Holiday Family Fun at Oarai Aquarium in Ibaraki

My family was lucky enough to have the chance to stop by this lovely aquarium in Ibaraki prefecture in December of 2023. Since we have spent a lot of time at the Uminomori Aquarium in Sendai, a lot of the basic fish viewing spaces were not as exciting as they would have been otherwise, but they were still still nice and well maintained.

A very exciting and surprising interval came when we got to the shark area. They not only had a large variety, including zebra sharks that we can see. Up close enough to realize how beautiful the eyes are.

They also had hammerheads, which I have to admit the I have never seen actually swimming in person. They're very interesting to watch.

As happens with many aquariums around this time of year, there were a few tanks set up with Christmas decorations inside and those were cute and fun as always. There was even a great big tree in the entry area, too. 

Admittedly, my daughter didn't even want to go to the dolphin show as she has seen the dolphin show at Sendai's aquarium too many times, but my husband insisted. We found a seat just outside of the splash zone, which seemed very very large. 

The show was well done and more engaging than we had assumed. Between the large dolphin's massive splashes and sea lion vs carrying technique, it was clearly the star of the show, though all of its costars also performed well. It turns out that the big one is an endangered false killer whale which is still a kind of dolphin and maybe my favorite creature in this aquarium.

One other special thing about this place was shark petting time. In order to pet the very young sharks who were born in captivity at the aquarium, one must buy one of the limited tickets for petting time, wait until the allotted time, and watch an instructional video before being led to the petting tank in small groups. 

Two of the kinds of shark in the tank were soft and smooth to the touch. The third kind of shark we could pet had small risen bumps in its skin texture, kind of like certain kinds of expensive wallpaper.

Indoors and outdoors seating areas near the cafe were clean and stylish, like a sea-fetishist's coffee house. The food was stylish and enjoyable, too.

We greatly enjoyed our time at this aquarium and I am sure it is a very fun time all year round.