- Sunday Ikebukuro Sunshine: The Sea -

Just a supplementary explanation to the previous post: I did NOT make a mistake when I posted the sunfish in the Zoo-Zoo Plaza section. The sunfish aquarium WAS outdoor, right next to the ponies and ducks and fennecs.

Photographs from the “Wilderness of the Sea” Floor and the “Nature in Every Respect” Floor ↓

Japanese Sardines. Yum yum.

Moray Eels. Some of them are said to be venomous.

Baikal Seal 「どや？2828」. Omgwtfbbq I love this picture.

The “Diamond Aquarium”..?

Bigfin Reef Squid. They’re so tiny <3

Ewww jellyfish……

Japanese pun ;D

Description:

“Ei!”  --- (i) Stingray; (ii) The sound one makes when he throws something.

“Koi!” --- (i) Name of the fish; (ii) Word used when one’s all prepared to receive something.

The stingray’s throwing a baseball at the Koi fish.

Boa-sama!!! I love Boa Hancock (which has got nothing to do with this snake here).

I want one of these as a pet. Seriously.

I just realised I don’t have enough undersea pictures..

Who are you.

Poison Dart Frog… I think.

The Mexican Salamander a.k.a Wooper Looper. What a gap in the names.

That was the end of our journey. But of course, I’ve only posted pictures of a small portion of the animals in the aquarium/zoo, so those who want to see more of them, just visit them at the top floor of Sunshine City at Ikebukuro! Besides, there are lots of things to do at Ikebukuro, like sweets buffet and Shakey’s buffet, karaoke, movies, comics and internet cafe, Animate, shopping… and get annoyed by the pamphlet distributors on the streets. Oh yes they stuff them into your arms, forcefully, whether you like it or not.

But all you have to do is stare back at them expressionlessly. Don’t surrender.

Unless you desperately want some tissues to blow your nose.

Speaking of zoos and aquariums… I don’t really know a lot of these places in Japan, but apart from Sunshine International Aquarium, I’ve been to the Ueno Zoo (Ueno, Tokyo), Inogashira Nature and Zoo Park (Kichijouji, Tokyo), Asahiyama Zoo (Hokkaido), and Kaiyuukan (Osaka). Ueno and Inogashira Zoos are fun if you’re interested in small animals and want to play with them – at Ueno, you can also visit the museums, the Ueno Park, and the Ame-yoko (Ameya Street) which are just nearby; as for Inogashira, you can also visit the Inogashira Park which is a great place for sakura-viewing in Spring, and also the Kichijouji shopping streets as well as the Ghibli Museum, if you’re interested in Hayao Miyazaki’s anime. Asahiyama is one of the most famous zoos in Japan – a must-go if you want to visit a zoo here in Japan. And Kaiyuukan is the biggest aquarium in Japan (one of the largest in the world too), but I went there when I was really small so I don’t really remember how was it...

Nasu Animal Kingdom sounds interesting too, but we always forget about it (or short of time) when we go to Nasu (Tochigi Prefecture).. Been to Nasu Garden Outlet for shopping though ;P    Also, there’s a Ichihara Zou no Kuni (Ichihara Elephant Kingdom) in Chiba, but I figured it would be much cheaper if we see the elephants when we visit Thai. Which hasn’t come true.

- Sunday Ikebukuro Sunshine: The Land -

It’s.. “On a bright Sunday noon, my friend and I met up at Ikebukuro, and we went to Sunshine City. We started off by visiting land animals at Sunshine International Aquarium on the top floor.” In short.

Visiting..? Hmm.. Never mind. Anyway, that was my first time going to the aquarium in a very very… very long while. The previous time was probably 20 years ago. (Umm.. Did I just expose my age..?)

Photographs from the Zoo-Zoo Plaza (the name of the land animal section, apparently) ↓

The Sea Lion Show.

Baby Fennec Fox. Aren’t they just adorable?

Mr. Parrot. He talks only when he’s in a good mood.

Hedgehog or sea-urchin?

Ring-tailed Lemur. It was running around in the house freely.

Little Squirrel Monkey.

Ducks. What else can they be. But they look cute... Should have cropped this photo a little.

Sunfish! They’re called “mambo” in Japanese. ;D

Moving on to the marine animals section in the next post!

- winter wonderland -

Greetings!

Happy New Year!

And long time no see, bloggie!

It finally snowed in Tokyo. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me when I was walking in the silver snow, sometime around midnight in the university. Anyways the sight of our campus covered with snow was a perfect stress reliever. Well, at least, to me it was. We were chewing our fingers off in the drawing room, NOT drawing or doing anything related to design projects, but preparing for a 3-credit test held the next morning which decides our fate – failing it would mean that we have to retake it in our fourth year, and failing it again in the fourth year would mean no graduation. Touch wood.

There were excited students running in the field, screaming and laughing and throwing snowballs at each other as if they were little kids.

While staring out of the windows, we saw roofs of the houses and laboratories covered with thin layers of snow, and under the grey snowy sky they looked like dark chocolate cakes topped with powdered sugar.

OK I’m definitely hungry.

Great day to have oden, or even shabushabu!