Hanazono Church Aquarium

Highlight

Great hands-on fun to be had feeding giant fish and petting lizards and tortoise

A paradise of “animal love” where children with nowhere to go can visit on their own

The aquarium is operated by the Hanazono Church out of one corner of a residential area in Uzumasa. It is privately run by child members of the Hanazono Joyful Child Club under the supervision of the club’s representative Shunichiro Shinozawa (the minister at Hanazono Church). As an idea spawned from children saying: “I’ve never seen a living fish,” Minister Shinozawa began collecting tanks and fish to help broaden the children’s view of the world. Finally, by 2014, an aquarium was opened in part of the church, with a current family of 500 creatures of 180 species, including lots of fish species, a giant tortoise, snapping turtle and various lizards. However, with only limited space in which to place side by side the viewing tanks, the aquarium inevitably had to close temporarily due to Covid-19. But, thanks to crowd funding, the ventilation system has been improved, and the aquarium is once again open. And, having gained approval from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the public are becoming aware of the aquarium because it offers children numerous opportunities to learn about lifeforms in a hands-on manner, which has helped the aquarium to win two consecutive awards for 2018 and 2019 for work under the UN biodiversity action.