Today I want to write about Japan finally. I know Japan writeups are not as popular as they used to be (or seem so) but its a fun part of my life that I like to be nostalgic about hehe. Maybe if I ever get really motivated I will organize the writeups into a big guide or something. Well I've been lots of place in Tokyo over the past few years.
And here is one of the several aquariums I have visited: Shinagawa Aquarium!
Now there is a main Shinagawa Aquarium that is listed in all the usual travel guides/books. But this is a smaller, less known one that I'm going to write about. Even if it's smaller there were still lots of nice exhibits and animals to view. I swear Japan has more aquariums than any other place haha!
There were some water fowl
These fish live in a tube
They have all the usual varieties of salt water and fresh water fish to oggle. Honestly it's fun enough to see bright color tropical fish, or freaky giant open ocean fish, but for me I can only look at fish for so long before I have been satisfied haha! Luckily this aquarium has several other fun things to do.
Of course the main event being the small dolphin show. Some people feel dolphin shows are cruel, and I would prefer not to get into that discussion, let's just say it exists, people watch it and the keepers seem to really care about the dolphins. They performed a short time, mostly just some jumps and unison moves.
An octopus with a takoyaki display, this is some dark humor
The aquarium was decorated for summer matsuri time
The other thing I found to be interesting was the feeder fish they had in an open tank. Judging by the crowd around it is a popular thing. You can put your hand in and the feeder fish will eat off the bacteria and dead skin. It feels weird, the fish kind vibrate on your skin, but really your skin feels so much fresher/smoother after!
Then we went upstairs and outside to see the penguins, another thing Japanese people love and you always find them at every zoo an aquarium. They also had a sea lion, but his tank appear to have chemicals/oil in it as there was a shiny rainbow film over the water, that made me feel really bad and uncomfortable.
Overall its a nice small aquarium. I enjoyed the feeder fish alot, and everything was pretty enjoyable for an afternoon activity. The fee was a bit over 1,500 yen which seemed fair for the amount of displays. It was troublesome to get to though so I can't foresee visiting again.
