Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan




The Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan is the biggest aquarium in the world located at the ward of port in Osaka, Japan. (Or so the guide book reports). There are 27 tanks with a total of 10, 941 tons of water featuring animals from the Pacific Ring of Fire area.  The largest tank is 9 meters deep and hold 5,400 cubic meters of water. 

Michael took these photos: 

This was a real sample of the giant Japanese salamander we'd seen at the museum in Tokyo. LOL 




Via Google Images
When Zander saw the advertisement in our hotel room he let us know he really, really wanted to take pictures of this whale shark....


At some point in our trip through the aquarium Zander left his camera sitting "somewhere." I love Japan. When we exited the building we stopped and asked at the info booth and it had already been turned in. 



I LOVED this feature. A big room filled with seats...what a great spot to sit and relax....and enjoy the fish.


By the time we left it was far to cold and windy to ride the ferris wheel. We did stop and grab dinner. I enjoyed the view of the port while we ate. 

We weren't able to see Kyoto. That's o.k. We DID see an awful lot of interesting spots. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

They're Real!




An incredibly fun sight in the middle of a big city! We watched to be sure they were real - though there are some dropping on his hat. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Toilet Magistrate


This may be my favorite sign so far.....I wish there wasn't quite so much sun...but oh well. I seriously think I'll frame and mat this for future bathroom walls.  Who knew world peace could be so easy to accomplish...and that there were Toilet Magistrates in Osaka!

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Osaka Castle



 We woke up bright and early and decided to have breakfast in the room.....oranges, nuts, Starbucks rolls.

We hit the train station at rush hour.....Stacia wasn't so sure about this. (I was discreet with the photo - I've learned from the best as we are often accompanied by clicks when we go out. ::grin::)


Our destinations for the day - a castle and an aquarium....

Other than driving days, most of our vacation is easily classified as "School". We have just finished studying the Edo time period....and were familiar with the names surrounding Osaka Castle.  We were SO glad Pat and Lila had suggested we do this. We had considered Himeji Castle but it was being renovated.  





From the roof 
 This is a decoration from the roof....we debated if it were a fish or a dragon on our way to the castle....It turns out it was mythological creature: a fish/dragon which was to protect from fire as it spits water when it gets hot? On fire arrows were used in battle, so fire was always a possibility.   There was no mention of this at Osaka - but Tracy shares that at the Emperor's Castle in Tokyo they learned water was pumped to the fish in case of fire and it spit out water. Maybe they did the same at Osaka. I can't remember the name of the creature.

 They wanted Y300 to try on the Samurai helmets. I told Zander to duck down and we'd stage it. LOL

As we exited the castle we were met by school children who are learning English. Their teacher asked if they could ask us some questions. It was GREAT FUN! 


We spent a bit of time exploring the grounds and taking tourist shots.....we also found lunch.




We savored the spring like weather. It was cold....but there was NO snow in sight! LOL 

This was a great morning and we headed back to the train station for our next adventure. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...