Amano - For those who have been in this hobby for only a short time to those who have years of experience, the name Amano represents natural aquariums at their finest. Most can only say they've seen pictures of his tanks. The lucky ones have had the opportunity to see them in person. I was one of the lucky ones. This past summer, I went backpacking in Japan. Being in this hobby for only a few months, I knew already that I couldn't pass up the chance to see Takashi Amano's tanks in person. So I took the 2 1/2 hour BulletTrain ride from Tokyo to Niigata to see them in person. Now I want to share with you all my experience!

Natural Aquarium World
This is the first book of a series from Amano. The pictures of his tanks are simply amazing. With each picture he includes a detailed description of each tank.

Natural Aquarium World 2
With this 2nd book, he continues where he left off - with more amazing pictures of natural aquariums and detailed descriptions. It's a must-have!

Natural Aquarium World 3
You can't just own one Amano book. The 3rd book from Amano is just as incredible as the last two. Every tank is completely different. You have to see it for yourself! It's totally worth it.

Standing in front of the Amano Store in Niigata. I was looking for a big fish logo at first so I was kinda surprise to see a lizard.

This is the from across the street. As you can see, it's not a very big building nor a very modern one.

The store is located in the most random area. The area is very rural. There are no other stores and the bus only comes around every hour and a half.

The closest thing in the store to a reptile were these HUGE turtles. Thought they were giant stones at first.

The store is divided into two sections; one for the fish/plants and one for his products.

This is a picture of the other side of the store. All the tanks on the walls looked like lil' natural aquariums. Imagine going to your LFS and all the tanks are amano-style. neat.

Gallery One | Gallery Two