I'm back from vacation! I love
visiting zoos or aquariums when I'm in other countries because they
are all so different. When my husband and I were in Japan we visited
Nagoya Aquarium. The aquarium itself is huge, though not all of it is
filled with displays. They had 2 species of dolphin, killer whales,
belugas and penguins, amongst other little critters. I only caught
the tail end of the beluga show, but the part I saw was full of play
between the trainers and the belugas. There were three baby belugas
as well. One of them was constantly trying to steal the show.
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| What a ham :D |
Their dolphin show was amazing. I work
at a zoo with a fairly limited budget so I'm easily impressed, but
this show was something else. They have several dolphins preforming
tricks at one time – there is always something to look at! One of
the dolphins caught a Frisbee in mid air while others jumped nearly
four stories high to reach an orange ball suspended above the pool
and there was a huge monitor that displayed an instant reply of
tricks you just watched!
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| Mid air frisbee catch!! |
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| Crazy dolphin jumps with live replay on the screen! |
One thing I've never seen before, but
it apparently very common throughout Japan, is descriptions next to
fish enclosures detailing how one would go about preparing the fish
that you are currently looking at. The cooking instructions at Nagoya
aquarium aren't as prevalent as other aquariums, but the fact that
this is considered common practice blew my mind. At least they had a
conversation sign about tuna – even if it started with “It's
delicious... but.” Another thing I found peculiar is that Japanese
guests will often exclaim “that looks delicious” while standing
in front of a fish enclosure. It's the equivalent of north Americans
standing in front of a grazing cow and having our mouths start to
water. I just don't understand it.
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| It's delicious... but |
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| Top right corner shows the prepared version of this fish |
The aquarium was really cool. I would
recommend it if you're very in Nagoya. I've heard the Kyoto aquarium
is fantastic as well and the Osaka aquarium is home to the world's
largest fish tank. It houses two whale sharks! Hopefully I'll have a
chance to visit Japan again and see more of their enclosures. (Uh oh,
my zookeeper nerd is showing).
