Goldfish Telephone Booth Aquarium Meme Template

This surreal and iconic image originates from a real-life public art installation created by the Japanese art collective Kingyobu ("Goldfish Club"), formed by students from Kyoto University of Art and Design.

The collective transformed decommissioned public payphone booths across Japan (most famously in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture—a city renowned for goldfish farming) into fully functioning glass aquariums filled with hundreds of live goldfish swimming around a submerged, green public phone. The image became a viral hit across Reddit (r/CursedImages, r/OddlyTerrifying, r/memes), X (Twitter), Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok as a primary template for surreal imagery, liminal space vibes, "phoning underwater," or bad reception jokes.

Surreal aesthetics, liminal space, "oceanic reception," bizarre urban art, and aquatic chaos.

• The Structure: A vintage, retro-style public telephone booth with a red roof casing and clear glass walls.
• The Interior: Completely filled with water, housing a green Japanese public payphone mounted on a center column, with an air bubbler creating rising bubbles.
• The Inhabitants: Dozens of bright orange and red goldfish swimming freely at various depths around the phone apparatus.
• An urban Japanese street setting with posters on the wall, a bench, and outdoor equipment.

The image displays a full-shot photograph of a retro glass payphone booth converted into a massive aquarium. The booth, topped with a worn red roof panel, is filled to the brim with clear, slightly greenish water. Inside, a classic dark green public telephone sits mounted on a central pillar surrounded by rising air bubbles. Dozens of small orange goldfish swim around the phone unit and throughout the glass enclosure. The booth stands outdoors on a concrete sidewalk against a building wall with Japanese flyers posted in the background.