Osaka Aquarium (November 3, 2025)
Did you know that Whale Sharks can grow upto 32 feet (9.8 meters). Check it out:
This is the scale of an actual whale shark … oh you wanted live?
Doesn’t do it justice, does it? To fit in the frame, it looks small :-(
I took so many pictures of these whale sharks. I’ve never seen them in an aquarium before. I’m sure there’s a whole back story as to why this male and female needed to be rescued and nursed back to health and will eventually be released back into the wild, etc.
And yes, I have mixed feelings about going to aquariums where animals are held in captivity. On the one hand we’re minimizing all the green house gas emissions it would take to have millions of people travel all over the world to see them in the wild vs the animal’s rights to freedom from captivity. This blog isn’t about any of these topics.
One of these pictures is not like the other. Notice the thickness of the acrylic that is needed just to hold the water that allows two whale sharks to live in a tank this large. Here are the details in case you’re interested (I certainly was):
This 5 × 6 meter cube of acrylic holds 5,400 tons of salt water. Wow!
And yes, today was all about Elena’s favorite kind of salt water fish exploration. For those of you who know our story back in California, we tried our best to support a fairly large saltwater fish tank and ended up killing every beautiful fish we bought and put into that tank. It was so hard to kept just right. So now we visit these aquariums and scuba dive to see these majestic creatures instead.
By the way, now that I’m (semi?) retired, I’d love to volunteer at an aquarium to clean the tanks. I imagine there would be some training and perhaps an “aquarium certification” I’d need to add to my advanced open water certification I already have for scuba diving, but how cool would it be to get in the tanks and clean the glass once or twice a week? I’d get to be right up close to the big guys (sharks, sting rays, and large fish) while helping the visitors see them better. I might even get to feed some of them. Seems like a cool gig. I’ll add that to my bucket list.
One our way out there was a really cool juggler who got up on a ladder to juggle fire. Want to see it?
I so love this. Unplanned street performers. I missed the first part of his show but caught the grand finale. And yes, after this, he took a big swig of some high octane alcohol and spit fire balls into the sky too. And yes, I gave him a big tip for entertaining us. Well worth it. Loved every minute he entertained us even if it was only for the final 5 or so minutes of his act. Well worth it.
Did you notice the giant ferris wheel in the pictures above? I did too. Now the thing is, there are 60 carriages on this giant ferris wheel, but only 8 with “glass bottoms.” Now, it cost no more to ride the glass bottom, but you DO have to wait an extra 25 minutes. Worth it? I say yes, Elena said no. We both think we’re right (but Elena’s probably more right — just don’t tell her I said so ;-)
The only “advantage” of the glass bottom is that you have no obstructed view when looking out from one side. To Elena’s point, looking down you mostly see the rest of the ferris wheel and not much else except for a few parts of the ride. Oh well. In life, we live with the choices we make and Elena was willing to allow me to make this one.
Oh, and did you know the Christmas season has officially “kicked off” in Japan? We were already seeing some early signs before Halloween, but the moment November 1st came around, the proverbial gloves were off and everywhere we looked the Christmas decorations were up and the season had officially begun in full swing. So happy shopping everyone!
November 1st marks the “official” kick-off of Christmas shopping!
