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Nagoya Public Aquarium

by Madan Subramanian of Bangalore, India.
www.indianaquariumhobbyist.com
Aquarticles

Nagoya Public Aquarium

My sojourn at work as a Chief Marine Engineer on Tanker ships usually begins with flying out to a port where the ship has arrived about her business take her out to the next few ports and ends after a period of roughly 6 months by which time the Tax Collector gets nothing from me.

This year was a bit different, I took over a ship from the shipyard where it was built, and this entitled a one month halt at a hotel in the city of TSU ( The City with the shortest name in the world), Japan, where I had to attend to her in the last stages of building, sea trials and finally sail her out on her maiden voyage.

The one month stay in Japan was a whale of a time and I spent a couple of weekends visiting Public Aquariums. One thing I have learned though….. never ever visit a tourist place in Japan on a weekend, the place is packed like sardines with Japanese, and very few foreign tourists, Japan is surely not on any Tourists map. Especially Public Aquariums, it was hell photographing, moreover you are not allowed to use the flash, that's the reason for some of the blurred pictures with my hand held camera.

The first Aquarium I decided to see was one of Japan's largest, The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, a 40 odd minute Train ride from Tsu to Nagoya and then on a 15 minute underground train ride to here:

All very convenient. A 5 minute walk past souvenir shops and food courts brings you here to the water front and the aquarium complex.

The entire set of buildings in the background make up the aquarium complex.

It is such a large aquarium complex! Where have I come to? Overdosed with Bangalore's Govt. Aquarium in Cubbon Park, the only thing good there being the weekly meetings of ASK…. I shook myself awake to the real world…. I was getting really interested now, and I must confess I was not prepared for what was in store inside.

A Bronze sculpture at the entrance to the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium

Once I had bought my ticket, cost 2400 Yen ( USD 21, INR 965 ) and includes additional attractions all of which was painstakingly explained to me by a beautiful girl in very good Japanese, I listened in with rapt attention and periodic nodding, all of it went way over my head anyway. I never worry about the little things I can't understand, especially when beautiful girls painstakingly explain them, in I walked past the turnstiles to be greeted by this spectacular display. Wow….

A wondrous introduction

I had never ever seen a tank with a good 3+ meter high viewing glass…. Hmmm…. I was here to be amazed, Govt Aquarium at Cubbon Park and all that…., and I was not disappointed, this was only the beginning.

Spy-hopping dolphin

The neighbouring display window had this huge dolphin standing vertically…. The first thing that comes to mind when you see a fish assume this posture…. it's going to pop it….. well I found out why that was not the case a bit later.

Main below water viewing area

I called the picture above " a second display window" as it was the same tank with 2 display windows which you can clearly make out here. Thickness of the glass? There are many good things to see before we get to the glass thickness….

This pair were swimming in tandem all the time and were a joy to watch.

Mother and calf

Moving on to the next tank this time, it contained a Female Beluga Whale with it's year old calf. Apparently the mother was captured pregnant and she delivered the calf right here in this tank. It must have been a hell of a job cleaning up…. The tank I mean. How many water changes? Dunno….

That's the baby Beluga playing around.

Page: 3/11 Now on to the mother of all surprises…. I was awed by the Belugas and the Dolphins but I was not prepared for this….

A Killer whale and 2 dolphins were enjoying themselves

There is a viewing gallery as you can see and these 2 really long viewing panes, 30 odd feet each of glass made an awesome sight.

Wow… Wow…Wow…

An engineering marvel

Call it curiosity, Engineer's mind, an inquisitive nature or whatever, I was interested in knowing how 30 + feet of a viewing window could be made of a single pane of glass, I then discovered that the glass were somehow joined(fused) together in the vertical plane, without any support at intervals of about 8 -10 feet. You could clearly make out the number of sheets of glass(?) and the laminating layer between them if you looked at the pane at a convenient angle. I tried photographing it from all directions but could never get the joint to show. Imagine my surprise when on getting back the joint clearly revealed itself in the above picture. A Killer Whale sure has it's uses.

An amazing tank

I was speechless by now, I am not even going to contemplate what else might be in store here. I quietly followed the crowd up an escalator to here.

