Hakkeijima Sea Paradise

This weekend we decided to go and explore up towards the Yokohama area. We drove to Hakkeijima Sea Paradise which is a little island at the tip of Yokohama Bay. It is an amusement park and aquarium park all in one. It is home of one of the top aquariums in Japan. We were actually able to drive there and park in a huge parking structure only 2 blocks away from the entrance to the park. It took us about 30 minutes from the base and will only take us about 15 minutes from the house we wil be renting. When we arrived we went to the ticket counter to buy tickets for the aquarium and realized that we didn't have enough yen. It has been such a transition to have to carry yen because only a very limited number of places take credit cards. Fortunately we ran into another American where we found out about the season pass. It basically paid for itself in two trips and everything in the park was included. Since you pay per attraction at Hakkeijima it can get pretty pricey, especially when wanting to ride on the rides multiple times. The passes could be paid with credit card and are good until March 2011. Since we will be so close to the park we decided we just couldn't pass up the season pass.

With most of the afternoon and evening at our disposal to do just about anything in the park we first started at the Aquarium. It was incredible. We saw two big polar bears and one of them actually got up on its legs and waved at us. I am not sure if it was trained to do that but it was really fascinating. Then we saw the tank of swimming penguins. They were so big, beautiful and fast. The kids really enjoyed watching them swim. Next we headed over to the wall of fish and saw schools of fish and gigantic sting rays. We saw many neat looking fish, sharks, dolphins, and white whales. We even saw a small octopus up close. After finishing up at the aquarium we went over to the dolphin fantasy which was basically a big room where you could see the dolphines swimming all around. It was awesome to see how big and fast the dolphins were.

The kids were anxious to go on the rides so we headed over to the amusement side of the park. Andrew and I rode on the big roller coaster ride and then Andrew convinced Mike to go with him. It was so FAST. On the way to the smaller rides we stopped to go to the bathroom. It was Emma's first experience seeing the traditional Japanese toilets in the ground. Lucky for her there was a handicap stall which had a normal toilet. While Emma used the normal toilet I decided to try the traditional one. This wasn't the first time I had used this kind of toilet but I always find it humorous that anyone would want to squat close to the floor to go to the bathroom when they could just sit on a seat.

Emma was so excited to ride on the Merry-Go-Round. I could just see the excitement written all over her face. It was the cutest thing ever. This particular Merry-Go-Round was probably the slowest one we have all been on. Even the kids mentioned that it was super slow. Needless to say we only rode it once. Peter's turn was next and he chose the Peter Pan ride. He was super excited to sit in a ship all by himself. Mike was sweet to ride with Emma. I stayed with our sleeping Abby while everyone rode Peter Pan and the Great Baron rides. Somehow I agreed to go with the boys on the Viking Ship and all I can say is that I am never doing that again. There is something about those rides that makes me so sick. Andrew loved it but Peter was a little scared and I had to put on a good face for Peter all while trying to not lose my lunch. It took some walking and a good dinner for that sick feeling to go away. Gosh I must be old. By the time we were done eating dinner the sun had finally set and the park was all lit up with beautiful lights. It was so beautiful to look at the park from the boardwalk with all of the vibrant colors shining over the water. The boys went on one last ride...the water ride. Of course Mike got the most wet but he didn't seem to mind. Afterwards we all walked along the boardwalk towards the Fureai Lagoon. The Lagoon is a place where you can pet the sea life both big and small. We saw a huge whale and were so close to petting it. Since it was late we didn't stay long. We took a look around and then headed home. On our way out we stopped in some of the shops to browse. We saw a shirt that said something completely ridiculous. Obviously the translation didn't work out so well. That is the case with many things here. We also stumbled upon some raspberry cheesecake flavored Kit Kats. Apparently Kit Kats come in many different flavors in Japan. Our goal is to find them all and try them. So far we have tried the raspberry cheesecake ones and the coke and lemon ones. They were all good and quite unique. It will be so much fun to visit this place again!