Fish and shopping in Tokyo

[ranmasatome]

Fish & shopping in Tokyo.

I’ve wanted to write this for a while now but my circumstances seem to have gotten the better of me until now. I need to say that this is not an indepth guide, as there are just too many fish shops to finish them all in a single day but I’ll just mention a few that I’ve come to like so far. So basically, this guide is just a few things and places that I personally like to do/go while I’m in Tokyo shopping for fishes. Of course how much of this you want to follow is entirely up to the amount of time you have, usually I take an entire day, what that constitutes is probably starting at 9am in the morning and ending at around 9am at night….yes… a whole day of fish shopping….

Usually i start the day at around 9am…this means I leave my place of residence at around that time. Most shops open at around 10am so I’ve taken into consideration breakfast and travelling time.

Shinjuku Area

Aquaforest
Go to shinjuku station...get out of the train and go DOWN the escalator.. there is only one up escalator in shinjuku and that brings you to the south exit... There is another fish shop if you go up, that will be talked about next (pau pau), but for aquaforest, you DONT want to go here..so go DOWN the escalator..
You should be either at the east or west exit now... so just walk through the underground shopping places and STAY underground.. LOOK for signs that point you to exit B10... Near this exit you will see an underground shopping centre called SUBNADE... go down to subnade.. walk straight..and turn right at the SECOND junction of the shopping centre...then its just straight to the end.. you'll see it.

Pau Pau aquarium (Shinjuku branch)
As mentioned take the UP escalator when you get out of the train at Shinjuku. This will lead you to the south exit. Get out and take the escalator down to the main streets. It gets a little tricky here… okay..so from here, there should be a gap on your left…and a street right in front of you. This large street that goes straight down should be Shinjuku 4th street. Walk down it..until you come to a shop named sukiya… you want to turn left at the junction AFTER where sukiya is. If you can’t read Japanese then look for this BIG shop called “in the room”. “in the room” should be located at this junction across the street, You DON’T want to cross the street, just turn left and continue walking straight.. You’ll come to 2 more major junctions (Shinjuku 3rd street and 5th street respectively) which you just want to stay on your side and CROSS… you should be where isetan is after the first crossing, after you have crossed the second junction..keep a look out on your left, you should see a sign for pau pau aquarium. The stairs goes down to the basement and basement2 of some building..so you need to keep a lookout for it.

Ginza Area

Pau Pau Aquarium (Ginza Branch)
What you want to do to come here is to find the kabuki house… the old traditional “opera” house… Take a few pictures here as well before you leave, its quite famous... From here, with the Kabuki house on your left walk along with traffic.. you should come to a traffic light, look around here and you will see a 77 on a glass pane ( should be on your left). Face your back to this number and walk across the traffic light ( which also means turn right and cross the road). Then just walk straight.......alll..the... way....
You will see starbucks, a nissan showroom and also cafe de creole...and then you should be able to see a big sign on your left saying tropical fish.. and you're there..
hope that helps

An Aquarium
An Aquarium is on the top floor of Matsuzakaya shopping centre..
This is one majorly big shopping centre..so its hard to miss.. its located on chuo dori.. just a little bit from the giant ginza clock tower..Just don't get confused with Matsuya or Mitsukoshi...Both also very large shopping centres in Ginza..and both of which have some sort of fish centre on the top floor as well.. So say you are standing at the junction of the huge clock tower, there should be a Nissan showroom at this junction as well, You want to face clock tower and when you are doing this the Nissan showroom to be across the road to your left. From here, turn left and cross the road and walk towards to Nissan showroom, walk past it to the next junction. From this junction, if you turn left you should see a large building that is kinda golden brown in colour.. this is Matsuzakya. Enter it turn left to go to the elevator and take it to the top floor, once you exit on the top floor, you’re in An Aquarium .

Somewhere between Yokohama and Tokyo

Aquameister
From Shinjuku station, take the toyoko line. The ride should be around 15mins or so only, its quite fast. When the train gets to tamagawa station, get off… it’s a pretty small station so look out for the west exit. Once you exit the west, you should see a convenience store (Called AM/PM), walk down to it, from this convenience store turn right and walk up the big street. You should see it on your left….so it is kinda like directly opposite the train station…besides the fact that it is a basement extablishment, it isn’t hard to find.… Discus lovers should really pay this place a visit..kekeke..

*side note : On to way to this station (Tamagawa)…you will pass by 2 other stations called denenchofu and jiyugaoka. Both are worthy stops if you want to look around (denenchofu) and do some shopping (jiyugaoka…my favourite place to people watch and shop a little). Just make sure you get back on the right line afterwards….

水景工房
From Tamagawa station, take the Tokyu Meguro line… there are 2 lines that run through this station so just make sure you hop on the right one. If you took the right line then you should NOT be heading back towards denechofu and jiyugaoka…instead, your next station should be Okusawa. When you get to Okusawa, get off.. At Okusawa, take exit no.1. Once you exit, turn right and walk up the street until you hit a 7-11 on your right… just a little further up should be a traffic light junction. Turn right at this junction. Walk up this street for about 100m and you should see the store on your right.

