The Osaka aquarium is one of the most popular attractions in the city, so I decided the best time to visit would be as soon as it opened on a Monday morning.
It is not very far away, but strangely the train here cost more than the train ride to Kyoto or Kobe. It was just 3 subway stops so this must be a bit like the Sydney airport line where they rip off tourists.
The whole area around the aquarium is a sort of ghost town, no real traffic etc. I took a lot of fishy photos so I wont talk too much about it here.
On the way back, it snowed! Yes this is the first time I have ever been snowed on in my life. Unfortunately it wasnt enough to leave any snow on the ground and I couldnt photograph it in the air as much as I tried.
At first I thought I had slowed down time and rain was falling very slowly. I was a little dissapointed when I discovered it was snow and not my ability to alter time. However then I was excited it was snow. I am sure the screaming running locals found it strange that I stood in the middle of the road looking upwards.
Finally, I have noticed on tv, billboards, trains etc. that the big thing in Japan now is alcohol free beer. Both Kirin and Asahi are heavily advertising zero or free brands of beer with ads showing businessmen remaining in control at parties etc.
So you can look forward to this trend coming to your country soon, in Australia I am looking forward to VB Zero.
On my walk to the subway, I passed the Mclaren dealer. This claims to be the real thing, as driven by Ayrton Senna. Back in the days when F1 cars looked awesome, such clean lines. It has a sign by it 'For mr Senna's exclusive use only', I guess they will be waiting a while for him to move it.
Might as well take a photo of the Mclaren road car whilst here.
No, you are not glowing red and on top of a building, so I will not go on you inferior ferris wheel.
The outside of the aquarium.
I was one of the first in the place, and this guy was still cleaning a tank, I kid you not he bowed apologetically when he realised people were watching.
Kids with nintendo ds or 3ds or 4ds or whatever they are up to are not even excited by fish in giant tanks these days. Japan has taken care of that. If you bought your nintendo with you, you can install an educational game that involves looking at the fish.
What sort of an aquarium is a forest?
You start at the top of the building and descend, they have land animals like this giant guinea pig roaming around.
These are digusting creatures. I am glad there was thick glass between us.
Now we will have lots of fish photos.
Sorry for the glass reflections.
One of these killed Steve Irwin. Possibly this actual one.
Despite these being tiny fish I enjoyed this tank the most. Literally thousands of fish.
I high fived a turtle.
Theres a plastic one of these out the front of the David Jones store in Rundle Mall. Heres some real ones. I of course dont use flash, but just the orange focus assist light was sending them crazy.
The jellyfish tanks were the best. The shark tanks briefly shown above are probably not as good as the Sydney aquarium, the water was too cloudy, but I have never seen jellyfish like this and especially the ones in the following shots before.
If one of these touches you, you die in excruciating pain in under 30 seconds. Actually I have no idea if thats true.
They also come in red.
Outside the aqaurium, a shot of the bay. That silver dome thing is Universal Studios theme park (I think?)
Couldnt take a photo of snow, so took a photo of my computer showing the latest weather for osaka that says its snowing. Yep.
The Umeda Sky building is quite new, its a twin tower with a bridge half way up and a glass elevator in a tube that then takes you to an escalator that bridges the gap to the 'sky garden'.
Some people claim this is a rip off, but for $8 I thought it was excellent. You can hang out on the top floor inside with heating and a cafe that charges reasonable prices, or go out onto the 360 degree roof in the freezing cold.
I alternated between both and took a heap of photos, so brace yourself, or prepare to scroll.
This is the side of the building, and I was excited about the light. I think this may be the best photo I have ever taken!
Looking up you can see the lift tubes, the bridge and the escalators. If you suffer from vertigo, theres a lot of opportunities to prove it here.
Ascending through the escalator, if you are a massive tight ass I think you can go up here and go back down again without paying.
Now some photos of the view at sunset, you can appreciate how big the entire Kansai region is. The sheer number of bridges and railawy lines is amazing to me.
More view.
Looking down on the escalators.
Still more view in the excellent light. It was absolutely freezing at dusk, wind was blowing, so hardly anyone was on the roof.
After this one I headed down a floor for a matcha latte until it got properly dark. I read about how earthquake proof the building is. Apparently nuclear power plants are tsunami proof too.
Its a great place just to sit around and appreciate the view, and yet theres hardly anyone here.
You can come up here for a romantic evening and hold hands on a special seat and things light up and then you attach a padlock etc. What sort of food do you need to appreciate this? A tin of wieners of course.
I lined up to pose in front of the heart. This had some locals very amused.
After my tinned wieners and latte I headed back out on the roof. This is why its called a sky garden I guess, they make the path light up with black lights.
Now for some night shots, 15 second exposures. I had to rest my camera on the rail, in the sunset shots its being held above my head so you cant see the safety barriers.
Yep
Another one.
Ok this is the last one.
In the basement theres a fake ancient Japan restaurant street. I decided to have a typical bar meal, a rice omelette with potato croquette things. The bonus wiener was not in the photo on the menu. What is it about this building and wieners?