Brian was in town this week. He is from the American office and is on vacation in Japan. Originally I was not going to have much opportunity to see him, but the week he came there were some changes at work and I was able to take a little time off. I took him on some mountain roads and showed him Nikko.
We stopped at the same temple that had all of the koi. This time Kate was able to film a little of the noise the fish make as they swarm around for the food.
As we were on our way down the mountains in Nikko we saw the monkeys again. This was the second time we have seen them, but the first time we could get pictures. I think since it was a Monday there was a lot less traffic to scare them away.
Before turning around we stopped at a foot onsen that was past Nikko lake. We were all skeptical that there was any benefit from sitting with our feet in the water, but everyone commented while riding back in the car that there feet felt relaxed...
Around the house now we are seeing tons of dragon flies. My guess is that they breed and find food in the rice fields. I have never seen so many before in my life. Liam has been enjoying catching them and holding them.
We took Warren and Jim to the Oarai fish market and aquarium. This time at the market you could purchase live Uni (sea urchin) for 500 yen. They cleaned it in front of us and gave us a mini ice cream scoop to eat it with. Colleen decided she wanted to try it so I agreed to split one with her.
First step= pick the one you want from the tank.
Next the urchin is split and a dark goo is pulled out.
After it was cleaned we were given the two halves of the urchin along with the ice cream scoop.
Finally you eat the stuff that is left. Actually I am not sure what part of the urchin this is. Kind of tastes like fish pudding though.
At the market there is a kaiten sushi restaurant that serves very fresh sushi. I assume it comes from the market place. This place also has some of the largest chunks of sushi of any restaurant I have been in. We took Warren and Jim there for lunch.
There is a wide variety of sushi available at the restaurant. This time they had whale available. Since I had never had it before I figured I should give it a try. It was tender and had good flavor, but still I prefer fresh tuna over it..
On the way out Colleen was attacked by a huge shark. Luckily I had the camera ready and was able to quickly snap a picture.
After lunch was the aquarium. The Oarai aquarium is one, if not the nicest, I have ever been. There were a number of fish on display and many that I have never seen before. The tanks included immense polycarbonate walls that you could look through to enjoy the fish.
Not a great picture but below you can see king crab. These things are huge. They almost looked fake walking around at the bottom of this tank. With outstretched legs I think they would be as tall as the children.
Another strange fish was this sunfish. They were bigger than the children. The sunfish doesn't have a typical tail fin like most other fish. They have two big fins, one on the top and one on the bottom of there body. It looks like they have a tail fin, but it didn't move.
This is a side shot.
There were many other aquatic animals on site as well. Sea otters, seals, etc.
Below is a short video of puffin swimming around in a tank.
The aquarium even had a dolphin and sea lion show.
On Sunday I took Warren and Jim to an art park. It is a park that has sculptures in and around the park as well as shops that sell sculpture and pottery. I attached a few images from the trail we walked on through the woods there.
For me the coolest thing about the park was the roller slide. Roller slides are made up of multiple cylinders on bearings that spin as you go over top of them. This thing was huge...... It was split into two sections. the first dropped you onto a platform to give you a chance to regroup. From there it was a quick ride to the bottom of the hill.
Here is a video of me giving it a try. Fortunately we were given cushions to sit on as we rode down the slide. I tried to leave a pretty good gap as I am heavier than the children so I was able to carry more speed than them. In the end I still cut it pretty close.
Have a good week...
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