Amano’s lifework is to take pictures and do research on the world’s three major tropical rainforest and pristine forests in Japan. Among many destinations, he has numerous times visited Rio Negro and other parts of the Amazon, a land of longing for aquarists, and introduced the tropical fishes and aquatic plants living in the Amazon. During the photo expedition in 1999, Amano successfully took the underwater pictures of Cardinal tetra and angelfish and unveiled their life and habitat environments. These species were popular but no one knew how they survive in their habitats at that time. Amano says, “Space development is going on, but we still don’t know anything about the jungles on the earth.” Amano’s concept was to view diverse jungle ecosystem by taking its pictures from the sky (aerial photography), on the land (landscape photographs) and in the water (underwater photography). These photo expeditions also very often gave inspirations to the development of ADA products and prove that the theory and methods of Nature Aquarium conformed to the order of nature. Amano says that the experiences in nature unknowingly refine his sensibility and it is naturally reflected in the layout expression. It is a sad fact that dense and lush tropical rainforest jungles and beautiful white beaches, which Amano has captured enthusiastically, are rapidly lost recently. Amano, who has been watching the nature of Japan and all over the world, keeps an eye on Mother Nature while working on environmental issues.

Communicating Nature Aquarium is now one of the important jobs for Amano. He travels around the world and energetically gives lectures on attractiveness and know-how of Nature Aquarium to pursue his vision of making Nature Aquarium a common global culture. Now that the interest in Nature Aquarium is spreading across the world through publications and the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest, ADA receives many requests for “Nature Aquarium seminar by Amano Takashi” from many countries. In the seminar, the concept and philosophy of Nature Aquarium is usually introduced by slide presentations. These slides are prepared to explain simply and clearly on how to feel the natural landscapes of Amazon, Borneo and West Africa as well as Japan and lead them to the inspiration for layout creation. In these seminars, too, Amano talks about the importance of “learn from nature”. The word “learn from nature” is, so to speak, an essence of Nature Aquarium philosophy and Amano thinks it is of the utmost importance to convey the philosophy first. The highlight of the seminar is a workshop with Amano’s demonstration of layout creation using an actual aquarium tank. Most of the aquarists outside Japan have seen Nature Aquarium layouts only in the photos. The workshop is a good opportunity for aquarists to have a look at a real Nature Aquarium with their own eyes.