphryna zygaena
Star-spotted Smooth-Hound Mustelus manazo
I have made an almost-complete species list (e.g. missing the inhabitants of the unsigned ocean tank) here: Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai: species list, January 2025 [Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai Aquarium]
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