Rainy-Day Family Fun in Nagoya (Aichi): an Aquarium, an Indoor Petting Zoo and Indoor Barbecue

Rain, a typhoon or a very hot summer day can wipe out an outdoor plan in Nagoya (Aichi). This guide covers three places where a family can still have a good day: the city's big aquarium at Garden Pier (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium), Anitouch, an indoor petting zoo inside the LaLaport Minato Aquls shopping mall, and WOOD DESIGN PARK, an indoor barbecue restaurant with electric grills. The aquarium and the petting zoo are both on the subway's Meiko Line, so you can visit them on the same day. Everything here is based on the official pages of each place, so you know the rules on tickets, food, re-entry and touching animals before you go.

Japanese facilities often have firm rules about food you bring, re-entry and booking. Knowing them in advance saves a wasted trip on a wet day with tired children.

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Which spot fits your day

The three places suit different moods. The aquarium fills half a day or more, the petting zoo is good for an hour or two while you also shop, and the barbecue is a meal with a play space for children.

The aquarium at Garden Pier: orcas, belugas and dolphins

The aquarium (official English name: Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium) stands at Garden Pier on the city's harbor. Its official FAQ says it keeps about 500 species and 50,000 animals, mostly from the sea. The North Building is home to the orcas, belugas and dolphins, and its dolphin pool is, in the aquarium's words, the largest in Japan. The South Building has the penguins, sea turtles, a large coral reef tank and the Large Kuroshio Tank with its school of sardines.

The aquarium says a full visit, including the dolphin performance, takes 2 to 3 hours, and longer if you join other events. It's a long walk between the buildings, so wear comfortable shoes. Leaflets inside are available in English, Chinese and Korean, and there is free Wi-Fi throughout.

Shows and feeding times

The aquarium runs events through the day. A few of the main ones, from the official event page:

• Dolphin performance (about 20 minutes) at the stadium on the 3rd floor of the North Building. Underwater seats below the stands let you watch the dolphins from below.
• Orca public training (about 15 minutes), also at the stadium.
• Sardine Tornado (about 5 minutes) at the Large Kuroshio Tank, on the 2nd floor of the South Building.
• Beluga training, penguin feeding and sea turtle feeding at other tanks.

Start times change from day to day, so open the official hours and events calendar for your date and plan around the dolphin performance. Events can be cancelled or moved because of the weather or the animals' condition. The aquarium asks visitors not to save stadium seats by leaving belongings on them. The FAQ describes the stadium seats as roofed but outdoors.

Aquarium tickets, hours and re-entry

• Prices: adults and high school students 2,030 yen, elementary and junior high school students 1,010 yen, children aged 4 and up 500 yen (official ticket page).
• Where to buy: at the ticket counter on the 2nd floor of the North Building, which takes credit cards such as VISA and JCB and IC transport cards such as manaca and TOICA. You can also buy ahead as an e-ticket on your phone, or at convenience stores in Japan. Tickets bought in advance can't be refunded or exchanged.
• Combined ticket: a 4-facility ticket also covers the Fuji Antarctic Museum (a former Antarctic icebreaker), the observation room of the Port Building and a maritime museum, all at Garden Pier. Facilities you don't reach that day can be used on another day. The aquarium's counter sells this ticket until 14:00.
• Subway day tickets: show a one-day ticket from the Nagoya City Transportation Bureau dated that day at the ticket counter for a discount on your own aquarium ticket. See our guide to subway and bus tickets in Nagoya (Aichi).
• Hours: usually 9:30 to 17:30; 9:30 to 20:00 in Golden Week (a run of national holidays from late April to early May) and the summer holidays (late July to August); 9:30 to 17:00 in winter (December to mid-March). Last entry is one hour before closing.
• Closed days: Mondays, or the next day when Monday is a national holiday. The aquarium opens every day in Golden Week, from July to September, over the New Year holidays and in the spring break.
• Re-entry: you can go out and come back in as many times as you like on the same day. Press the clear re-entry stamp at the exit onto the back of your hand and show it when you come back, up to one hour before closing.

Food, strollers and lockers at the aquarium

You can eat food you brought only in set areas: Shiokaze Plaza in the North Building (outdoors) and the stadium seats on the 3rd floor of the North Building (roofed, outdoors). The vending machine corner on the 2nd floor of the South Building is for drinks only. To prevent heatstroke, you may drink water anywhere inside, but stop walking while you drink.

