Aquatotto Gifu

The official name of this facility is “World Freshwater Aquarium Aquatotto Gifu”, and true to its name, it showcases freshwater fishes from Japan, Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America.  According to a friend who is originally from the Gifu area, the word “totto” is a children’s word for “fish” in the local dialect.  Opened in 2004, Aquatotto Gifu still has the clean look of a new aquarium, and its exhibits incorporate many interesting modern design elements.

Upon entering the facility, visitors are instructed to ride an elevator to the 4^th floor.  This upper floor is designed to represent the mountain areas which are the source and upstream areas of the local Nagara River which flows through Gifu Prefecture.  From here, as visitors walk downstairs in this building, they will encounter exhibits appropriate to their travelling downstream along the Nagara River.

Source and Upstream area of the Nagara River

Artificial trees suggest a mountain forest.

This exhibit depicts a mountain stream filled with Japanese char.

The photo below shows a feeding demonstration with Oriental short-clawed otters.  Ironically, these otters are native to Southeast Asia - Japan’s species of otters have already gone extinct.  I suspect these animals were included in this “Japanese river” area mostly as a marketing decision.  Whether at a zoo or an aquarium, Japanese visitors go nuts for cute and furry animals.  Aquarium gift shops are almost certain to have plush toy critters, and plush toy otters are particularly popular.

Ramp walkway leading from the 4^th floor to the 3^rd floor.

Exhibit depicting mountain stream stocked with Japanese “Oikawa”.

Another view of an Oriental short-clawed otter.

Complete with cascading water, these exhibits look and feel like a real stream.

Upper Nagara River to Middle Nagara River

This section skillfully depicted the changing environment of the Nagara River as it flowed through the areas populated by humans.  The below 2 photographs show mice that inhabit the rice fields cultivated along the Nagara River. 

Small exhibit tanks showcased small fish, reptiles, and insects found along the banks of the Nagara River.

Exhibits like the one depicted below successfully recreated the small environments and their small residents.

A larger tank was populated by catfish and carp.

Middle Nagara River to the River Mouth

This section showed the river environments of the middle river, lower river, and river mouth.  Most of the tanks were small, and most of the displayed specimens were also small.  In the larger tanks depicting the river mouth, there were not only freshwater fish, but also fish like sea bream and Japanese sea perch that live in that zone where fresh and salt water mix. 

Naked threespine stickleback

Shuttles hoppfish

This exhibit showed fish that inhabit the Kushiro Marsh in Hokkaido.

Japanese huchen

Mekong River Area

This area featured fish from the Mekong River in Southeast Asia.  The tanks in this area were larger, and some of the fish were notably large.

 Bighead carp

Many colorful fish

Spotted archerfish

Giant river prawn

Congo River

This area featured fish from the Congo River in Africa.  Like the Mekong area, this area was notable for its large tanks and large fish. 

Jewel fish

Nile perch

Amazon River

Like the Amazon River for which this area was named, there was a lot of water in this area.  The tanks were quite large.  And the fish were also quite large.  It almost seems like Japanese aquariums use these large fish from Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America to make up for the fact that there are few large fish found in Japanese rivers and lakes.

Red-tail catfish

Red piranha

Area very nicely decorated with soft lighting.

Educational Efforts
There were many educational signs and displays.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much English.

The “Toto Lab”, a reading room for visitors.  I did not have time to examine what types of books they had on their shelves.

Opportunities for Animal Encounters

According to a sign posted in this area, on Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays, visitors can feed the Aldabra Tortoises for 200 yen.

Just before the exit, there was an area where visitors could feed fish for 100 yen.

In this same area, there were 3 Capybara.  Capybara are very popular in Japanese zoos and aquariums because they are cute, docile, and relatively tolerant of humans.

At specified times, visitors could feed the Capybara for 100 yen.  This activity was limited to 30 visitors on a first-come, first-served basis.

Food and Souvenirs

The Aquatotto Gifu facility included a restaurant called “Arrowana Garden”. 

A variety of dishes were available.

There were also many food trucks parked in the walkways immediately outside of the Aquatotto building.

The gift shop was fully stocked with plush toys, pens, accessories, toys, and many other trinkets.  And of course there were plush toy otters.

Getting There

  

Aquatotto Gifu is located in a relatively rural area, and it is not that easy to access without a car. On this occasion, a friend drove a group of us to Aquatotto Gifu from Inuyama, so I am not able to describe how difficult it is to access the facility using only public transportation.  According to the facility pamphlet, visitors can catch a bus from Gifu train station and get off at the Kawashima-Kasada bus stop.  From there, it is reportedly a 15 minute walk. (In my experience, Japanese estimates for walking times are notoriously overly optimistic.)  Please refer to the Aquatotto web site for details.

(Note: The photos used in this post were taken during a visit on July 9, 2017.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)