Ushitaki Gawa

Today is our last full day in Osaka so we started at the famous Osaka aquarium which was the largest in the world at one point and it really is massive. Huge tanks of fish from all over the world with several floors it takes about 2 hours to walk around! We enjoyed looking at the different types of fish before having a quick coffee and then walking around a nearby plaza. Wondering around the shops we saw a rather odd looking shop that looked like a puppy daycare. Curious we wondered up and you literally pay to go and cuddle puppies, so of course we did. A big room full of about 20 different dogs all running around and playing with each other and all very cuddly it really made me miss my doggies at home! But it was very strange but very cute!

After this we went on the Osaka equivalent of the London eye and got some lovely panoramic views over the Osaka Bay Area before heading to a rather quirky restaurant! Arriving 20 minutes before opening in order to be the first in the queue we went to Zauo fishing restaurant where they have a large pond full with fish that you catch and then the chef cooks for you! It’s a surreal experience! Shown to our table we were handed a fishing rod. Fishing from our table I waited nervously to catch my fish, we decided to try catch a sea bream as Jacob thought this would be the most “tame” fish for me to try eat.

Feeling a litttle nibble I tried to catch my first fish but it slipped away with my bait! Eventually after about 15 minutes i managed to hook one and put it in the net before it could get away and handed it quickly over to our waitress to deal with! She handed it back to me for a quick picture before taking it away to the kitchen to be grilled!

Now it was jacobs turn and after a while he managed to catch another large sea bream! Now whilst the experience is really fun it came to eating the fish. When the fish was served whole- head and tail intact my heart dropped out of my stomach. For those who don’t know I really struggle to eat fish partly because I don’t like the taste but also because they kind of freak me out so this was really challenging me to the extreme! After a bit of a pep talk from Jacob which pretty much consisted of “man up and eat it you’ll be fine” I managed to eat about half of the fish before I timed out. It felt very cruel eating the fish next to its siblings! Jacob happily polished off the rest of my fish before heading off to our last activity today.

This was the team lab immersive art exhibition in a huge outdoor botanical gardens. With art projected onto huge rocks, lantern like lights on the water, colour changing globes, and a forest full of what looked like rain drops changing colour it was stunning! What was also nice is that the art changes depending on the behaviour of the people in the space, for example if you get closer to something it might get brighter or if you touch one of the globes in changes colour- it’s all very fun actually! All whilst winding through a garden it’s really breathtaking! I absolutely love this kind of modern art and it’s just such a fun way to experience and explore different spaces and forms of art.Read more