The whale pool - above ground

Ok Ok… Ok… so this is what it's all about. The vertical dolphin was begging for fish at the far end of this pool. SO what I saw below was this massive pool in sections. Hmmmm… ok. The Belugas were in a different tank altogether though.

Another view

The smaller tanks you see at the right are part of the main display arena in the foreground, and are seen through the display glass windows one level below where you enter the aquarium, but partitioned off by gates to segregate the creatures during the program.

Yes I was there…

The thickness of the glass… now that some of the beautiful sights are done with, You can try a guesstimate with the pic above, though the picture below gives a better indication of the glass thickness.

Thick glass indeed!

My estimate is a good 8 inches. It's made out of atleast 12 sheets of laminated glass. Counting isn't easy in the Killer Whale viewing gallery down below. I must have looked, what's the correct Japanese word?… peering at the glass from 2 cm away trying to count the no. of layers…. What's the Japanese word for guys like me…doing weird things 2 cm away from a glass pane? Gaijin….(?) Must read Shogun again to brush up my Japanese. The whale paid no attention to me. That's a comfort.

The participants in the show make an entry.

The dolphins vanished once they made sure they had your attention.

Back again to a deafening round of applause.

Flying Dolphins

This sure beats any air show. I have seen whales and dolphins jumping out of water in the deep oceans far away from land in the 2 decades I have been out at sea. I must though confess I have never ever been this close to them. The whole program was stunning. This is the part I never understood when I bought my ticket. Beautiful girl, painstaking explanations and all… doesn't matter…

The dolphins went through their paces… everyone sat riveted to their seats.

Wow… they pop up when you least expect them and then a huge splash.

The killer whale …. I did not mind it one bit…

Some more of his(?) antics...

And then he lands up on deck to strike a pose… the show off…

Getting off the deck is an immense struggle….. I told you so….

He plonks himself into the water finally.

Not to be outdone the trio of dolphins get on the deck… are they really smiling? How do they get the dolphins to do that?

The dolphins get off the deck and get back to their acrobatics.

This girl says meeeee too and climbs up on deck.

Not to be outdone the trio of dolphins get on the deck… are they really smiling? How do they get the dolphins to do that?

The Killer Boy bids good bye with a final dive.

Well well… a whale and dolphin show… I liked it.
Moving on now...

A Japanese movie was not for me

There's a movie about the whale and it's various internal systems. All of it in Japanese and I gave it a very very quick miss.

This tank display is named " Fish from seas of Japan"

What causes the reflections on the floor?

I was more interested in the lighting and what caused the ripple effect on the floor.

A window from a tank above! Very simple indeed.

The MH light in the ceiling lights up the room through a small tank of water. This causes the beautiful ripple effect on the floor. Japanese ingenuity… I asked for it didn't I, by coming here?

Fish from the seas around Japan…

Big Ray

Another tank with a 12 inch stingray… the barb in it's tail is missing… intentionally broken off? The blennies harass this ray to no end, ripping off pieces of his tail. Poor Ray.

A sea marsh biotope. Hmmm.. planted tank eh?

Not bad…

Another tank with hordes of fish and sea weed/algae.. everything written is in Japanese…

This was interesting a large grouper pair with their offspring.

A tank with black spot cardinals… the damn fish do not stay still and flash cannot be used. Damn.

Anemones and blennies.

How many Moray eels can be kept in a tank… I counted 20 here and there were still many in hiding.

What's that? A gorgonian growing attached to rock outcrop?

A nocturnal tank set-up

Nice jellyfish - my flashless photography is getting better

Upside down jellies

No, no, no!

This I will never approve of…. 50 + clown fish "Nemo" ? in this small a tank. It attracts the maximium no. of children and sends out a real bad message. Nope I don't like it.

A circular reef tank with a few fish… this is nice.

A giant black sea cucumber… not yet a giant… but should get large I thinks.

A large Tridacna crocea

The same Tridacna crocea with a few Sea Cucumbers.

Emperor angel and a few blennies here in this tank.

Finally a giant Red Crab. This guy's leg span should be much more than my arm span.

Moving on jostling past the throngs of Japanese families and little children I walked into the next section of the aquarium. The main attraction here is one single huge Reef tank. The tank is constructed to enable multiple viewing levels. If you don't notice this, then you'll end up thinking that there are many tanks here. Ok I let you in on the secret, see for yourself.

