Umigatari Aquarium Joetsu

Umigatari in Joetsu is the aquarium of the Sea of Japan, built where the city meets the water so that its top floor pool seems to merge with the real ocean behind it. Dolphins perform against that borrowed horizon, and downstairs one of the world’s great penguin colonies waddles at arm’s length.

Penguins by the hundred

The aquarium keeps a huge colony of Magellanic penguins, among the largest anywhere, in an enclosure designed to put visitors inside their world: birds pass beside the paths, nest in burrows at eye level and swim overhead in clear tunnels. The colony’s scale turns the usual penguin exhibit into something closer to a seabird city, and it is the reason travelling families detour here. Elsewhere, vast tanks recreate the deep, cold richness of the Sea of Japan, with thousands of fish moving in silver weather systems.

Dolphins against the horizon

The rooftop dolphin stadium uses an infinity edge design so leaping dolphins appear to soar over the actual sea, with Sado Island on the horizon on clear days. Shows run daily and the setting elevates them well beyond the standard format.

Getting there

Umigatari is about a fifteen minute walk from Naoetsu Station in Joetsu, reached by the Echigo Tokimeki Railway and JR connections; from Tokyo, ride the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Joetsumyoko and connect north. The station area also serves the port for Sado Island ferries.

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