My visit to Osaka aquarium

[-Henno-]

Hey guys.

Just got back from Japan with the missus and had a ball. If you like seafood, beer, nice people and good manners book a flight, the place rocks.

We packed a fair bit into two weeks and I have put on 5 kilos. Did I mention the beer and food?

Here are a few picks of Kaiyukan in Osaka. For those of you that haven't seen every episode of Rex on pay tv a hundred times like I have it is a bloody big aquarium in Osaka and as far as I know the only one with a captive whale shark. On Rex's subsidised trip to Japan Steve Starling did a bit on it.

When we got there it was just before the whale shark feeding time so we had to bolt past a lot of stuff to see that. The main tank is amazing. So many permit and other trevallies. The whale shark and manta just had me mesmerised. We then went back to look at everything I missed and I'm afraid I kind of let the team down with the pics I'm afraid. One of my favourites (and from memory also Starlo's) was the Equador rainforest section. They had loads of massive pirarucu and arowana in it. Well over a metre long. The look like close but ancient relatives to barra and saratoga. The sunfish was cool as well as I have never seen one of these in the flesh.

Hope you enjoy the pics. The giant spider crab stood about waste high and yes you can eat them. The last one is not exactly fish related but I am wearing and Agnes M&G shirt!

I have also posted in the fresh water section if anybody is interested in my day at a fresh water lake where I went bassing. Oh yeah, there was food and alcohol involved in that too.

Henno san

[dogsbody]

That Whale Shark would have been awesome to see. You could watch for hours and get a good look at how other fish interact with each other. Way cool.


Dave.

[ffejsmada]

Would of been a good trip that one!
It's hard to believe they have a captive Whale Shark.:o

Is it only a baby or is it fully grown?

Cheers, Jeff.

[finga]

Waist high crab....gees you'd have to watch those nippers wouldn't you.
Just imagine if they got the family jewels. Would it be :stunned: or :freak: or :angryfire:.
Was there any :beer:in the trip by any chance??
Good to see you both home again :)

[B_E_N]

all ive heard is awesome things about that place, did you go to the fish markets aswell (saw it on rex's trip aswell) it will be one of those things ill have to do in the future

[TIMMY 666]

What a trip! Thanks for sharing. That tank with the whale shark must be enormous! Did you take any pics of the arowanas?

Tim.

[bigbrian47]

good stuff mark/teri:)
an extra 5kgs eh
does this mean i get the 9'6" mal in the shed??;D
and you go to 10ft;)
cheers brian

[-Henno-]

The whale shark is still fairly young I think. They did have two whale sharks but I believe the adult got sick and they took it away to live on a farm somewhere if you get my drift.

We didn't get to the Osaka fish markets although it was on my list. It turns out though that there are fish markets like that for the restaurants and other ones that are still huge for the masses.

One a trip up to the sea of Japan we stopped at one of these with Teri's mum's parents after going to grandma's buddhist funeral, long story. At every stall you are told that everything is 'Oishi' delicious and offered a free sample, except for the crab stalls unfortunately. Crabs were actually out of season but still there and still expensive. Mumma san bought us some after a big haggle and we had them with massive scallops and raw prawns. I actually developed a taste for raw prawns, they are very sweet and tender, so are raw scallops actually. The attached pics are of my wife, sister in law, and there famous beautiful cousin who does tv spots in Tokyo, she has the white hat on. They are pigging out on dried squid. The big crab is worth about $180. The lady with the peace sign is selling marinated squid guts, which was quite yummy believe it or not.


As for the beer finga, I am fairly heavily into homebrewing now and am a regular on www.ahb.com.au (http://www.ahb.com.au) The guys there put me onto some amazing places that are a story in themselves. Some in Osaka and a couple up north on the island of Hokkaido. The one with the beer attached is at a place in Osaka that specialised in German and Belgian beer.

You are most welcome to borrow the 9'6" any time you are up Brian. I intend to be on a new 8'4" soon excess kilos will be shed after a few weeks back on the roofes.

Henno

[NormC]

Good read Henno. I'm off to Osaka in early August myself. Going to visit our daughter who lives over there. I'll certainly check out the aquarium now. Along with the beer and food of course.

[Lucky_Phill]

That'll explain why Agnes has been so quite..... ;D ::)

Sounds like the trip was everything you wanted it to be. Mateeee raw prawns, raw scallops............. marinated squid guts...... OH boy...... :o

Are you and Teri in the new house yet ?

OH, nice shirt ;)

Phill

[oddbudman]

that crab looks straight out of 'war of the worlds'

[wessel]

How many beers does it take before you are able to eat squid guts???
;D
Wessel

[traviso182]

must be a bloody big tank to hold that.

