Two of my favorite things are travelling and videogames. Though separate, there are occasions when the two are combined. We recently had such an opportunity while visiting the Joetsu Aquarium in Niigata, Japan.

Most of the time, this aquarium is simply a very nice place to view aquatic creatures. This summer however, the aquarium collaborated with Nintendo to bring some charm from the hit videogame Animal Crossing.

The collaboration started June 15th 2023, and continued until September 18th. The collab makes a bit of sense, due to the fact that the game features a museum with an expansive aquarium. In the game, the aquarium is empty at the start, and the player must fill it by donating fish found in ponds, rivers, and oceans.

At the Joetsu Aquarium, the guests could relax, as the aquatic museum is already fully plenished. There were several ways the characters from the game were utilized. For example…

Blathers, who acts as the museum curator in the game, had some plaques all around the aquarium. The plaques detailed information about the creatures in some of the exhibits. They were all in Japanese, but even if you couldn’t read them they were still fun to see.

Along with the plaques, standees of various Animal Crossing characters could be seen throughout.

The most interactive part of the experience was the stamp rally. For 200 yen, you could purchase a stamp book. At various locations around the aquarium, stamp stations featuring a stamp of one of the villagers from the game were placed near popular exhibits. Collect all the stamps, and you could show the completed stamp book to the staff to recieve a free post card.

The aquarium gift shop was included in the collaboration, featuring several items related to the game. Guests could buy snacks, plushies, and other goods related to Animal crossing (along with the normal aquarium gift shop goods). We had to leave with a couple plushies as our souvenirs.

As a temporary edition to the aquarium, I think it was an enjoyable experience. The Animal Crossing characters added to the enjoyment, but the aquarium itself is actually quite nice. I’d be happy to see other collaborations similar to this happen at other places.

For those of you in the U.S. that are intetested, this event is coming stateside. The Seattle Aquarium will be hosting the collaboration from October 7th to December 31st. No photos have been shown of how it looks, but based on the website’s description it mirrors the Joetsu collaboration exactly. If you’re a big enough fan or happen to be in the area, I’d say it’s a charming way to spend a few hours of your day.