Flexible itinerary
My usual itinerary, runs like this… first to the shops between Tokyo and yokohama…On the way I will stop at jiyugaoka for some breakfast or just see see…then fish shop at the shops mentioned, then take the tokyu-meguro line again from okusawa back to Shinjuku, fish shop there as well and eat lunch at some of my favourite haunts around there… after wards from Shinjuku, take a train down to ginza and fish shop again…I will also have dinner here and maybe play around in the canon showroom. Then after dinner, go home or if time permits, head over to wherever I want to..kekeke.
Alternatively, sometimes I will run the course differently and end up having dinner at jiyugaoka…which also have many good haunts…

[zoombee]

very interesting guide to tokyo. didn't have the chance to free and easy when i was there 2years ago. japan is lovely. really saving up hard to go back again

[Shadow]

I wish you post this 2 months earlier

[yorky]

Yo Ranma, cool descriptive write up.
By the way, any personal comments about them?
I usually go to An Aquarium and Aquaforest because of they skew towards the freshwater hobbyists, especially for planted tanks.
Oh and not to mention, the apistogrammas in An Aquarium.. slurp..

[ranmasatome]

Actually dont really have a preference... i think the shops there all quite standard one..except An aquarium...that one must go... full of rare fishes!!! hahaha.. Also that one with chinese writing one is not bad...the fish/plant quality and selection is pretty good.

[benny]

ranmasatome,

Good stuff!

I think on your next trip, better snap some pictures as guide. Then we can print it out as an idiot proof guide.

Cheers,

[doppelbanddwarf]

Too bad I didn't have the chance to visit any aquariums when i was there.

[nasty12]

nice!! wish i could get a chance to go there =D
to check the Shrimps/fishes & BABES!!! =p

[illumbomb]

Hi Guys,

I am in Tokyo now, managed to squeeze some time out today to hunt for the 4 fish shops recommended by Ranmasatome! Took some photographs along the way and pasted them into a pdf document (click here to download the pdf document). Hopefully it will be of help to others! (pm me if you need the photo guide and let me have you email address, my account for file sharing was deactivated due to lack of activities)

Only bought some substrates from Aquaforest and Meiji this trip for planting my emersed cryptcorynes, will be heading back to Osaka tomorrow for a few more days of holidays before going back to Singapore!

[ranmasatome]

Snap some of the ones you get to go at Osaka..kekeke..

Oh.. and its 01 men... not OI men... since its a branch of 0101 shopping centre..

[illumbomb]

Anyone can post some basic directions for fish shops in Osaka first for me to check out and take some photographs, the 無料案内所 I visited could not recommend any appropriate "fish shops" that interest me......

[soulfinder78]

oh ranmasatome, yr post is perfect for me. i'm going yokohama this coming july.

[ranmasatome]

i need to update soon... found a few more..haha..

[illumbomb]

Hi Ranmasatome,

I managed to get my hands on a copy of ADA NATURE AQUARIUM BOOK 2008 (FOC!!!!) from Tokyu Hands in Osaka today. It is bilingual and has a 2 pages on the list fish shops in Japan carrying ADA products (just a guess as this section is in Japanese only). The addresses however are not published, only the cities, shop names and telephone numbers are stated therein so some works need to be done to locate them.

Regards,
T S Wang

[ranmasatome]

I think you mean Tokyu hands right? hahaha.. love that place.. if you look in the materials section.. you should be able to find something similar to the ADA garden mat for a fraction of the price..
There has always been an address location of the shop on ADA....

[illumbomb]

I was refering to such list in the ADA NATURE AQUARIUM BOOK 2008:



Maybe you can explore these fish shops and give us more leads?

[ranmasatome]

yes.. they are on the ADA website.

[silvertemplar]

How about Hokkaido area? I am going there in December...

[ivanlo24]

Bros, any good shrimp shops within the Tokyo Area?

[genes]

Ok, let me try to add some pictures to the thread. Also i will upload alternative and easier routes to the shops.


Pau Pau aquarium (Shinjuku branch)
Once you come out of Shinjuku station. Head for EXIT E2


keep a look out on your left, you should see a sign for pau pau aquarium. The stairs goes down to the basement and basement2 of some building..so you need to keep a lookout for it.

Ginza Area

Pau Pau Aquarium (Ginza Branch)
What you want to do to come here is to find the kabuki house… the old traditional “opera” house… Take a few pictures here as well before you leave, its quite famous... From here, with the Kabuki house on your left walk along with traffic.. you should come to a traffic light, look around here and you will see a 77 on a glass pane ( should be on your left). Face your back to this number and walk across the traffic light ( which also means turn right and cross the road). Then just walk straight.......alll..the... way....
You will see starbucks, a nissan showroom and also cafe de creole...and then you should be able to see a big sign on your left saying tropical fish.. and you're there..
hope that helps

An Aquarium
An Aquarium is on the top floor of Matsuzakaya shopping centre..
This is one majorly big shopping centre..so its hard to miss.. its located on chuo dori.. just a little bit from the giant ginza clock tower..Just don't get confused with Matsuya or Mitsukoshi...Both also very large shopping centres in Ginza..and both of which have some sort of fish centre on the top floor as well.. So say you are standing at the junction of the huge clock tower, there should be a Nissan showroom at this junction as well, You want to face clock tower and when you are doing this the Nissan showroom to be across the road to your left. From here, turn left and cross the road and walk towards to Nissan showroom, walk past it to the next junction. From this junction, if you turn left you should see a large building that is kinda golden brown in colour.. this is Matsuzakya. Enter it turn left to go to the elevator and take it to the top floor, once you exit on the top floor, you’re in An Aquarium .