Touristing Tempozan in Osaka

After weekend in Kyoto we visited Osaka briefly on the way home.  First, we stopped at the Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel.  It is 112.5 meters tall and has a great view of the surrounding area.

There was a small park near the ferris wheel that had a number of these pinwheel like wind vanes.

Getting closer to the wheel.

For extra fun we chose the gondola with the transparent floor.  In the left corner you can see the diamond pattern on the street indicating a HOV lane far below us.

A sharp eye here will catch the sign at the bottom pointing out significant landmarks. The Kaiukan aquarium is the brightly colored red and purple building.  We visited the Kaiukan aquarium after the ferris wheel.

Here is a view of the Tempozan Harbor Village from above.  In the bottom of the photograph you can see the pinwheel like wind vanes that were photographed earlier.

It was a challenge to film in the Kaiukan Aquarium because of the low light conditions.  I managed to catch this image of the dolphins swimming by moving my camera from left to right in time with the dolphins   You may notice that everything else in the photo is blurry.

Here is a video of the dolphins jumping.  They are Pacific white-sided dolphins in the Tasman Sea exhibit.  It was fun to see the view from below the water when they jump into the air.  There are even two times in the video where you can see the dolphin float backwards so that its tail leaves the water first.

This photo is from the Pacific Ocean exhibit.  It is the largest exhibit at the aquarium.  It is 9 meters deep and holds 5,400 cubic meters of water with many animals including the whale shark that I photographed.  At the top of the photo you can see the reflection of the whale shark in the surface of the water.

This video is for my brother Jared.  I know you have a fond memory of a certain loon incident.  Here is a scuba diver suffering similar misfortunes from the penguins while scrubbing their tank.

That's all for now,

Kyle (and Bre)