Saturday, September 17, 2011

Kaiyukan Aquarium

Ok, so this post is pretty belated, but the past few weeks have been rather stressful, and I haven;t quite adjusted to the Japanese lifestyle yet. Anyway , I went to the Kaiyukan aquarium in Osaka with my Japanese friends Kanae, Yoshimi, and Yui, as well as some of the international students ^^  Its website, as well as wikipedia, claim that it's one of the largest aquariums in the world, but I was told it was the largest. It has 8 floors with a wide range of sea creatures, including adorable otters, eels, manta rays, capybara(!!!) and WHALE SHARKS! It was quite an amazing  experience, aside from the fact that I was wearing high heels.


When we returned to the Hirakata station we took a ton of purikura! For those of you who don't know, this means we basically went into the most high-tech photo-booth in the world; one which enhances the size of your eyes and improves your complexion. You can add stamps, writing, and anything cute to the pictures which come out as stickers. 
The rest of the week was full of studying(fun!) and stress, but I think I'm finally starting to adjust to the Japanese lifestyle. Everything is expensive here, and the exchange rate is terrible, but those are things that can't be changed. And receiving a ton of packages from home on a regular basis definitely helps.
So far I've only been to Osaka, but I hope to go to Kyoto soon!

3 comments:

  1. Dang! That dolphin and otter had some moves! The Japanese sure know how to train their animals. When Allie and I went to the zoo in Jacksonville we saw some otters there but all the did was swim around. Those otters sure could learn a thing or two from their Japanese counterparts. In other aquarium news, I decked out my turtles (I have 2 pet turtles if you didn't know) home in true high D (high dollar: it's a phrase I invented, just go with it) fashion today. I pulled out all the stops: 100% new clean water, clean algae free glass, new aesthetically rock formations (including a relplica of the Parthanon, 19 shark teeth and an authentic arrow head - side note: I found the shark teeth in Pensacola and the arrow head in Gainesville), and a heat lamp for my boys to bask in the warm glow of the fake sunlight. I pulled out all the stops. They deserve the best so I tried to deliver. Did you know that aquatic turtles eat carrots and lettuce, who knew? Allie and I are going to take the turtles and Piggy out to the Olive Garden tomorrow for all you can eat salad. Table for 5 please.
    I hope are having the time of your life right now, it's so awesome that you're in Japan right now making moves. As they say in Latin America, "carpe diem!" (that is what you'd call a Jefferson joke, don't worry if you didn't laugh, no one ever does. Here's another one for you while we're on the subject of sea dwelling creatures: why do sharks only swim in salt water? Because pepper water makes them sneeze. Take care Rissa and don't forget to rock and roll.


    Jefferson

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  2. wow, long message, but lol! I'm trying to rock n roll my best...

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  3. The one thing we didn't get to do together in ATL :'(

    But I'm glad it was awesome!

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