Aquarium Near Me by Shinagawa Station: Maxell Aqua Park's Dolphins and Rays

Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa is inside Shinagawa Prince Hotel at 4-10-30 Takanawa, Minato-ku, a two-minute walk from the Takanawa exit of Shinagawa Station, and adult entry costs ¥2,800. Through November 30 it opens 10am to 8pm every day, with last entry at 7pm. For travellers at Shinagawa searching aquarium near me, it is an indoor stop built around a round dolphin stadium and a skylit ray tunnel.

The building opened on April 8, 2005, as Epson Shinagawa Aqua Stadium, on hotel land in the Takanawa block. It closed on January 5, 2015, for a full rebuild and reopened on July 10 that year as Epson Aqua Park Shinagawa. After Epson's naming deal ended in 2016, Maxell took the naming rights, and the current name has been in use since December 1, 2017.

Yokohama Hakkeijima, the company behind Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, runs the aquarium, which counts about 350 species and 20,000 animals. Rather than a natural-history layout, it leans on projection mapping, music and lighting that change by season and between day and night. The same tanks get new staging each season, and this autumn the theme is red maple leaves.

The Stadium on the upper floor centres on a circular pool about 25 metres across, watchable from all 360 degrees, with water curtains, LED screens and lighting around it. Bottlenose dolphins, Pacific white-sided dolphins and false killer whales perform. Until November 8, the daytime program, Autumn Dolphin Festa, sets jumps to Latin music with trainers and guests joining in, and the show is included in entry.

After dark the same pool hosts Gekka Koyo, a quieter night program staged as a harvest scene, a moonlit sea and falling maple leaves. Seating is unreserved, and when the stands fill up latecomers can miss a show entirely, so claim a seat at least 15 minutes ahead. Between programs, fountains in the pool fire at random as enrichment, and the dolphins chase and splash through the jets.

Wonder Tube is a tunnel about 20 metres long lit partly by daylight through a skylight, so it looks different at noon than at 6pm. About ten species of rays glide overhead, including Alfred mantas, which no other aquarium in eastern Japan displays. The tunnel also holds the dwarf sawfish, the smallest member of the sawfish family, and this is the only aquarium in the world where you can watch one swim.

Little Paradise groups nine tanks of tropical fish and small sharks whose themes rotate. Beyond it, Life Museum lines a tall wall with stained transparent specimens that read more like art than biology. Aqua Jungle carries on with arapaima, amphibians and reptiles. Allow about two hours for the full loop including one dolphin show, the time the aquarium itself suggests.

MOMIJI AQUARIUM by NAKED runs until November 8, staged by the Tokyo creative studio NAKED. Its entrance zone shows red lanterns lighting up as the scene shifts from day to night, a garden tank floats maple leaves on the water above leaf-shaped fish, and another tank shows creatures named after autumn foods. Jellyfish Ramble, a room 9 metres wide and 35 metres deep, gets moonlit lighting and Japanese instruments.

Coral Cafe Bar glows under black light from fluorescent corals and sells drinks in bottles you may carry into the next zone. A Kirin Ichiban draft costs ¥750, highballs ¥650 and Coca-Cola ¥350. This autumn the bar area doubles as Akane Chaya, decked with paper umbrellas and seasonal snacks. There is no restaurant inside, so for a meal head to the hotel, where aquarium tickets earn restaurant discounts.

Wild Street holds penguins, spotted seals, South American fur seals and two Asian small-clawed otters. Taiyo arrived in 2015 and turned 12 on August 12, 2026. Mitsuba came in 2016 and turned 14 on August 19, still with her red nose. Keepers trained Taiyo to give blood samples in about four months in 2020, and he still does it monthly.

Next door, Friendly Square is an outdoor plaza where animal programs run up close, with benches open as a lounge and eating allowed outside program times. Until November 13 a free discovery card asks children to find animals linked to autumn themes, and a full card wins a sticker at the 2F information desk. On October 24 and 31, a 9am keeper tour costing ¥3,500 for adults enters before opening.

Re-entry is unlimited on the day you visit if you show your ticket. Tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are banned, as are kick scooters, balance bikes, tricycles, wagons and outside food. Strollers are welcome, but there are no rentals, escalators are off limits for them, and the ramp route runs against the one-way flow in places, so use the Coral Cafe Bar lift. Coin lockers under the 1F escalator cost ¥300 to ¥700.

Preschoolers from age four pay ¥800, elementary and junior high students ¥1,300, high school students ¥1,800 with ID, and under-fours enter free. An adult annual pass costs ¥5,200. Guests of the four Prince hotels in Takanawa and Shinagawa pay ¥2,000 with a room key at the 1F ticket centre. On October 19 and 26 and November 2, holiday Mondays bring ¥300 off advance web tickets.

The aquarium aims its bright daytime show at families and its night staging at couples. The hotel even sells weddings in the ray tunnel and stadium. Arrive at 10am on weekdays for an emptier tunnel. Skip the two ¥500 rides, the Dolphin Party carousel and the Port of Pirates swing ship: both date from the 2005 Epson era, take only cash or IC cards at the gate, and cost you stadium seating time.

Do not arrive after 7pm, because last entry, the cafe bar and the rides all stop then. If the daytime stadium is full, keep your ticket, walk out to Sengakuji and come back for the night program, which is a different show. On a rainy day the whole aquarium is indoors, and the hotel's cinema and bowling alley sit in the same complex if a group splits up.

Shinkansen, JR and Keikyu trains all stop at Shinagawa, and the Takanawa exit faces the hotel. Keikyu reaches Shinagawa in as little as 14 minutes from Haneda's domestic terminal and 11 from the international one, so it suits a long layover. For a walk afterwards, head north about 15 minutes to Sengakuji at 2-11-1 Takanawa, the temple founded in 1612 where the 47 Ronin and their lord are buried.

Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa, inside Shinagawa Prince Hotel, 4-10-30 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Phone 03-5421-1111, an automated guidance line. Open every day of the year, and from September 24 to November 30 hours run 10am to 8pm, last entry 7pm, rides and Coral Cafe Bar until 7pm, photo service until 6pm. Hotel parking costs ¥500 per 30 minutes. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for more Takanawa plans.