the tall blond guy goes to japan

Sugoi!

Kagoshima

The title of this bit means something like "coooool". The more "goi" you put into the word, the cooler things get. This gets a definite sugoooooooiiiiii.

I'm talking about the brand-new Kagoshima Aquarium. It sits on the docks within walking distance of Kagoshima JR station (or within walking distance of Nishi-Kagoshima JR station if you've got lots of time). It looks very nifty from the outside, lots of old stone walkways around the building, clever old bridges and the like.

Out front, there's a big sign detailing the fancy fish things they've built in the bay.

We're very proud of our fish thinger.

I think they're meant as a kind of ecologically-sensitive breakwater. Fish seem to be able to swim right through the thing without noticing that it's there. Well, that's what we're assuming anyway- no one seems to have bothered to ask the fish.

So, the aquarium. After buying a ticket from the machine outside, and presenting said ticket to the perfectly-dressed woman inside, I was presented with a fancy broshure and map (both in English- remember, being a tall blond guy is like wearing a sign that says "Hey! I'm dumb! Give me English!). Then I was ushered up a dramatic escalator.

It was dark, lit with black lights. The walls have waves painted on them, and they seemed to move with the lights. Dramatic music played and I could hear waves crashing in the distance. Presently I came upon a darkened room.

Sugoooiiiii!

This is a big big room. As you can see, one entire wall is made of plexiglass. You can walk right up to the fishies and other undersea creatures and wave at them. The scale of this glass wall is absolutely stunning. Coming out of that escalator, with this directly in front of me... wow, all I could think of to say was "sugoi".

While I was taking the picture, slightly to the left of the escalator exit, a family was just coming to the top. Almost in unison, they all said "sugoooiiiii". It's good to know they agree.

They have a nice selection of fishies from around the world, and a big section on the fishies from the area around Kagoshima. They're very proud of the fact that they pump the water for that section directly from Kagoshima Bay. Luckily, it's slightly less polluted and ... er ... sticky ... than Tokyo Bay. There's actually even a swimming beach about 30 minutes' walk from the aquarium. It was in the wrong direction though, and I was tired.

Colourful fish. I didn't ask it for its name.

So they've got lots of fish. Cool. This being Japan, they also have a nifty multimedia show. Everywhere you go in Japan seems to have a nifty multimedia show. This one happened to be a 3-D HDTV show. Nifty! They gave me some polarized glasses and I sat down in the comfy chair to watch the show. I had no idea what they were saying, but the 3D fish sure were fascinating. I think it had something to do with the waters around Kagoshima and the islands to the south. They had sequences where fishermen were gutting the fish (odd choice of footage for an aquarium, I thought) and how fish were used by the early residents of the area. I think. This is relying on my being able to pick up maybe one word out of 200, and lots of pictures.

They have a fish restaurant in the aquarium. I don't know about you, but I found this to fall slightly into the "bad taste" category. I know, they wanted to go for a fish theme, but I'm not sure how appropriate it is to have a fish restaurant in there. In any case, I ordered a rather average beef curry, one of the few non-fishy things on the menu. I couldn't bear to eat meat from a fish that had brained itself trying to bash its way out of a tank or something.

The only thing I was displeased about in this aquarium was the beluga pool. Coming from Vancouver, with its paranoid-of-rabid-environmentalists stance, I'm used to seeing big sea mammals in pools looking something like their natural habitat, both above water and under water. Sure they swim around in circles and stuff, but at least it looks okay. The dolphin pool here looks (and smells) just like a very deep Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool. Lots of tile and stuff. Looks like Sea World (I really didn't like Sea World).

Aside from that, very sugoi and at only Y1500 (if I remember correctly) quite a deal. Erm, that's about can$18 for the Yen-impaired.