Write up: Hakkeijima

Well this is my first writeup for my trip last Nov-Dec. Its rather late, but I just didn't seem to be in the mood to write any blow by blow recaps of my travel adventures. I got in the mood for it after visiting some other very nice blogs that featured many pictures and nice explantions of their activities. I became nostalgic for Japan and decided to go ahead and do some write up even though they are awfully late haha.

First up is my trip to Hakkeijima island with Shouma. This island is basically a large aquarium/amusement park. It was terribly expensive, as many things are in Japan, we both purchased day passes for about 45$ which allowed us to enter all attractions in the park. I mean without the pass riding the rollarcoaster once would have cost us 1000yen each o_O;; Basically there were about 5 rides, an aquarium, a touch aquarium and a dolphin house where you could walk through a large tube and enjoy watching dolphins swim all around you.

First we had to ride the bus to the train station. As always the bus was clean, quiet and on time.

Looking out the window of the bus. This is a Kaiten Sushi place, which I passed many a time but never got to eat there even though I really want to j-j
From the bus we got to the Negishi train station and took a train so a private station where we boarded a train that had no drivers. It was a rather nice train but it was really well heated. We rode that until we got to the stop for Hakkeijima.

This is the station stop at Hakkeijima, you can see the exit on the left side of the pic, and a hint of the combini attached to it on the right side.

Looking out from the station was a lovely view.

First we had to walk down a long rode way to get to the gates of the aquarium, then we wandered around in main plaza before heading over to get the tickets. We argued about which type to buy before settling on the most expensive. We then walked past the tallest drop tower ride in the world? in Japan? which Shouma boldly told me he would force me to ride. We then entered the Sega Arcade they had there and I got to do puri kura for the first time! It was so fun but Shouma decided to tell me I had to pick 4 of the pictures with only about 3 seconds left, so we ended up getting only 1 pose for 5 bucks ><**

Then we went into the aquarium. They had lots of wonderful animals I had never seen before, it really was a lovely aquarium. The pegiuns were very popular!


This was a really neat escalator that went up through a large aquarium full of sting rays.

After the aquarium we went and walked trough their mall sized complex of independant gift shops. They also had a gashapon arcade and 100yen shop. I raided both, haha! I got a mirror and cute towel from the 100yen shop, I think I got something else, but I can't remember... After that we ate at a place that advertised as being an all-American restaraunt. I got a cheese pizza, it had a very flat, thin crust, but wasn't very good. Shouma was a bit disappointed in his restaraunt choice after he learned there were a couple all you can eat buffets there.

Then we went to the Dolphin house and rode some rides. We rode the rollarcoaster twice which was one of the least frightening ones I ever rode, but it was fun. Of course Shouma told me not to scream alot so he didn't become embarrased, but he ended being the one who screamed. Ha. We also rode a little viking ship, however it didn't do 360 and was rather boring. However it seemed to elicit many a squeal from the Japanese patrons, including Shouma. He also chickened out of riding the drop tower, thankfully.

We ate some crapes from a stall next to the drop tower instead, they were good I guess. The last thing we did was go to the touch aquarium. We got to pet dolphins, a small whale, sharks and sea-cucumbers. We had to wait a long time to touch the dolphins and whale because they really didn't seem to want to be touched. So we stood there waiting and waiting and Shouma kept getting sprayed by the whales when they came up to breath. Touching the little sharks was the most fun, but Shouma was kinda squeezing and upsetting them. By then it was dark and cold, so I got a folder and super cute cellphone charm and we headed home.

This was a tower ride we rode between rollarcoaster rides. It shows a lovely 360 view of Hakkeijima.

Kinda like chemical warfare

The most recent event in the Sea Shepard Conservation Society vs. the Japanese whalers has a bit of a terrorist like feeling. Today the SSCS harrassed the whalers by throwing bottles of rotten butter and slippery oil on the decks of their ships. The rotten butter, besides causing a terrible lingering stench, also releases the chemical Butyric acid which is an irretant to the skin and eyes.

A crew member of the whaling vessel and 2 coast guard officials complained of having stinging pain in their eyes. Japan's Fisheries Agency plan to file complaints with Australia and the Netherlands (SSCS fly a Dutch flag). Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson says they didn't do anything harmful since the Butyric acid hit actually hit the crew member's bodies.

Read the article here.

Personally I feel this is a rather childish and nasty way of protesting. I don't think it does much more then cause some minor bodily harm to the crew members. I am in no way supporting whaling, and am I also in no way supporting the Sea Sheppards antics.

Also it seems that a lot of western people think that the Japanese are a whale hungry, blood thristy, ignorant bunch of thick-headed freaks. Most people do not consume whale meat, it's not a commonly available item. There are even Japanese who oppose whaling! Oh shock and awe! I think Shouma basically summed up Japanese feelings towards/reasons for whaling - they whale certain types of whale that are big eaters of fishes Japanese commonly eat. So less whale equals more fish. It's not kind to whales, but it does hint of some sort of logical thought patterns.

However, nothing is going to be solved by cheap chemical warfare, I'm afraid

Tanuki

Here is a short movie of the Tanuki in Ueno zoo. The sad thing about Ueno zoo is that all their enclosures are so small and out-dated. However besides the usual animals you see at zoos they had some interesting animals from Japan and other places I had never seen before.
Ueno park is a nice place to visit, I hope next time I go it isn't dark and cold. But besides the park, Ameyoko-cho and some interesting shops there isn't much to see in Ueno haha.