This is the Giant reef tank when you enter the section.

Lots of huge tangs, cowfish and what not, too many to identify. Simply stand back and enjoy, though an impossible suggestion with the crowd around.

Beautiful Ray!

Ya ya…. I was juggling 2 cameras, hoping for better shots without the flash. Once in a while my friend would take a picture. He's never heard of NOT using a flash. What's done is done…

True community tank

Yes the Sting Ray too is in the same tank. Seeing the size of the inhabitants they must be replenishing fish here daily.

Tall tank

Exit the first room and turn around to look at the tank through another window. See the glass of the first viewing window on the left. How high is the glass? A good 18 feet at least.

Tall tank - another view

Walk through the door at the right and you see more of the same tank.

Yes the same Ray is swimming around or are there 2 of them in this tank?.

The wall to the right creates another shelf for growing corals. The Acropora colony is beautiful.
Notice the plumbing? I would love a tour of the filtration section. Who do I ask? Impossible place.

Beautiful use of split level aquascaping. Each viewing window transports you to another tank.

Wow…. Wow… look at the size of that brain coral and the plating montis. I am impressed.

Another colony of Acroporas and whole lot of SPS.

Beautiful….. Beautiful….. One small section of this tank is all I wish to keep.

Tangs, Anthias, Brains, Acroporas, Montis, everything is in here.

More…

No flash here!

The next level provides you with three viewing windows, sorry no flash photography allowed. I was shooting at 1/8 sec in the available light and the pictures are going to be blurred. Shooting in RAW mode is an option, I must remember to get a couple of 4 GB CF cards the next time around.

Enjoy… I may have let out another secret with this snap….

A closer look.

Another view

Gorgeous isn't it. Unless we have Public Aquariums like this in India, this hobby will be confined to where it is now.

Looking through another viewing window…

I purposely placed by back pack here… to give an indication of the size of the brain coral on the right.

I love this colony.

Another one… oops the drop in lighting caused the blurred image.

One last photo

Now climbing on to the 3rd Level you are greeted by this sight.

A Reef Pond!!

The whole bloody tank is a reef pond…. And there I was wondering about lighting this deep a tank….

Yes Sunlight…. The only lighting for the tank… direct sunlight.

Enjoy the sight while I fume…

Just like a corral atol

See the gaint mothers of a fish…. This looks like the real thing for some one who hasn't seen a coral reef. Lounging on the sand with a chilled glass of Bacardi and lemon…… yeah that would complete the picture.

Can you make out the 3 levels now from the top?

I love this place.

Wow....wow....wow!

My friends thought me mad spending so much time around here. Everyone was hungry and wanted to go for lunch… Me… didn't want to leave this place. Lunch has been missed before many a time. Once more won't make a difference. Anyway there's always dinner to compensate.

A natural look

Yes, good old natural sunlight. The only lighting for this Reef Tank, or should I call it a pond. Saves a lot of electricity, avoiding all the lighting. You only need to worry about the filtration. No unnecessary contraptions, like tubes etc., for sunlight. Cool man real cool.

Biggest pond I've seen!

I have not seen such a large freshwater pond, and had not ever thought of a reef this size, this is amazing. With this final view of the tank I will move on.

This Giant Sea Turtle posed for a picture.

Australian Rainbowfish

Moving on I entered the Australian Biotope section. A planted tank with Rainbows… not all planted tanks in Japan looks like Amano's outfits. Many look worse than some of our very own planted tanks. So rest easy and don't get depressed looking at your planted tanks. They are doing real good. ;-)

This section is an Australian river biotope. No flash photographs ?#@**$.

Lots of arrawanas here and tortoises, lovely tank, lovely toddlers….

Next time I am visiting these places on a weekday…. Never a weekend, and I am getting myself those 4 GB CF cards.

Nice… very nice…

That's a lot of Australian arowanans!

A tank for Australian Lungfish.

Well people that concludes this 2 part article about the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium. I hope you enjoyed this. I am sorry, I haven't identified fish and corals by their scientific names, I have forgotten them, and the jostling crowd never did give me a chance to jot things down.

This couple posed for me on the way back. Here's wishing them the very best. .

One last picture of this impressive sculpture or whatever it is outside Nagoya Station

Have Fun. Keep them wet. Enjoy!