Japan is Nippon 日本語
The glass-roofed Aquamarine Fukushima aquarium building lit up in blue at night
Photo: takacchi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Fukushima · zoo aquarium

Aquamarine Fukushima

アクアマリンふくしま

An environmental aquarium in Iwaki themed on Fukushima's "shiome", where warm and cold currents meet. Catch and touch sea life as well as watch it.

Indoor walkway beside a tall blue tank inside Aquamarine Fukushima
Photo: Totti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An environmental aquarium themed on where currents meet

Aquamarine Fukushima is an aquarium facing Onahama Port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, which opened on 15 July 2000. Its official name is the Marine Science Museum, Fukushima Prefecture, and it was set up by the prefecture. It calls itself an "environmental aquarium" and focuses on learning about the natural environment through living things.

Its theme is the shiome no umi, the sea where currents meet. Off the coast of Fukushima, the warm Kuroshio current from the south meets the cold Oyashio current from the north. Inside, the aquarium recreates the Sea of Okhotsk, where the Oyashio begins, the waters where the Kuroshio begins, and the ecosystems of Fukushima's mountains, rivers and sea.

Kuroshio and Oyashio tanks, and coelacanth research

The centrepiece is the great tank of the Shiome no Umi. It is split into a Kuroshio tank and an Oyashio tank, so you can compare the fish that live in warm and cold seas.

The aquarium also carries out research into the coelacanth, the deep-sea fish known as a "living fossil", and was the first in the world to film a live juvenile coelacanth.

Fishing, touching and eating

At the fishing pond in the children's centre, Aquamarine Egg, there is fishing every day, and the fish you catch can be deep-fried for you on the spot as karaage. There are also programmes where you can touch stuffed specimens or make crafts.

Outdoors is Janome Beach, a large touch pool that recreates a seashore. You can wade in to look at starfish, sea cucumbers and other creatures, but it is only open from spring to autumn.

Reopening after the disaster, and getting there

In the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, the tsunami struck the aquarium and many of its animals were lost. Even so, repairs moved ahead, and it reopened exactly four months later, on its founding anniversary, 15 July 2011.

The nearest station is Izumi on the JR Joban Line. From there, take a local bus towards Onahama (about 15 minutes), get off at Aeon Mall Iwaki Onahama and walk about 5 minutes. From Tokyo, there is also a highway bus between Tokyo Station and Iwaki Station. Opening hours and prices change with the season, so check the official website.

Tips

  • The car park is shared with the surrounding shopping facilities and gets very busy during Golden Week and the summer holidays. The official website also recommends public transport.
  • If you plan to go into the water at Janome Beach, bring clothes and footwear that can get wet.
  • Opening hours can change when a typhoon is approaching (a notice of changed hours was posted in September 2026 too). If stormy weather looks likely, check the notices on the official website.

Sources

Updated 28 September 2026. Opening hours and prices change, so check the official site before you go.

Keep exploring

Nearby places

The four tiers of Fukuroda Falls cascading down a rock face surrounded by green forest
Ibaraki · waterfall Fukuroda Falls 袋田の滝 A famous waterfall in Daigo, Ibaraki, tumbling in four tiers down a rock face 120 m high and 73 m wide, with fresh greenery, autumn colour and, in winter, ice.
Miharashi Hill covered in blue nemophila flowers under a clear spring sky
Ibaraki · park Hitachi Seaside Park 国営ひたち海浜公園 A national seaside park in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, where about 5.3 million nemophila turn a hill blue in spring and kochia bushes glow red in autumn.
Exterior of Aqua World Oarai aquarium with its round building and shark logo
Ibaraki · zoo aquarium Aqua World Ibaraki Prefectural Oarai Aquarium アクアワールド茨城県大洗水族館 A seaside aquarium in Oarai, Ibaraki, famous for about 50 kinds of shark and a tank just for sunfish: one of the Kanto region's largest ocean museums.
Thatched-roof houses lining the wide main street of Ouchi-juku under a blue sky
Fukushima · old town Ouchi-juku 大内宿 A mountain village in Minami-Aizu that still looks like an Edo-period post town, lined with thatched houses and famous for soba eaten with a leek.
Huge underground quarry hall at the Oya History Museum, lit by small lamps along stone walls
Tochigi · museum Oya History Museum 大谷資料館 A vast underground space left by about 70 years of quarrying. Walk through a former quarry of about 20,000㎡, 30m deep on average, at this Utsunomiya museum.
White five-story keep of Tsuruga Castle with red-tiled roofs above a stone wall and autumn trees
Fukushima · castle Tsuruga Castle (Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle) 鶴ヶ城 Aizuwakamatsu's symbol, which held out through a month-long siege in the Boshin War. Its five-tier keep is the only red-tiled castle keep in Japan today.