Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan)

As most of you know by now, Ryan and I went to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara for winter vacation. This will be the first of several posts detailing our trip. 

Before I make with the pictures, I feel I would be remiss if I didn't mention the unbelievable kindness of the Osakans we met. Everyone we encountered was so friendly and helpful -- in fact, not an hour went by when some random passerby didn't approach us and ask: "Can I help you? Where do you want to go?" I've heard some real horror stories about foreign residents making their first big outing in Japan, but thanks to the generous people of Osaka, things went more smoothly than you could have dreamed.


...Oh, wait. Except for the first night. That was a near-tragedy. But I'll get to that after the pics.

Elegant Gothic Lolita, or goth-loli, is a fashion scene in Japan.  Its devotees essentially dress like gothed-up Victorian baby dolls.  This wasn't the first goth-loli girl we've seen in Japan, but she was one of the cutest.  Check out the violin-shaped purse, color-coordinated with the shoes.  All I can think is, being a goth-loli must be expensive.

I have no idea what Kaiyukan thinks its visitors will be keeping in these lockers.  Freshly-caught, partially-gutted salmon, perhaps?

There ain't a person alive who can say they don't like sea otters.  Wook at that wittle face!

Kaiyukan's seals salute you!  Not out of respect, though.  They just want the food...

A sea lion busts a fly move for some fish.

Ugh!  And you folks tease me for being afraid of wish.  Look at that ugly mother.  Maybe he has a beautiful soul, though.

I couldn't really figure out what cabybaras were doing at an aquarium until I saw a video of them swimming.  Turns out they're champs at it.  And by the smug look on this guy's face, you can tell he knows it.

No aquarium is complete without penguins.  The one on the left just lay there like that the whole time.  He was either sleepy, sick, or hung-over.

A manta ray goes whizzing by!  It kind of looks like he's flying through the air.

A whale shark!  One of Kaiyukan's biggest draws, I think.  Though technically it's the largest shark on Earth, it's a gentle giant that eats only krill and such.  It also has a constant entourage of fishy friends to clean it off.

A whale shark next to a diver man.  Just for scale.  Although even this doesn't seem to capture how huge the thing is.

'Ello, Octo!

Sakana-kun, whom we mentioned in an earlier post.  He'll be visiting Kaiyukan on January 20th!  Too bad we won't be able to make it. :(

Nemo = Found

Ryan somehow managed to snap the perfect shot of this rad sea turtle.

A spider crap eating a squid.  It was even more terrifying in real life than it looks.

The world's most paranoid fish.  "I'm freakin' out, man!"

The advantage of doing this post myself instead of having Ryan doing it is that I can let my jellyfish bias show.  I loooove jellyfish.  They're my favorite part of any aquarium.  So beautiful and eerie.

Ryan finds them creepy, however.

These jellyfish pulsed like otherworldly, unicellular hearts.  Loved it!

Jellyfish are the bestest!

The lights outside Kaiyukan.  Not pictured: the freezing cold rain that was falling at the time.

Spectacular!

 

 

 

So overall, it was a thoroughly mind-blowing trip to Japan's largest aquarium.

Now for the near-tragedy.  After we finished checking out the first, Ryan and I took a series of subway lines to get to our hotel (asking for directions no fewer than three times along the way -- better safe than sorry, after all, especially considering how stupefying Japan's address system is).  We arrived and found, to our horror, that the hotel was gone.  Like, closed up and emptied out.  Nowhere to be seen.  We were somewhat taken aback, to say the least.

Luckily, we bumped into a man who worked at the recording studio upstairs and he helped us call the hotel.  Turns out the hotel had moved.  And like, hadn't bothered to change the address on the website.  And didn't have any record of us making a reservation, even though I had called to confirm a few days previously.  And was women-only.

This was our first taste of Osakan generosity: the recording studio guy took us upstairs to the studio, and he and his friend found and booked another hotel for us that was only two blocks away and really affordable.  They even printed out a map for us and gave us directions on how to get there.  Can you believe that?  And they were still having to run the studio and help the musicians in the lobby as they were assisting us.  I don't think there's even a word for that type of kindness.  I still feel guilty that the only thing we could do in return was say, "arigatou gozaimasu!" a few hundred times and bring them some chocolate banana cakes a day or two later.