[-Henno-]

No Phil we aren't in a house yet. We are still negotiating. The food is brilliant and the way they prepare and present it makes it a lot better than it sounds. I have tried some pretty strange stuff in my travels to India, Indo, Thailand and now Japan. Gotta have an open mind mate and give it a go. Oh yeah, being pissed helps get it down as well. Believe it or not the stuff I couldn't stomach was the breakfasts. Traditionally they have cooked and smoked fish and rice and miso soups and stuff. With a hangover I wanted coffee and toast.

NormC. I have a couple of addresses that you would love if you like sampling different beer and going a bit off the normal tourist track. My pub crawl in Osaka was unreal.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15665 if your interested or feel free to pm me. Attached is a pic of Beer Belly1. There is also a Beer Belly2 now as well. Dolphin, Q Brick and Doll Dress are a must as well.

The other pic is two black bream for $24.

[-Henno-]

Wessel. I actually ate squid guts sober. Admittedly I only thought it was raw marinated squid. My wife told me later when I was not sober. "Oh well" I said.

The tank is in the centre of the building and the viewing areas spiral down and around it for 4 or 5 stories. All the other displays are on the outside. The dolphin tank can be seen from three different levels. When you get to the bottom level there are stats of the depth and the amount of tonnage of water above you and you don't want that glass to break then. You can look up at the viewing windows of other people above you and see the people way up the top looking in. It's pretty big.

[2iar]

Top stuff Mooks, looks like you had a ball.

I wonder if you could train the crab to guard your pots - that'd stop the thieves in a hurry!

Good luck,
Mike

[-Henno-]

The crabs weren't that scary really, just big! That one didn't move the whole time I was watching him. They are pretty docile and it takes them 30 seconds to get their claw from the ground to their mouths when they do move.

[AutoPilot]

Wow ....that was a great thread...puts Mooloolaba to sham....

Cheers
Scott

[theVan]

Mate .... that is an awesome read.
Thank you for sharing!
I wish I had read this earlier as I just booked a round the world egtting home through Hong Kong.... Oh well , Japan can be the next trip!

So were you able to get coffee and toast? I think I would be the same as you at breakfast

[-Henno-]

Yeah coffee and toast was easy to get. In fact even their bloody toast was better than ours. You can buy bread in any thickness you want so I opted for what my parents you to call 'Doorstop' size. Their peanut butter was unreal as well. There's a tub of it in my fridge right now.

I think having a Japanese wife was a big reason why I had such a great time. All the family wanted to meet me and the fact that I could eat with chopsticks and ate everything put in front of me put me in the good books big time.

You'd still have a great time as an on your own tourist but I'd hate to navigate the subways by myself. I saw western couples that obviously didn't speak any English in the subways that looked lost and panic stricken. Even my wife got confused in Osaka. Here's why. As well as there being bugger all English on all their maps of where you want to go and the ticketing machines they also have more than one train company and one company doesn't mention anything on their stuff about destinations of another company if you get my drift. If you don't know that platform 34 and 35 are the ones belonging to the company that goes where you want you are stuffed.

I'd lose sight of my wife in the crowd for more than 3 seconds and start crying like a 2 year old!

[trueblue]

That is an awsome aquarium. What amazed me when I saw it in '98 was that as you walk down the spiral walkway, you notice how territorial the fish are for their 'level' in the water depth. Certain fish only swim in a very defined level, with others species above and below, and then some speedsters like the tuna were just going ballistic through all levels.

it was a top thing to see.

cheers

[juju]

I envy you, would be a great place to see

[finga]

So Mark...what tackle shops did you visit or is that an entirely new big thread??

[-Henno-]

That was one of the few failures of my trip I suppose. I get a bit funny about going to places that I would want to spend a lot of money at when I don't have it to spend but we tried giving it a go one morning in Osaka.

The big Shimano one in Osaka turned out to be on the same side of town as the aquarium. We had left there the day before to go in search of craft beer. It also turned out to be a hassle doing something impromptu in a big Japanese city. I had a squiz in a few small ones and they were all geared at the locals with the biggest reels in the 3000 range.

It will be researched properly and tracked down on the next trip for sure.

I spent an hour or so hanging with some guys fishing for little bait like things on a wharf in Otaru. They had this cool system with a tripod for your rods and another one with a plastic bucket filled with a mince looking bait that you passed your multy hook rig backwards and forwards through to bait up. Some guys had made their own rod rack clamps that fitted onto a railing on the wharf.