Today I went to the kiyukan aquarium, it's the 2nd biggest in the world and felt it when I walked round it.

I left the hostel later as I am becoming used to the time difference now and im sleeping a little better. I considered the trek to the aquarium but it would have taken a good part of the day and my feet were still throbbing from the last couple of days of abuse I had given them.

It only took about 20 mins on the train having to swap over lines just once and it was a really hot morning and I was glad of the AC on the train and that I had made the right decision not to walk. On arrival at the station it appears that you could be in the wrong place. You come out on a street corner and there is no visible sign of the aquarium or any of the other places that should surround it. I decided to follow the crowd and luckily they were going where I wanted to go. The aquarium building its self is impressive and is 8 stories high with a glass structure on top. The whole thing is covered in a mosaic of fish. Next to the aquarium is a huge ferries wheel and a mall. I was feeling a pit peckish so I decided to check out the mall before I went on to the aquarium. The mall its self was awesome. Instead of being filled with sensible things like clothes shops it was just a collection of the randomist things.

The was a shop for Japanese sweets, a cap shop, I ninja house where you pay to enter the Japanese version of a haunted house ride but instead you have to try to use you ninja skills to navigate the house without disturbing the residents. The ninja shop was next to pet shop which had a few cats, parrots a goat and a sheep. Another shop was just a collection of weapons, the picture I've added shows a collection of swords and spears, knives, axes and throwing stars. All bar the swords are very realistic rubber and at the worst may bruise you or poke you in the eyes. There was a store that only sold the contents of the capsule toys you see every where in Japan. I.e. if you put 200 yen in a machine you receive one of 5 Naruto toys with some being rarer than others to obtain. This shop had them all already and was selling them at a price based on there rarity. One store that caught my eye and I ended up watching for a while was he Japanese version of a shooting range. You paid 500 yen and received 3 throwing stars. If you hit the bulls eyes of the straw target you won a cuddly toy. Nowhere else would anyone hand you throwing stars and let you lob them about at will.

After an hour or so and some sushi I left the mall and went outside to a large courtyard area in front of the aquarium. There were a bride and groom and the entourage in the middle of the courtyard, it was a western ceremony and the bride was in her white dress and her new husband in a white tuxedo and tails next to her. I little woman with a mega phone was nattering away to the group. It would seem it was time for the throwing of the bouquet. But with a twist. It is the guy that throws and the guys that catch, and instead of a bouquet.....it was a cuddly whale shark. The groom lamely lobbed his plush and just managed to get the first row where it was dived at by several guys one holding it up in triumph. Confused I went on to the aquarium.

I paid 2000 yen to get in and another 300 for a little box to wear round my neck so I would have information in English pipped through to me as I explored. The later was a bit of a waste and the total of what was said for the whole round trip would have fit on less than an a4 piece of paper. The place it self was amazing and I took as many photos as I could until the battery in my camera and phone died from use. (and id forgotten to charge them) I found a real advantage to my height as I could usually see everything over the heads of the crowds in front. The trip starts with otters and seals, and goes on the penguins and dolphins. The main attraction is a massive central tank full of whale sharks, sharks, manta rays etc. this was 5 stories high as you started from the top and spiralled down around it over the course of the trip. As you did so the outer walls were lined with different sea life from around the world. It was very impressive and I spend over an hour sitting staring in to the large tank. It was hypnotising to watch and very relaxing. At one point a scuba guy appears to clean the walls. He is immediately set upon as all the algae he's brushing off floats around him and the tanks residents scoop it up. He did well and had to duck or brush of the odd skate and shark. But when the whale shark came his way he just stayed still and hoped it didn't knock him off the wall, to which he was attached by a little suction cup. As you get to the bottom of the building you are surrounded by jelly fish and the lights are tuned down low. Little kids seem to stick them self's to the side of the tanks just like there inhabitants are doing. This room opens back out into the light and the final room where you get to stick your hand in a big tank and stroke skates and sharks as they swim by. I joined in and got to stroke a couple of slimy skates. I group of Japanese girls were making a lot of noise and lined up they made a Mexican wave consisting of touching the skate as it went by and then reeling back screaming as if disgusted. They did this for about 5 laps of the tank.

I handed in the information speaker box thing id paid for and preceded out side back into the heat. Around the corner several benches faced over the harbour and the breeze coming in was nice and cool. I lay down on a bench for an hour and had a kip.

