Scaredy Cat Travels

Day 5 – Ginza – Sunday, May 28

Located on an upper floor in the iconic Mitsukoshi Department Store in the Ginza district of Tokyo, the Art Aquarium Museum features immersive exhibits showcasing the beauty of a stunning variety of goldfish.

The attraction is divided into nine different exhibits – each inspired by Japanese culture with soothing music and LED lights accentuating the natural beauty or the unusual qualities of the fish. While we were there, several of the exhibits were decorated with hydrangea and other spring themes in celebration of the season.

The Japanese have a long history of appreciating the unique beauty of goldfish spanning all the way back to the Edo period in 1603. In the Art Aquarium there are over 70 different varieties and over 5000 fish in total.

Each exhibit is beautiful in its own way but our family (and it seemed most of the visitors) spent the most time in the area filled with small square tanks. In this space, there were many varieties, and you could see the cute fish close up.

Like many newer attractions in Tokyo, the exhibits seem specifically designed for picture-taking and social media shares. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation. But you will have to queue on occasion to get a picture of the most popular tanks.

Perhaps the most important part of any attraction is the gift shop and the Art Aquarium has a lovely one with an interesting selection of items. We enjoyed looking around but didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without. While many of the items were reasonably priced, the t-shirts were quite expensive.

The aquarium is open from 10 am – 7 pm daily. We visited in late May with a 10:30 am entry. As with many attractions, it is best to visit earlier to avoid crowds. When we visited, the crowds were minimal which made the aquarium much more enjoyable. Even so, there were occasional queues to take photos. With more people, I could imagine the lines and crowds would significantly affect the experience.

We purchased our tickets (and reserved our time) through Klook as part of a package that included two other Tokyo attractions (Shibuya Sky and we didn’t end up finding another one we wanted to use because we had limited time in the city and we messed up). The aquarium was about $18 USD per person with no discount for students.

In all, we spent a little less than an hour, so I think the price is high for what it is. While it was beautiful, we enjoyed it and I would even go back, I can only recommend it under certain circumstances.

Pro Tip: If you use Klook to book attractions, verify if they have reservations available during your trip before committing to a certain number of attractions in your package. You may have to double check availability on the attraction’s website. We wanted to book Shibuya Sky, Teamlab Planets and the Art Aquarium so selected the three-attraction pass. However, when I went to reserve Teamlab Planets, Klook showed no available ability for the days we were in Tokyo. I ended up booking Teamlab separately through their website (which showed plenty of times for some reason) and not finding anything to use the third Klook pass on. I did not go back though and see how that affected the cost of our tickets. In the end, it may not have made much of a difference.

If you plan on visiting the Ginza district, the Art Aquarium is a great addition to your day. It’s located in the Mitsukoshi department store, the oldest department store in Japan with origins dating back to 1673, which is worth a visit on its own so that makes it convenient while in the area.

We were staying in the Shiodome area, so Ginza was just one quick subway stop away (or walkable if we wanted). However, if you are staying in Shinjuku or one of the farther districts, I wouldn’t make a special trip just to see it. If you’re limited on time and want to go to an immersive “museum” with plenty of photo-friendly exhibits, Teamlab Planets is a better choice.

One other note, be sure to allow extra time to find it. It’s on the upper floor of the department store which wasn’t readily apparent to us when we set out. The signage on the street level is also lacking. Once inside the building, the elevators are slow and finding the entrance to the aquarium is still confusing. The signs in the building took us to the attraction exit and then we had to backtrack. All of our wandering made us quite late for our reservation time, however, they let us in without any questions. I originally felt pretty inept but have since read other reviews, and we weren’t the only confused ones.

To find out more, visit the Art Aquarium website here.