Tokyo East · Sumida / OshiageNo.319★★Open in map →

Sumida Aquarium

natureOff the trail — and worth it

Sumida Aquarium is an indoor city aquarium inside Tokyo Skytree Town in Sumida, Tokyo, known for its open-topped penguin pool, jellyfish displays and Edo-style goldfish room. A combination ticket with the Skytree observation decks is available.

FromAsakusa Stn
~10 minTobu + metro (very frequent)
Get off atTokyo Skytree Station (Tobu) / Oshiage Station
On foot
Sumida Aquarium

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Almost everyone who comes to Skytree Town is here for the observation decks, and the aquarium is treated as an add-on for families. That makes it the reliable move when the weather kills the view: the deck queue empties on a cloudy day, and this is the one attraction in the complex that a low ceiling does not spoil.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

licensed photographSouka Kinmei / CC BY 4.0

The open-topped penguin poola large indoor pool with no glass over the top, viewed from the walkway above the waterline
The jellyfish bowla wide shallow tank you lean over and look down into, lit so the bells drift as silhouettes
The Edo goldfish roomornamental goldfish shown as a Tokyo cultural tradition, in dark rooms with individually lit bowls
Tokyo Solamachi belowthe shopping and dining complex on the floors underneath, and the Skytree entrance a level further down

How to actually get there

Asakusa Stn → Tokyo Skytree Stn (Tobu Skytree Line, 1 stop, ~3 min).
Enter Tokyo Solamachi and take the escalators to the 5th floor, West Yard.
Buy or scan your ticket at the 5F entrance; the route runs up through the 6th floor.

Tobu Skytree Line one stop from Asakusa: Asakusa Stn →(Tobu Skytree Line, 1 stop, ~3 min)→ Tokyo Skytree Stn. The station sits directly beneath the complex; follow signs into Tokyo Solamachi and take the escalators to the 5th floor, where the aquarium entrance is. Total about 10 minutes including the walk inside. Trains are very frequent.
Back to Asakusa, or onward by metro from Oshiage: Tokyo Skytree Station returns you to Asakusa in one stop. From Oshiage (Skytree) Station in the same complex, the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line runs direct to Shibuya and the Toei Asakusa Line to Tokyo Station's area — no transfer needed.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

This is a city aquarium rather than a coastal one, and it is designed around that limitation instead of apologising for it. There are no vast ocean tunnels; instead the space is built for close looking. The penguin pool is open at the top and set at eye level, so you watch the birds from above the waterline rather than through glass — the sound of them carries through the whole floor. The jellyfish are shown in a wide, shallow, dish-like tank you lean over and look down into, lit so the bells read as pure silhouette. There is also a room of Edo-style goldfish, a Tokyo tradition kept alive as an exhibit in its own right. All of it is indoors, on two floors, immediately below the tallest tower in Japan.

How to enjoy it

Treat it as the indoor half of a Skytree day and decide the order by the weather: clear morning, do the deck first; overcast, start here and go up if the sky clears. Allow around 90 minutes. The penguin pool is best at feeding time — the schedule is posted at the entrance and on the official site. If you are buying tickets for the tower anyway, check the combination ticket before paying for either separately.

Background & history

The aquarium opened together with Tokyo Skytree Town, the complex built at the base of the 634-metre tower in Sumida ward. Rather than importing a coastal aquarium format into the city, it was planned as an urban facility on two floors of a shopping complex — which is why its signature exhibits are the open penguin pool and the goldfish room, both built for looking down into rather than through.

Before you go

Cash: Tickets are sold at the door and online; the tower also offers a combination ticket bundling the aquarium with the observation decks, which is worth checking if you plan to do both. Cards and IC payment are accepted. Food and drink are in Solamachi on the floors below.
Good to know: Weekends, school holidays and rainy days are the busiest — the aquarium fills precisely when the observation deck empties. It is fully indoors, so there is no weather constraint otherwise.
Another way: From Shinjuku or Shibuya, take the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line direct to Oshiage (Skytree) Station with no change; from Tokyo Station, the Toei Asakusa Line goes to Oshiage.
After you get off: Both Tokyo Skytree Station (Tobu) and Oshiage Station (metro) sit directly under the complex. Follow the Tokyo Solamachi signs and go up to the 5th floor of the West Yard.