In the late afternoon I made it back to my hostel and feeling knackered resigned my self to the rest of the evening in so I could recoup. However at 8 the door to my room slides open and I'm introduced to Ben. A fellow brit form Yorkshire way, within 5 minutes we were off for a drink.

We walked to umeda station as the surrounding area is full of bars and restaurants. Ben had been in Japan for 16 days mainly in Tokyo and was at the beginning of his Asian round trip. Being the man of experience I let him take the lead and we hunted for a cheep beer. We found a nice looking bar where the drinks were 500 yen. This is cheap. As the barmaid read the prices she kept stating that the first beer was 500 but the second drink was 980. After a lot of clarification that we didn't have to buy more than one drink we order our beers. The bar is what's called a girl bar. It means that the staff are all girls and that they chat incessantly at you while you drink. The girl that served us was pleasant enough and spoke a little English and berated us with questions. She was joined in the interrogation by another girl and they attempted some sort of divide and conquer technique trying to keep as chatting with them rather than with each other, we were feeling a little set up and uncomfortable and started to drink a little faster. The two men next to us who were also in the same situation were a step ahead of us and drank the last dregs of the beers. At this point the girl talking to me asked if her and her friend could drink with us. "Sure"I said, as what do I care if she drinks on the job. This is where she stated that they are not allowed to buy drinks "clink" the penny dropped. That I why the next drink was so expensive. I'm not that dumb and I turned to Ben and using as much cockney slang as I could so they couldn't understand I explained we were being conned and to drink up. We necked the last half of our drinks lied that we would be back after some food and scarpered. I will not go into one of those places again.

We went on to a small restaurant to get some food and ordered some mizo and udon. Which is basically a soup with ham in and some chicken nuggets with special fried rice. Ben explained that the English menu although showing the same items was more expensive and taught me to always choose form the Japanese menu. It seemed they were all out to get us here. We ate for about an hour. Ben told me of his travels and showed me pictures on his camera. We finished up and paid and decided to get one more drink before heading back. This was now much more difficult as we were very wary of being done. All we wanted was a beer but this was a very hard thing to find. After 20 or so minutes of wandering a maze of girl bars, pachinko halls (arcades) we meet a bloke with a haircut like Elvis and he asked us to go to his bar. We berated him with questions trying to find the catch, but there was none. A small bar that was literally a room big enough for a bar and two tables was just around the corner, it had a handful of people in it and we grabbed two stools at the bar edge. Here we met Tamoe and Jiro. They were our bar staff and hosts for the evening. Tamoe was this tiny thing with a woolly hat who was head bar maid yet only 19 and not legal age to drink. Her underling Jiro was a year or so older he seemed to make the time pass by winding up tamoe whenever the chance arose. As his English was far superior to hers so it was easy to find a chance. After 5 minutes we had nick named her yoda due to her extra long finger nails, tiny stature and that she was the bars Jedi master i.e. in charge. Jiro was her lowly padawan learner and tomoe didn't know anything about star wars and was therefore oblivious to the piss taking she was receiving. In the corner of the bar a hammered salary man had passed put on his table just below a red bull sign. This made for several photo opportunities where Ben and the salary mans friends balance things on his head and Ben took photos. Latter he made it to the floor though no one saw him do it. We had several beers and remained at the bar until 3 in the morning. It turned out this was a 24 hour bar, which amazed us brits used to a 12 o'clock kick out. Tamoe taught Ben and me a little Japanese involving some role play where Ben pushed me and apologised and I forgave him. All in Japanese. We took 15 minutes of shoving each other to finally get it right when Ben then went on to try pushing the salary mans friends and using his new found language skills. On his success the bar all shouted "yatta" just like hiro from heroes. In my tipsy state I thought his was hilarious and nearly choked on my beer. Ben made several attempts to charm tomeo to which she shut him down very politely pointing at her thumb. It appears the thumb means boyfriend and the little finger means girlfriend. This is when I learned to say "kanojo" (girlfriend) and point at my little finger. This would be handy in repelling the girl bar hostesses that later would try to beckon us in on our walk home. I found the little Japanese I knew came in handy in conversation and I used what I could at any opportunity. I explained our ages and birthdays and tried to correct Ben on any pronunciation. I know very little but it felt good to use what I had. After our drinks jiro gave me his email address. He was a nice guy and it felt good to have made a contact in Osaka. I will try to find that little bar again sometime and maybe they will remember me.