We slept in late today, a couple of long days walking and late nights took its toll! We were meant to get out and visit two places, but since we were out late we decided not to rush both and just went to the Osaka Aquarium. Its lucky we picked today to go the Aquarium, it rained almost the entire day! I think it was the only day it rained in the time we were there. We had to hop in and out of 4 trains to finally get there and when we got off at the closest train station(Osakako station) it was slightly confusing as there was all these signs pointing to the Aquarium but in different directions. Some said they were wrong, others were bigger, we just choose a direction and started walking. You cant really tell from far away but you know you are getting close when you see the large ferris wheel. Before we went into the Aquarium we stopped off at Tempozan market which was next door and had lunch. It was like a small shopping center with a petting zoo, stores and restaurants. They had a Jump store which was completely filled with only One piece merchandise that Mimi and Georgina had a field day in! They also had a really large 100Yen store that I was quickly rushed though and was only finally dragged out with the promise that we would return after we finished at the aquarium!
The Aquarium was next door to the market. Inside there was some really cute employees dressed up in uniforms that directed us inside to buy our tickets and inside. Once we were through the main hall there was an area with gift boutiques and lockers that you could store bags and coats as it was alot wamer inside. We stored the backpacks and jackets and went into the aquarium, it started by taking us on some escalators that seems like then went up at least 2-3 storey at once! We got off and were taken into a section above ground showing otters and crabs and other land/water creatures. At the end was some doors that started to circle and wind down towards the bottom. The structure was buiilt around a massive round tank and you started at the top and walked down around it starting at animals that lived above water, towards the top of the water and worked down to the depths of the ocean. It was really well done like this! At the top we found seals and penguins and tropical fish.
As you worked your way down we got to fish that live in the greater ocean like dophins, manta rays and other deep sea fish. The last picture shows another tourist who has a little squid plush. He had pressed it against the glass to get the seals attention and then started to move it around the glass playing with it. The seal was following him for about 15 minutes, it was really cute to watch!!
As we went along there were stop off points which you could have souvenir pictures or picture oportunitues! At the penguin sections there was a small area that showed pictures and sizes or penguins and also about how penguins lived.
Because it was christmas time we got visited by Santa Claus who came and fed the seals, dolphins and Manta Rays!
As we got towards the bottom it got darker and the tank got bigger! The famous whale shark was stored in the tank towards the bottom.My favourites were the massive crabs that were at the bottom of the tank, they were bigger then my head!!!
On our way out from the large tank there was an exibit with lots of smaller tanks of jellyfish. It was quite dark and harder to get pictures in here. Anyone who has been to exibits with jellyfish know how mesmerising they can be. I caught the sign on they way out , I thought the translation was quite funny!
The very last thing we were directed off to before the exit was the special Kawaii exibit (very japanese huh!) Which had all the baby animals and cute fish in smaller tanks. There was also a petting area where you could touch small sharks and manta rays! Not being a huge fan of seafood myself I just watched and took pictures while the others had a pet!
The weather had mostly cleared up by the time we head off. The others went off to scout for some magic shops that matt has found so Chris and I went shopping! We first head off to Cyperous. I had heard alot of good things about this wig store, and had been itching to buy one. I thought it would be great that while I was in japan I could go and check them out. I emailed them before we left Australia and they were lovely and had no problems directing me where to go. It was quite funny getting there though, as I had expected a wig store, but it looked like all they had was a store that was like a warehouse. When i got there there was nothing on display!! I ended up buying, by jumping on one of the attendants laptops (which was japanese…..lol) found the wigs I liked, she recorded the numbers and ran off to get them out of the right box. It was quite funny that I had come all that way and ended up buying via the website anyway!!! She did show me the wigs though before I accepted them and they were gorgeous quality! i also picked one up for Tamara who was meeting us later on in the trip, in Tokyo.
After the wig store we head into Nipponbashi where we found Mandarake!! We actually spent the rest of the evening here checking stuff out. This mandarake was very much like the other stores however on the top floor had a Lolita section! It took me forever to pick out what to buy (mainly because I had a budget and chris with me) so i had to figure what I could get with the money I was allowed to spend!!! I picked up a great range of socks (all unused!) and a JSK for Candice. After I made my purchases we decided to head home, we hadnt made firm arrangements with the others so we decided to grab some dinner before heading off to the train station. We walked a good 15 minutes back through Nippnbashi and quite by accident i glaced into a Mcdonalds and saw the group in there having dinner LOL! So we stopped as well and ordered a meal, they were doing this really cool promotion that I worked out, if you bought a L size meal you got a free anniversary Coca Cola cup! The cup was glass and shaped just like a coke can, it was really cool!
Continue on to Japan Day 6
♥ Alyssium♥
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