Nagoya Port

Apart from the aquarium, I visited three other attractions spread around the aquarium port area.  First of all, the port area around the aquarium is quite nice and peaceful.  I sat around on a bench near the water for a while - it was quite nice.  You can see the rest of the port spread around the man made islands in the distance.  A large highway passes over the islands.

I recorded a video of it - remember, all my videos are in 720p so you can watch them in nice quality :)

There is a lot of place to relax - I want to come here by bike but it's a bit far ~15km so perhaps someday :).

There is a really cool bridge connecting the aquarium area with the area with the port tower building:

 Views of the aquarium, theme park, and ship harbour from the bridge:

The ship shaped port tower building houses an observation deck and a maritime museum - I went to both.

From the observation deck, you can see quite a bit of the port and also the city.

 Some interesting doll statues on display.

 The aquarium:

 So, it's about 10 k km to Ottawa by shortest distance.

 Europe isn't much closer - if only planes flew that way.

 There was an interesting chair made out of gloves (!!) on display.

 You can see the downtown skyscrapers in the distance.

 The buildings looking European are actually what's left of an Italian Village shopping centre that was open for a few years but closed in 2008.

 At the bottom, you can see a ship which is the last attraction coming soon.

The port museum was interesting since it detailed a history of the port.  For instance, a 100 years ago there wasn't much in the area as seen on this map.  Now, it includes artificial islands outlined on the map:

The museum had a nice collection of ship models.

There was a large 3D map of the port area:

These wooden ships were used for transport many years ago.  What I found funny is that it really looks like the kid on display is peeing into the water.

The last attraction that I saw was the Fuji antarctic research vessel that is now docked in the port and serves as a museum.

 Bad english translation but interesting.

 I would not like to sleep here!

 Penguin research?

 Antarctica is not flat??

 They had good cars back then.

The helicopter was used to lift equipment.

 Control room - so many switches!

There is a nice large park with a fountain near the port tower.

 Finally, some honest Milk & Coffee.

 This interesting modern clock tower is a nice contrast to the trees around it.

 A pretty common Japanese bird - behaves and looks like a Starling.

 Remains of the Italian Village:

Another peaceful rest spot:

For dinner I had some sushi.  Well... I was looking for a bookstore and couldn't find it but I managed to find some restaurants on the 9th floor of this huge department store downtown.  It was tasty.

 And finally, a souvenir from the aquarium store: