Day 11: Osaka's unreal aquarium

Normally I write these blog entries last thing, just before I go to bed, as a good bookend for the day.  Today though I am writing while sitting in the cafe of the aquarium as I want to capture my experience while it is as fresh as possible.

I hadn't done much research when I arrived at the aquarium.  It had been recommended by a couple of people so I went with that.  At worst it would be a way to spend the day inside, dodging the hot and rainy weather.

A deceiving facade

As soon as I arrived I was a little stung by the ticket price, ¥2300 (~$23) to get in.  Up until now much of what I have done has had little or no admission costs, so this was a jump up. 

Things started off underwhelming, with a long walk to an extremely tall escalator. It's not clear why such a climb is needed, but I was thankful that it wasn't stairs, as it took quite some time to reach the top.

From there you follow a pathway from aquarium to aquarium, all on the left side of the hallway. Each contains interetesting animals and fish, all of which are worth a look.

The hall winds along, continuing to make quiet right turns and showing what seem to be rather small displays for some time. 

Eventually, after seeing aquariums themed from biomes around the world I make the turn that changes everything and walk toward my first view of the aquarium's crown jewel: the central tank.

Suddenly all the right turns and the long escalator ride make sense.  The whole experience is a long corkscrew walk down through the building, flanked on both sides by deeper and deeper views into both the central tank and the outer tanks that seemed so small and shallow at first.

I think I stopped to watch the central tank a dozen times, and easily spent more than an hour just peering in to watch the ever changing scene.  

The sheer volume of activity and animals in the central tank is breathtaking, with audible gasps of excitement to be hear at that first corner as the uninitiated like myself got their first taste of what this place really was all about.

Within the central tank are hundreds of fish, but the stars of the show, rightly so, are the absolutely massive pair of whale sharks within.  

Their massive presence gliding slowing around a tank that somehow makes them seem small at times by its sheer volume. 

As I continued to wind my way down the corkscrew I was greeted with new perspectives into the outer tanks, now able to see penguins diving deeply and seals playing deep below the surface.

Each tank was a marvel of interesting views than changed each time you returned on a new revolution. 

Finally the corkscrew journey ended, and I expected to be popped out into the gifts  Bit so much more awaited.  From a tour through arctic life, to a plethora of jellyfish:

...to my favourite, a hands-on experience with sharks and rays:

This experience was amazing, and looking back at my initial concerns about ticket price, I can't help but laugh a little. This place was worth every yen to get in.

From massive whale sharks over 10 meters in length, to the tiniest of sea creatures, there was a seemingly endless display of biology and life that delighted me at every turn.