On our second day of adventure in Osaka, we decided to head south to the port. It was remarkably sunny and hot early in the day, so we were very happy we had chosen to spend the day inside various attractions. First on the list: Osaka Maritime Museum, a huge glass globe structure set out on the water across from a working pier. Talk about visually stunning! We arrived at the subway station and took a leisurely walk to the museum entrance, marveling at the glistening water, port activity, and fish jumping out of the water. To the left is a photo of a Chinese ship being unloaded. On the far right of the photo are three cylindrical towers. They are trash incinerators, making power for Japan out of trash. You can't see it in this picture, but their tops are golden, and they shine beautifully in the sun.
To get to the museum, you walk underwater, where you can see through into the sea at various points. The museum itself is a spectacular, 4-story affair with many kinds of exhibits, theaters, and panoramic views of the surrounding outside area. My favorite exhibit was of woodblock prints depicting Osaka port and the Osaka area centuries ago. Matt enjoyed looking at the charts that displayed the special goods of each area of Japan, as well as the shipping routes around Japan and to other countries. It was a neat, interactive way to learn about trade history, and made the tradition of having meibutsu, or specific specialty goods, make sense.
We also both loved the full-scale trading ship that sits in the center of the museum, pictured to the right. It actually sailed in Osaka bay in the early '90s! I think it was built for the museum, as a replica of ships that were actually used for trading purposes. It's a simple ship and not well-finished or glamorous like the huge Western ones that influenced later Chinese and Japanese designs. We got to walk around this ship, which was fun. I always love the interactive parts of museums, since I am still a child. Matt and I both tried our hand (or legs, as it were) at lifting a 60kg bushel of "cargo." Matt had more immediate success than I, but I got it by straddling it in a very unladylike manner and lifting from the legs. We decided throwing these things around must have been a 2-person job, because neither of us could see how one person could lift it high enough to get it anywhere useful.
 |
Next, we took a break from the ocean to see beautiful plants. We got back on the train and went north to a botanic garden that houses incredible plants from all climates. A lot of the grounds are inside in a huge greenhouse, so it was the garden to see in late summer, when most outside gardens have already hit their peak blooming time. I loved it because I got to see so many new plants! These four pictures are a few of the most awe-inspiring things I encountered. 
Top left: delicate flowers that look like fan paintbrushes; top right: something incredibly pink and delicate; lower left: an insectivorous plant I found particularly lovely; lower right: a cactus in bloom. I have never understood the appeal of cactai, but now I get it. I want one, especially since I love plants but currently seem challenged at caring for other living things (read: I kill plants very quickly, all while trying to keep them alive). Oh, there was also enormous aloe vera, pictured below with me for scale. We were a little sunburned, so it took all our self-control to not break off a piece to rub on our poor skin.
After the gardens we went back to the ocean, this time focusing our sights on the aquarium. I love aquariums and haven't been to one since I did a summer program at Sea World before college (when I wanted to be a marine biologist/marine mammal vet). The aquarium made me a little sad, because I was reminded about how much I loved studying the sea and interacting with the animals, but it was a great time anyway. We got to see the largest shark in existence, the whale shark, swimming with lots of fish buddies. There was also a great manta ray doing flips. Both of those are captured conveniently in video below.
Matt made a cute Harbor Seal friend. The aquarium is built so you go to the top via escalator and then travel down in circles through all the exhibits. You end up walking the depth of most of the tanks, seeing things from various vantage points. This seal kept swimming down to say hello. And that strange fish pictured below? It's a sunfish, or mola mola. Matt thought I was crazy, wandering around chirping "mola mola" every time I saw it.
To his credit, I am often that strange. This time, it was in the name of science, as in an actual scientific name.Also, we got to pet sharks and stingrays. I petted stingrays before (and had my toes gently nibbled) at Sea World in the aforementioned summer camp, but it was Matt's first time to touch them. They are silky soft and playful, trying to climb out of the water for pets. The sharks just sit there. They mostly feel scratchy, like sandpaper.
We got out of the aquarium just in time to catch the sunset from the top of another giant ferris wheel next door. It was a lovely painted sky over the ocean as far as you could see in one direction, sprawling city in the other. We finished our day with an onsen (hot spring) and dinner at a great izakaya. It was a lovely way to conclude our visit to Osaka.
Comments
Post a Comment