• Not allowed: balloons and bouncy balls (the whales could swallow them), whistles, tripods, monopods and selfie sticks. Flash photos aren't allowed at signed tanks.

• Places to eat: the restaurant "Arribada" on the 2nd floor of the South Building, the food terrace "Tortoise" on the 3rd floor, and food stands in the North Building. Garden Pier outside has more restaurants.
• Strollers: rentals cost 100 yen a day for babies aged 7 to 24 months, at the information desk by the North Building entrance, while they last.
• Baby corners: on the 2nd floor of both buildings; the North Building one has hot water for formula milk, but no microwave for baby food.
• Lockers: the aquarium doesn't keep bags. Coin lockers by the North Building entrance and in the connecting passage cost 200 to 400 yen by size.
• Cash: there is no ATM inside the aquarium.

Getting there on the Meiko Line

From Nagoya Station, the aquarium's English page gives two routes: the Higashiyama Line to Sakae Station, then the Meijo Line (counterclockwise) to Nagoyako Station; or JR or Meitetsu to Kanayama Station, then the Meiko Line to Nagoyako Station, the last stop. From Nagoyako Station, take Exit 3 and walk about 5 minutes. Anitouch's official page gives the stations for LaLaport Minato Aquls on the same Meiko Line.

Anitouch: an indoor petting zoo at LaLaport

Anitouch (official name: Anitouch LaLaport Nagoya Minato Aquls) is an indoor petting zoo run by the company behind Izu Shaboten Zoo, on the 3rd floor of the main building of the shopping mall LaLaport Minato Aquls (full name: Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Nagoya Minato Aquls) in Minato Ward. More than 20 kinds of animals live there, including capybaras (with a bath tub of their own), ring-tailed lemurs, two-toed sloths, meerkats, owls and rabbits. Some animals walk around freely, and you can buy snacks to feed them.

• Hours: weekdays 10:00 to 19:00 (last entry 18:30); weekends and national holidays 10:00 to 20:00 (last entry 19:30). It closes on the days LaLaport closes.
• No reservations: just walk in. On busy days, entry or time limits may apply.
• Prices: you can stay as long as you like within opening hours. There are separate prices for adults, students (junior high and up, with a student ID) and children (age 4 to elementary school), in three levels: weekdays, weekends and holidays, and peak days such as Golden Week, the summer holidays and the New Year. Children aged 3 and under enter free. Feeding snacks cost extra. Check the current prices on the official site.
• Children: children of elementary school age and younger must come with an adult aged 18 or older, who also pays.
• Getting there: Meiko Line, Minato Kuyakusho Station Exit 2, about 2 minutes on foot, or Tokaidori Station Exit 3, about 3 minutes.

Rules for touching the animals

Anitouch reminds visitors that the animals are alive and may bite or scratch, and some of them can't be touched. Wash and disinfect your hands before and after touching the animals, to protect both you and them.

Video: holding chicks at Anitouch

• Touch gently; the animals frighten easily. Don't bring your face close, put your hand near their mouths or hug them.
• Feed only the snacks sold there, and don't bring food in.
• No flash photos. Don't film other visitors without permission.
• Re-entry is not allowed in principle; for the toilet, ask a staff member.
• People with a fever of 37.5°C or higher, people who have been drinking, and people with animal allergies may be refused entry.
• If you wear sandals with bare feet or clothes that show your arms, shoulders or legs, put on a jacket or socks; animals may step on, bite or scratch bare skin.
• Hold your children's hands and keep them in sight.
• Pets aren't allowed. Because of the building's layout, wheelchairs can't go into the capybara and lemur room or the free-roaming areas.

WOOD DESIGN PARK Nonami: indoor barbecue on artificial grass

WOOD DESIGN PARK runs barbecue places around Aichi, and its official store list shows two branches in the city, both for day use only: Nonami, and one by Sakae Station. The Nonami branch in Midori Ward is the family pick. Its floor is covered in artificial grass, with tent seats and soft tatami-style seats, and the official site says that because it's indoors, it's comfortable on rainy, hot and cold days alike.

