The cost of the magazine with shipping was ¥900, which was $7.73 USD. (My credit card company also charged a 3% “foreign transaction fee” of $0.23.) I sent my order request and was emailed a link to make a credit card payment. Once it went through, ADA shipped it out the very next day. I waited more than three weeks and thought it might have gotten lost in the mail. So I emailed ADA and they responded quickly and mentioned that if it doesn’t arrive soon to contact them. Three days later, it arrived! Ordered Jan. 13; shipped Jan.14; emailed Feb. 10, received Feb. 13. So it took about a full month to arrive from Japan. On to the review…
The February 2016 edition of Aqua Journal highlights “Forests Underwater”, the largest nature aquarium in the world, but also the The Greatest Nature Aquarium™ (yes, ADA even trademarked this phrase), located at Oceanário de Lisboa (Lisbon Oceanarium) in Portugal.
I was quite surprised at the quality of the magazine. The cover is laminated and has gold foil text. Shiny! The pages are also quite thick, so it’s very durable and feels good to the touch. Even though it’s durable, I’m compelled to be gentle to keep it as pristine as possible. This magazine would last for many many years to come.
Contents page, including a description of the photo taken by Takashi Amano.
It’s written almost entirely in Japanese and three semesters of college Japanese classes can’t help me read 90% of the text. And even if I could make out the hiragana and katakana, I still wouldn’t understand what it means. But the pictures are really why I bought it…
Page 8-9
… because it’s unlikely that I’d be able to travel to Lisbon anytime soon to see it with my own eyes before this two-year temporary exhibit is taken down for good. A little more than one year left before all that is beautiful, fades. If you’re planning to visit, you don’t have much time left.
p. 12-13
The plants look like colorful cotton candy.
p. 16-17
Almost like visiting Willy Wonka’s candy factory, if it were under water.
p. 30-31
The transformation of the plants, which have grown lush and full, have increased the dynamic expression of the layout.
Thoughts of People p. 32-33
These are the comments from those who were involved in the creation of “Forests Underwater” and artists who were inspired by the aquascape. English translations were provided, printed on separate sheets of paper. You can read the translations here.
Thoughts of ADA maintenance staff , p. 36-37
On the left, one of the ADA maintenance staff is in a diving suit wiping the tank clean. He must have the best job in the world. On the right page, a photo of Takashi Amano giving his thoughts about the maintenance of the layout.
According to Daichi Araki, Amano said to him, “’Aquatic plants look too tidy overall. I want more daring nature and wildness. But it doesn’t mean that you can just leave everything as it is. This is a difficult part of this aquascape maintenance.'” Araki continues, “As I tried to figure out what Mr. Amano had said while doing maintenance, I realized that layouts need ‘wildness’ as the tank size gets greater. When we consider this point, the maintenance of stem plants is very difficult. In the daily maintenance, I adjust the pace of trimming and replanting of stem plant cuttings to keep the aquascape close to the image Mr. Amano had in his mind.”
Two ADA staff members are permanently stationed at Oceanário de Lisboa, probably chosen for their superb aquascaping maintenance skills, to provide continual maintenance of the ginormous aquarium for the remainder of the exhibition.
You can read the English translations of the staff comments here.
Some of the final pages of the magazine. You can click the images to enlarge.
“Green Tunnel” are stories Sayuri Amano tells about her father. I have no idea what’s written in this article, but it’s usually translated into English on the Aqua Journal website. As of this writing, it has yet to be translated but previous “Green Tunnel” English-translated articles are available to read.
Nature Aquarium Notes, No. 92 is about maintaining nature aquariums (I think). It discusses filtration for different tank sizes, CO2, and lighting.
Mizukusa Kobanashi discusses aquatic plants found in nature. Floating aquatic plants – duckweeds – are mentioned, such as Lemna paucicostata, Wolffia arrhiza, and Spirodela polyrhiza. Rotala indica and R. pussila are also mentioned.
Back cover of the magazine –
Is ADA coming out with their first LED fixture this Spring? The fixture has a glass cover over an aluminum housing. It looks sleek.
Summary:
I’m quite impressed at the quality of Aqua Journal. ADA clearly spent a lot of time producing this high quality publication. There are a lot of pictures, all in color, with many written details. I bought this primarily for the many pictures of “Forests Underwater” but I would consider buying other issues.
Shipping envelope
If you’re interested in having your own copy, you can buy this and other editions of Aqua Journal here: ADA Online Bookstore
Classical Aquascaping 
Wow, nice pickup, didn’t read through whole article is it in english?
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I see now, it is in another language
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Yeah, it’s in Japanese.
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