Another Day, Another Aquarium

So we had some time off, along with the whole of Japan.  No one here wants to go abroad, so whenever there's an extended holiday (any holiday longer than one day) everyone goes out with their families.  As such, we didn't want to be stuck indoors with everyone else outdoors, but we also didn't want to go anywhere that might be particularly popular for a long time on account of there being little enough space at the best of times, let alone during a holiday.

I took the initiative for once and decided upon another aquarium, this one somewhat nearby.  Kasai Rinkai Sealife Park is surprisingly large and houses fish, rays, small sharks and even a few birds.

There's not a lot more to say so here's a video, much like the last I shot.

(Bear in mind it was pretty busy, so it's not the best shot thing in the world)

A Park and A Wheel

So last month (during the cherry blossom season) I went to a park with the camera in order to capture one or two of the trees in bloom.

I completely forgot about the picture until yesterday, when I had a day off and ventured into another park without the trees.

Some of these are from before - some from yesterday.  It's up to you to choose which are from which.

It wouldn't be a set of pictures from me without a black and white one.  This shows the texture of this rock pretty nicely I think.  Uninteresting for all but me, but this is my blog so tough.

Kasai Rinkai Koen has a lot of poppies blooming at the moment.  I don't know why; they certainly weren't there last year.

Maybe it changes yearly.

This is another shot of the same set of fields.

The ferris wheel will make a comeback later in the post.

This outcropping looked pretty nice with the reflection so I just took a quick snap.  It turned out to be one of my favourites.

This is a heron from a month or so ago.  He didn't seem to be too perturbed by the people passing by, we even saw him catching a couple of fish.

Bear in mind my lens is only a very mild zoom.

This blossom is pretty indicative of the millions of other cherry blossoms around Japan.  Once you've seen one of them, you've pretty much seen them all.

Having said that, when they're dropping they do look pretty incredible.

See?  This is a slightly lighter version of the one above.

I think this is a heron.  I've no idea what type.  It might not even be a heron, I don't know.  This one was slightly more shy, and the camera struggled with the whites so there's not much detail in the feathers.  Having said that, it's amazing how close you can get if you just go slowly.

And this is the next vision of the ferris wheel replete with bad elevator music.

Link Here!

And that's all for today.

Kasai Rinkai Koen

Kasai something park was the destination for a leisurely stroll, taken on Monday during one of my days off.  I needed to get out and about to stretch out after the difficult training on Saturday, because Sunday was an incredibly lazy day.  This week we have another game, but my calves have been killing me for months, so I don't know if I'll be able to play.  The team is also gaining wingers and full-backs at the rate of one a month; we have about seven or eight at the moment.  It's ridiculous.  Anyway, if I keep smashing people around in training I'll keep my position, maybe.

The ferris wheel in the park is pretty big.  Obviously it's not the size of the eye, but it's pretty damned big.  I went on it to try and get some photos of the city, but all the glass was rounded or curved in some way, so the pictures came out terribly.  Also, they don't appear to have cleaned the windows; ever.

Fun fact, that little white thing on top is an aircon unit.  Yes, they have aircon in their ferris wheels!  Then again, six people in the height of Summer would be rather unpleasant without the cool air.  Then again, it would be pretty unpleasant with it - the pods are tiny.  Luckily I headed out there on a Monday, so I had an entire pod to myself, along with about ten others.  There were only three people on it when I got off.

Those three people were well served though - one person manning the controls, two guiding people on and off, one taking photographs and two serving photographs to those who chose to have one taken.  That's what I call service!

The park itself is pretty big, with an ocean front perfect for crabbing (I saw a few kids doing just that).  It was pretty hot though, so I didn't hang around and take pictures out in the open.  I was probably exposed for a little under and hour (the entire trip took three hours or so, meaning I was in shade on and off for about two hours) but I still managed to get burned.  Of course.  Incredible really.

None of these pictures are very good, but this is probably my favourite one.

I also like this one because it feels like a completely different area, or like it was taken at a completely different time.