You've had a glimpse of the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan before on my blog, and today I show you a bit more.
The Kaiyukan sitting on the edge of the water near Osaka Bay is one of the largest public aquariums in the world. Designed by British architect Peter Chermayeff, I think the building has a wonderful unique style. I especially like the tiled mural.
Osaka, 2009
No one is sitting on the benches this morning, because it was raining... making it the perfect day to explore inside. There were a good number of school groups here this day.
And parents with their young. "Look ma, the manta ray is smiling at me!"
As well as other photography enthusiasts. Who's lookin' at who?
Interesting facts borrowed from Wikipedia: The walk-through aquarium displays marine life in several habitats comprising 27 tanks in 16 main exhibits with a total volume of 10,941 tons of water. The habitats are from the Ring of Fire area of the Pacific Ocean. The largest tank is 9 metres (30 ft) deep and holds 5,400 cubic metres (190,699 cu ft) of water and a variety of fish including manta rays and a pair of whale sharks.
I watched the sardines going round and round and round endlessly and couldn't help but reflect upon the human condition.
Back to the wiki: The tanks used in the aquarium are made of 314 tonnes (346 tons) of acrylic glass - roughly 1.5 times the world's annual production. The largest single pane measures six meters by five meters by thirty centimeters and weighs roughly 10 tons. At the thicknesses used, regular glass would be unwieldy and would not have the desired transparency.
I've linked my post to Weekend Reflections where you'll find others from around the world sharing their reflections.
20 comments:
It's really beautiful, and everything in it.
Wow, impressive!I wish I could visit Osaka one day:)
Happy weekend to you Francisca!
A spectacular aquarium both inside and out. Will be a valuable resource for the area.
The building and area around looks very special - the sardines photo is abstract, too ;-)
What an incredibly beautiful place and your photos and reflections are delightful! So colorful and fun! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Sylvia
I love aquariums. It was interesting to see the underside and side of that whale shark in the last photo. I'd love to have seen its famous big mouth, but what astonishes me is that the side looks just like the plastic ones I have in the shop. I'd thought maybe the pattern was fanciful.
Ah, there it is further up. I'd overlooked it when I saw the bottom photo. The contrast in the bottom one caught my attention :)
I am not so keen on aquariums, our small one reopened months ago and I simply didn't care. This one is different, gorgeous and spectacular.
Great reportage, maybe I'll try to do one on ours.
I'm like VP, not so keen on aquariums, but I know why. When I was young and impressionable (18, I think) I was invited to attend a press gathering at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, BC.
The Aquarium had provided tables of goodies for the press persons to eat ...and it was all seafood. Nothing worse than eating seafood while fish are looking at you, believe me!
-- Kay
@VP - I normally wouldn't think of going to an aquarium either, but it was raining and this was right beside our ryokan and I didn't want to argue with my travel mates. As it turned out, it was an interesting visit.
@Kay, you had me laughing out loud! One of my brothers is fond of saying, "fishing wouldn't be as much fun if fish could scream."
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Mesmerizing. Interesting, too, that it was designed by a Brit. Wonder why...
Fascinating place. Never thought much about aquariums one way or t'other although I've walked through a few smaller ones. This seems rather gigantic and tres interessant...
Re Kay's comment: I think what would be worse is eating a ribeye, done rare, while a bunch of cows with their calves were watching you!
:-)
I love your last shot the best, beautiful!
interesting post too.
very immpressive!!!
great post Francisca....the building is lovely and your aquarium shots (and comments) priceless! Lovely.
I had fun here.
Nice subject for interesting reflections... Thanks for the sharing
I wonder if this is similar to Kelly tarton. NA built the first of this in the world.
I like the tanks,the reflections and the building. Amazing!
A whale shark! Wow! I love aquariums and these are some great shots.
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