Tokyo Octopus Tours: Akashi Cephalopod Outwits Sculptures, Avoids Sushi Fate

Octopus Tokyo tour: In 2000, artist Shimabuku escorted a live Akashi octopus to Tokyo Tower and Tsukiji fish market, documenting its reactions for viral art videos. How intelligent are octopuses? Do octopuses have hobbies? “Octopuses are smart—maybe he told his experience to his octopus friends in the sea,” Shimabuku mused, after the cephalopod responded strongly to seeing its kin on sale.
That cephalopod’s city adventure sparked years of octopus-art experiments, from glass-ball gifts to tank installations at Kobe’s Suma Aqualife Park. People ask: Can octopuses recognize themselves? What do octopuses collect? Octopuses cradled colored sculptures, rolled them like tiny art critics, and sometimes seemed to have “too many hands” to resist grabbing everything in sight—“They keep touching, touching,” Shimabuku reflected with dry wonder.
Shimabuku discovered Akashi’s octopuses gathering not just shells, but even broken beer bottles—forcing him to admit, with empirical evidence, that octopus hobbies outshine most human collections.