Qualla: The Largest Tank in Japan: Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium

The Largest Tank in Japan: Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Maplestrip, CC0. Ninety-nine percent of the seawater inside the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium is pumped directly from the harbor just outside its walls. That connection to the actual ocean is fitting for a facility that holds the largest tank capacity and total area of any public aquarium in Japan -- a place where killer whales, beluga whales, dolphins, emperor penguins, and loggerhead sea turtles share space across two enormous buildings on the Nagoya waterfront. Opened in 1992, the aquarium was ambitious from the start, but it was the completion of the North Building in 2001 that transformed it into something extraordinary: a 60-meter-wide, 30-meter-long show pool holding 13.5 million liters of water, at the time the largest dolphin performance tank in the world. Docked just outside, the bright orange hull of the retired Antarctic research vessel Fuji serves as both neighbor and thematic anchor for an aquarium that asks visitors to follow the ocean's currents from Nagoya Harbor all the way to the bottom of the Earth.

Image: Maplestrip | CC0

The Largest Tank in Japan: Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium: Two Buildings, Two Journeys

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian0918, CC BY-SA 2.5. The aquarium is divided into distinct halves with very different stories to tell. The North Building, opened in 2001, follows the theme 'A 3.5-Billion-Year Journey: Animals That Returned to the Sea.' Its exhibits focus on marine mammals -- creatures whose ancestors left the ocean...

Image: Brian0918 | CC BY-SA 2.5

The Largest Tank in Japan: Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium: The Orca Family

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Maplestrip, CC0. The aquarium's most dramatic residents have always been its killer whales. In 2011, a male named Bingo and a female named Stella arrived on a five-year loan from Kamogawa Sea World in Chiba Prefecture, transported by ship across Japanese waters. Their daughter Ran 2 arrived by tr...

Image: Maplestrip | CC0

The Largest Tank in Japan: Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium: Breeding Firsts

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bariston, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium has earned multiple breeding awards and Koga awards from the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums for its work with species that are notoriously difficult to raise in captivity. In 1995, the aquarium achieved the first successful artificia...

Image: Bariston | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Largest Tank in Japan: Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium: A Waterfront Renewed

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tomio344456, CC BY-SA 4.0. The aquarium sits in the Minato-ku port district of Nagoya, a short walk from Nagoyako Station on the Meiko Line subway. The surrounding area, known as the Garden Pier, was reimagined around the aquarium's presence, turning a working port into an attraction that draws visitors ye...

Image: Tomio344456 | CC BY-SA 4.0