Sunshine Aquarium in Tokyo

The other day, we visited Sunshine Aquarium in Ikebukuro. As you may know from previous posts, I love watching animals. Here are a few highlights from the day.

Sea Angels are simultaneously cute, otherworldly, and mesmerizing. They are two-inch-long translucent, gelatinous creatures that flap their "wings" like angels. They live in the Arctic Ocean. Here's a sea angel video from youtube.

The ocean sunfish looks like God played a joke. It's a gigantic fish (up to 2000 pounds!) that swims ever so slowly with a dead serious look on its face. This serious look belies that fact the the ocean sunfish looks like just a big head and tail with no body in between.

Ocean Sunfish (public domain image)

A comment that I overheard several times at the aquarium was "Oishisou!" which means "That looks delicious!" Only in Japan.

Zoos and aquariums are places that we city folks sometimes take for granted. We visit them only when we have out-of-town visitors. But they contain high concentrations of fun learning. Getting out and watching animals leads to great questions (like "Does a bat poop on itself when it hangs upside down?") So by all means, take advantage of the zoos, aquariums, and parks in your city. If you live in the country, you may be able to see plenty of God's creatures in your own backyard, or at a local farm or ranch. Go animal watching and recover a sense of wonder.