Aqua World Ibaraki — Oarai
Japan's largest aquarium by number of shark species — 58 varieties of shark in a massive open-ocean tank, including whale sharks and sand tiger sharks. The facility's research programs are conducted in collaboration with Hitachi marine science and the exhibits explain the Pacific Current ecosystems of Ibaraki's coastline.
2–3 hours
¥2,300 (adults)
9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:00); shorter hours some winter weekdays; Saturday night event 18:00–20:00; open year-round (maintenance closures in Jun and Dec)
Year-round
Bus from Mito Station (JR Joban Line, 45 min)
Location
Why Visit
- 1
Japan's largest shark collection — 58 species including hammerheads, whale sharks, and threshers
- 2
The 3-floor ocean tank has daily feeding dives at 11am where divers hand-feed the sharks
- 3
The Oarai coast outside is one of Ibaraki's best seafood destinations — anglerfish hot pot in winter
Local Tips
Arrive by 10am to catch the shark feeding show. One of Japan's largest aquariums with an impressive shark collection. Oarai Isosaki Shrine (with its famous torii rising from the sea) is 10 minutes away and worth combining.
Add to your AI itinerary
Let AI build a multi-day trip around this spot.
Advertisement
More in Ibaraki
Fukuroda Falls
One of Japan's three great waterfalls — a four-tiered cascade of 120 metres total height in a narrow gorge accessible through a 110-metre observation tunnel bored directly into the cliff face. Each season transforms the falls: spring snowmelt rages white, summer shows the full green gorge, autumn turns the cliff trees red, and winter freezes the tiers into blue ice columns.
Hitachi Seaside Park
Japan's most photographed seasonal landscape — approx. 5.3 million nemophila (baby blue eyes) covering an entire hillside in mid-May, turning it an ocean-like blue that contrasts with the Pacific behind. The same hill turns scarlet with 30,000 kochia (fireweed) bushes in October. One of the top flower spectacles in Asia.
Ibaraki Nature Museum
A vast natural history museum surrounded by wetland nature reserves — the museum's dinosaur fossils, mammoth skeletons, and diorama ecosystems rival Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science at a fraction of the price. The attached Satoyama (rural landscape) trail through wetland and oak forest is one of the finest easy nature walks in Kanto.