The Osaka aquarium is called Kaiyukan which translates to "playing in the sea pavilion", the name turned out to be fairly accurate. We started the day by hopping on the train and taking the 30-45 minute ride down to Osaka. As usual we had arrived earlier than the local eateries and attractions were expecting so we had to kill some time waiting on the aquarium to open and find some restaurant that felt like feeding us before 11am. Unfortunately the only place that was open was McDonald's. We'd tried to avoid them since we have such easy access to them normally and wished to experience the different environment we were in, but also we were starving and no local place was willing to feed us.
Luckily we still got to see the minor differences between Japanese and American McDonald's. The first major difference, and this is a near universal difference across the restaurants here, was drink size. We ordered a small drink each as part of a combo (called a "set" here), we weren't prepared for how small it would turn out to be though.
There was more straw outside of the cup than there was inside. The other difference turned out to be much better though. The food was much fresher and the egg that was on my McGriddle and Chrissy's McBiscuit seemed to be, prepare yourself, REAL EGG.
Other than those alterations it was pretty much a standard McDonald's breakfast. Once we were done with breakfast and had walked back to the aquarium entrance the place had opened. As is usual for our larger excursions there were many school groups that were there on a field trip. I'm pretty sure, based on my very limited experience with the matter, that every school in this country goes on at least one field trip every day. There really is no other explanation for it.
The aquarium itself lived up to its reputation as one of the best in the world, not that I've been to that many aquariums but still it was cool. It starts at the top of the building in the "Japan Forest". There was a cool waterfall and some otters swimming around. As you go further into the aquarium you descend deeper and deeper underwater exploring some areas multiple times at different depths or seeing wholly new places with totally different animals.
The deeper we got into the aquarium the more interesting the animals became. Sometimes we would even be able to revisit certain areas and see the same animals but from a different perspective. The dolphins, seals and penguins were especially cool for this.
The smaller areas, like the Great Barrier Reef, and deep ocean also added quite a bit to the adventure. We got to see a lot of varied environments along with the unique and sometimes strange animals that live there.
Chrissy...don't look behind you
I said DON'T look!
The main attraction of the aquarium, and the thing that got me to sign on for this particular day trip, was the main aquarium that covered the pacific ocean. It was stationed in the very middle of the building and ran up about 3 or 4 floors throughout. It had sharks, rays, an entire school of smaller fish and one of the few whale sharks in captivity. This thing was massive, I'm not sure if the pictures truly convey it. It was obviously a smaller whale shark but still it was the biggest fish in the tank and swam around in circles with just a few fin strokes.
Beside the whale shark in the tank but in a separated area was a manta ray. It was cool to get to see it swimming around, especially when it would do loops over and over skimming the top of the surface and diving back down.
After wading our way through the whole aquarium and the sea of school children we were nearing the exit. Right before heading out they give you one final treat, an area completely dedicated to jellyfish. They had various species all separated into their own tanks. Most would just float or swim around in circles. Some had very cool colors and glowing features. The camera had some issues picking up these but you get the idea.
After making our way out of the aquarium we headed over to the giant Ferris Wheel next door. When we bought our tickets for the aquarium we got a combo pack that let us ride the Ferris Wheel as well. It turns out this is one of the tallest Ferris Wheels in the world and it gave a great view of the Osaka area.
We finished out our time in Osaka with some shopping and dinner in the food court before hitting the train back to Shinjuku. Nothing amazing to report there except for...
Fish custard...yum!
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