A Day Out in Tokyo - Sumida Aquarium

Sumida Aquarium is located right inside the Tokyo Skytree complex. It's home to many exotic marine species but what sweeps you off your feet are the penguins. They look so cute swimming in the tank and they're so tiny, you feel like stealing them. In addition to the penguins are jelly fish, numerous species of eel (garden eels look a little freaky but are super cool!), sharks, manta rays, seals, giant crabs, etc. Tickets are 2000 yen per person, well worth it if you're a wildlife enthusiast.

 

Here are some pictures and videos. Enjoy!

 

Penguins

 

Spotted and "Splendid" Garden Eels (That's what they're called :P)

 

Swimming penguins (So darn cute!)

 

Jelly fish 1



Jelly fish 2



Manta rays





Giant Crab

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Japan Trip - Tokyo Skytree

Ahh...The mighty, majestic Tokyo Skytree!

 

Built for broadcasting, Tokyo Skytree is the second tallest structure in the world - second to Burj Khalifa. Located in Tokyo, it is connected through Asakusa and Hanzomon lines and is right at the Oshiage station - which makes it very accessible to tourists!

 

There are two main observatories - one at 350 m and the other at 450 m. Although you have to pay 1000 yen extra to make it to 450 m, you won't regret it one bit - The view is AMAZING. You feel like a master controlling a video game - everything else looks so tiny from there.

 

At night, the tower seems to illuminate the whole sky. We went there two nights - one time it was blue and white, the other night it was purple and white. It's jawdropping gorgeous!

 

Here are some pictures taken:

Tokyo Skytree during daytime 1

Tokyo Skytree during daytime 2

Observatory at 450 m (Picture taken during daytime)

Observatory at 450 m (Picture taken past 5 PM)

View from 450 m - 1

View from 450 m - 2

Observatory at 450 m

Tokyo Skytree at night

- Eccentrica 101

© criticalramble.blogspot.com

Japan Trip 2013

Ahh...Back from Japan and I am absolutely in LOVE with it! Really miss it...People are extremely hospitable - very warm and welcoming; they want to help you out in every way possible despite the language barrier (people barely speak English there but that doesn't hamper their willingness to help you out!) - The first night when we couldn't locate out hotel, a gentleman walked over half a mile past 9 PM to help us find it. The public transport is excellent - the trains descend almost four floors - run in intricate networks connecting almost the entire country (I live in Miami and you cannot survive without a car here!). People are unbelievably honest - our professor at Kochi told us how one of her postdocs recovered her purse full of money after two days of losing it.

 

We visited three cities - Kochi, Osaka and Tokyo. Kochi is relatively smaller than the latter two but surrounded with mountains all over, it's majorly scenic - you will run out of memory taking pictures. Osaka and Tokyo are big cities - very developed and the subway system is amazing! The trains connect almost every nook and corner of the cities. Although roads in Osaka get deserted almost at dusk, Tokyo never sleeps. You can spot people everywhere even at the wee-est hours and the best part is that you feel safe walking on the roads even at 2 in the morning.

 

As for the weather, it was sweltering - made Miami look cooler. ;) We didn't expect it to be that hot but that didn't stop us from exploring the "Land of the rising sun". Sun is out at 5 in the morning and wakes you up instantly - reminds you to get up early and get going, not to waste any bit of the beautiful day!

Will upload pictures very soon!

 

- Eccentrica 101