• No charcoal: every table has a Weber Pulse electric grill, and the grill and the meat and vegetables are provided, so you come empty-handed.
• Children: the kids' space is free for children of elementary school age and younger. There is a kids' menu, and you may bring your own baby food. Strollers and wheelchairs can come in by a ramp, and there is a diaper-changing space.
• Courses: barbecue courses on the menu page when we checked ran from 3,480 to 5,480 yen per person (tax included), plus all-you-can-drink options. Everyone of junior high school age and up must order a portion.
• Time and rules: seats are for 2 hours 30 minutes for barbecue. You can't bring drinks in. Food you bring is only allowed on a limited-time bring-your-own plan on the covered terrace. The whole restaurant, including the terrace, is non-smoking.
• Hours: 11:00 to 22:00, last entry 19:30, with no regular closing day listed.
• Getting there: Sakura-dori Line, Nonami Station Exit 4. The official pages give the walk as about 5 to 10 minutes. There is a car park for 20 cars.

The Nonami FAQ says you can walk in if there are free seats, but it recommends booking because full seating means being turned away. It also says it doesn't accept cancellations because of rain, since every seat is under a roof.

WOOD DESIGN PARK by Sakae Station

The city-center branch (WOOD DESIGN PARK Sakae) is on the 6th floor of a large Don Quijote discount store (Don Quijote Sakae Honten), 1 minute on foot from Sakae Station. It describes itself as a relaxed adult space with sofa seats, and its courses run from 4,580 to 6,280 yen per person. Its electric grills cook with the lid closed, with no charcoal or open flame, so the official site says your clothes and hair are less likely to smell of smoke. Hours are 11:00 to 22:00, closed on Tuesdays.

You may still find old articles about a WOOD DESIGN PARK in the Meitetsu Lejac building near Nagoya Station. That branch closed on March 31, 2023, when the building closed, according to the company's notice.

Booking, paying and allergies: tips for visiting families

• Booking the barbecue: both branches link to the restaurant booking site Hot Pepper Gourmet from their official pages, and the official sites and booking pages are in Japanese. The Nonami branch also takes bookings by phone at 052-893-5225 (+81-52-893-5225 from outside Japan).
• Cancellation fees: at Nonami, groups of up to 9 adults can cancel free until 17:00 the day before; after that the fee is 2,000 yen per person. At the branch by Sakae Station, groups under 10 can cancel free until 19:00 the day before; after that, the full course price is charged.
• Paying: the Nonami branch takes cash, credit cards and QR code payments such as PayPay (PayPay needs a Japanese phone number and bank account). The aquarium's ticket counter takes credit cards and IC transport cards.
• Food allergies: the Nonami FAQ says it shares its kitchen, tools and storage, so it can't respond to allergy requests. At the aquarium you can bring your own food to the set eating areas; Anitouch doesn't allow outside food. Our guide to food allergies in Japan has more tips.

Want more family ideas? LEGOLAND Japan and Maker's Pier is mostly outdoors, but next door you'll find the indoor SEA LIFE aquarium and the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park. More ideas are on our Nagoya (Aichi) destination page.

Last reviewed: October 16, 2026. Hours, prices and rules change. Please check the official sites of each place before you go.

References

• Official site of the aquarium (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium): English page (events, tickets, notices, access)
• Official site of the aquarium (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium): FAQ (Japanese)
• Official site of the aquarium (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium): Tickets (Japanese)
• Official site of the aquarium (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium): Events (Japanese)
• Official site of the aquarium (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium): Hours and events calendar (Japanese)
• Official site of the aquarium (Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium): Access (Japanese)
• Anitouch official (LaLaport Nagoya Minato Aquls branch) (Japanese)
• LaLaport Minato Aquls official (LaLaport Nagoya Minato Aquls): Anitouch shop page (Japanese)
• WOOD DESIGN PARK official: Store list (Japanese)
• WOOD DESIGN PARK Nonami official: Concept (Japanese)
• WOOD DESIGN PARK Nonami official: Menu (Japanese)
• WOOD DESIGN PARK Nonami official: FAQ (Japanese)
• WOOD DESIGN PARK Nonami official: Access (Japanese)
• WOOD DESIGN PARK official (Sakae branch) (Japanese)
• WOOD DESIGN PARK Lejac official: Closing notice (Japanese)