Aquarium Near Me in Shinagawa: Seal Tunnel and Dolphins at Shinagawa Aquarium

Shinagawa Aquarium sits at the southern tip of Shinagawa Kumin Park at 3-2-1 Katsushima, Shinagawa-ku and an adult ticket costs ¥1,350. It opens 10am to 5pm with last entry at 4:30pm and closes on Tuesdays. For families in Oimachi, Omori or Shinagawa searching aquarium near me, this is the ward-owned option with a 22-metre walk-through tunnel, a seal tunnel and outdoor dolphin shows.

The aquarium opened on October 19, 1991, on a theme of contact with the waterside, chosen because Shinagawa grew up facing the sea and its rivers. It staged the first dolphin show in Tokyo, and the operator, Sunshine Enterprise, has added Penguin Land in 1996, the Shark Hall in 2001 and the Seal House in 2006. Visitor numbers passed 20 million in June 2022. The surrounding park was built by filling in the Katsushima Canal.

The 35th anniversary falls on Monday, October 19, 2026. On Sunday the 18th, doors open early at 9:30am for a free ceremony in the stadium from 10:15am, with Shinagawa mayor Kyoko Morisawa announcing winning ideas from a ward contest for a rebuilt aquarium. A full renewal is planned but has no schedule, and the aquarium says it will keep operating as it is for now. Since September 25, staff wear uniforms made entirely from recycled fishing nets.

The basement floor is built around the Tunnel Water Tank, an acrylic arch 22 metres long holding 500 tons of seawater and about 400 fish of roughly 70 species. On show days a diver enters the tank for the seven-minute Underwater Show, swimming just over your head. Next door, the Shark Hall displays shark teeth and specimens around a tank where sand tiger sharks, the slow, ragged-toothed giants, cruise past at eye level.

The ground floor follows the water from source to bay. A large mizunara oak stands in the centre of the River Flowing into Tokyo Bay gallery, then come tidal flats, a working tide-pool tank and a diorama of today's Shinagawa shoreline with black sea bream and sea bass. Look for the Musashitomiyo, an endangered stickleback now found wild only in the Moto-Arakawa river in Kumagaya, Saitama.

The separate Seal House recreates the Hokkaido coast where spotted seals arrive with drift ice from the Sea of Okhotsk. Its 240-ton tank includes a seal tunnel, the first of its kind in Japan, so you can stand beneath a seal gliding overhead. The Seal Show runs about seven minutes at the surface viewing area. Space there is tight, so arrive early, and the aquarium asks parents not to put children on their shoulders.

Penguin Land holds Magellanic penguins from the South American coast, with six burrows modelled on the holes wild birds dig into soil. Keeper talks at the enclosure run at 2:45pm on weekdays, and at 10:30am and 2:45pm on weekends and holidays. Nearby, Asian small-clawed otters scramble over a bridge in the Little Hunters tank, and paid feeding sessions for fish, seals or otters cost ¥600 for about ten minutes.

Dolphins perform in the outdoor Dolphin and Sea Lion Stadium, in seven-minute shows that alternate with sea lion routines. The schedule posted for October 18 lists dolphin shows at 10:45am, 12:30pm, 2pm and 3:30pm. The Dolphin Window on the basement floor shows the same animals underwater between shows. The aquarium has announced a full renewal of the building but has not set dates, so for now the stadium runs its normal daily program.

Until December 25, the B1F Kumanomi Room hosts an Eric Carle exhibition marking the aquarium's 35th year and 50 years of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Japanese. About ten species, including the Amazon leaf fish, frogfish and chameleons, are paired with his collage art. From November 14 a Christmas version adds an electric eel Christmas tree that lights up with each discharge, with keeper talks at 1pm on Wednesdays and 4pm on weekends.

Keep your ticket stub, because it allows unlimited re-entry the same day, handy for a picnic in the park, since food is banned inside. Flash is fine except at tanks marked otherwise. Strollers can roll through on two lifts, except during Golden Week and Obon, and weekend visitors are asked to leave them outside. There are 55 coin lockers before the entrance. Kick scooters, camping wagons and long items like fishing rods stay out.

Avoid weekday mornings from 10am to noon on the aquarium's published group days, which in late October include the 19th, 21st to 23rd and 26th to 30th. Group tours crowd the tunnel and the penguin rail then. Come after lunch, and book the 2pm backyard tour, ¥600 for up to ten people aged four and over. The Eric Carle room shuts for redecoration from November 11 to 13, so skip those dates if it is your reason to come.

Weekdays belong to organised groups, and weekends to young families, which is why staff suggest parking strollers outside on Saturdays and Sundays. If the stadium is packed for a dolphin show, go downstairs to the Dolphin Window and watch the next show from the front row. In front of that window, pearl extraction costs ¥1,000: You pick an Akoya oyster and open it with a butter knife.

A free shuttle bus runs from bus stop 6 at the east rotary of Oimachi Station via the JR Atre exit or Rinkai Line exit A1. It takes about 15 minutes and drops you at the park's Aquarium Gate. On foot, Omori Kaigan Station on the Keikyu Line is eight minutes away, and JR Omori is 15 minutes, though that route has no lift. Parking costs ¥200 per 20 minutes for 96 cars and fills early on weekends.

Afterwards, walk north through the park around Katsushima no Umi, a 6,500-square-metre artificial lake, past the cherry tree plaza and the Shinagawa Kodomo Boken Hiroba playground. Or walk to the Suzugamori execution ground site on National Route 15, about ten minutes from Omori Kaigan Station, where Edo-period memorial stones stand beside Daikyoji temple. Before leaving, the hexagonal Restaurant Dolphin, floating on the water beside the aquarium, serves meals from 11am to 5pm.

Shinagawa Aquarium, inside Shinagawa Kumin Park, 3-2-1 Katsushima, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo. Phone 03-3762-3433. Open 10am to 5pm, last entry 4:30pm, closed Tuesdays. Adults ¥1,350, seniors 65 and over ¥1,200, elementary and junior high students ¥600, children four and over ¥300. Shinagawa residents, workers and students pay ¥800 at the window with ID. A ¥300 Gyoshuin capsule stamp, the first at a Tokyo aquarium, sells near the entrance. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for more Oimachi-area plans.