Halfway Through Spring Break

Well, it's halfway through spring break and you know how that goes. I succeeded in my mission to Kyobashi and am now only one Harry Potter book short of being caught up(they did not have the Deathly Hollows in paperback, and being the OCD psycho I am, it would annoy me to no end to have a set that didn't quite match). My weekend was thusly dedicated to Harry Potter. I can't help it--when I start reading, it is very difficult for me to put the book down until I'm finished.

I went to the aquarium yesterday (which was not as nice as the one in Chattanooga, TN, but was still a fun trip) where I saw a whale shark. I'm pretty sure it was a baby whale shark because I expected it to be much much bigger than it was. I also saw two asian small clawed otters (adorable), some sea otters (they were preforming tricks for food), a sloth, about a gazillion neon tetras and rosy barbs, which are apparently exotic in Japan, a manta ray (which was by far my favorite), some dolphins and penguins, and some fantastic jelly fish. Photos of the aquarium are up on Facebook. The most memorable part of the museum was actually the english guide, which was written in such horrible english that I consider it entertainment. For instance, it says on the front, "Ocean, you meet a whale shark." The rest of the english inside is so confusing and just... weird, that I've saved it as a more valuable souvineer than anything I bought in the gift shop.

I also road one of the world's largest ferris wheels in the world. It is the fourth largest in Japan at 110 meters. The largest one at the moment is in Singapore, at 165 meters and two more are to be opened in 2009, one in Berlin at 185 meters and one in China at 209 meters. The largest in Japan right now is actually in Fukuoka, but I figure that if China's building one at 209 meters, it won't be long before there's one at much larger proportions in Japan. Japan/China rivalry, you know how it goes.

Anyway, I personally was duly unimpressed with the Tempozan ferris wheel because it gave a rather annoying running commentary and the view wasn't that great because it was starting to get foggy when we road it. But, I can say I've been on one of the largest ferris wheels in the world, so I guess that counts for something.

So that was my day out on Tuesday. I was going to go to Nara today but it's doing the usual Osaka thing of "torrential downpour" to use Heather's term, and I don't really feel like going further than the Makudo two blocks from my house to upload pictures. But tomorrow is Kobe, so I hope it rains for all its worth today so that tomorrow is sunny.

Lastly: Updated the other blog. There are now two more photos of kitkats. Enjoy.