Asamushi Aquarium

Two weekends ago, Matt, Ryan and I took a trip to up Asamushi Aquarium outside of Aomori City, one of the last well-known tourist traps in Aomori that I had yet to visit. The aquarium enjoys a reputation as one of Aomori’s “must sees” and it’s no wonder-450 different species and over 6,000 aquatic animals does indeed sound impressive on paper. I consider myself something of an aquarium fan, so it’s really quite remarkable that I managed to live in Aomori for nearly a year without making the trek. Unfortunately, Asamushi didn’t quite live up to my expectations due to its rather small size, a few poorly maintained tanks and the occasional questionable choice of fish (neon tetras?). Still, the aquarium mostly succeeds at its goal of displaying a wide variety of aquatic animals (practically all of which are indigenous to Japan) in a fairly small space. There were even a few really strange animals here that I had never seen before. I would definitely recommend a visit, just so long as your expectations aren’t too high.
Here we see the outside of the building replete with flipping dolphins. As you will see, acrobatic dolphins are one promise that Asamushi actually makes good on.
Here’s the much touted “underwater world tank and marine tunnel”. The aquarium’s official literature hypes this thing up so much you’d think it was an endless “underwater world of wonders!” (their words, not mine). The reality is that, for the most part, it’s pretty lackluster when compared to similar tunnels at other aquariums. The tank did feature an absolutely monstrous sea ray though, who wasn’t shy at all about gliding over the tunnel.

How many eels does it take to jam up a rusty pipe? The answer is, apparently, four.






OMG giant squid! This one was found off of the coast of Hokkaido.
Here we see the so-called “touch and discover zone”. A more accurate name perhaps would have been the “torture and discover zone,” due to the numerous small children seen running around the room with clams and crabs in hand, seemingly oblivious to the fact that these animals generally prefer to stay in the water.
Perhaps Asamushi’s biggest selling point is their dolphin show. When we showed up it was only “dolphin feeding time” but even this modestly named event featured a number of tricks. As Matt pointed out, the small size of the room and tank allow spectators to get closer to the dolphins than at just about anywhere else we could think of. Keep in mind that this is not without peril, as this curiously worded sign reminds us:


Sadly, we missed “Dolphin’s Super Live” but from the looks of it, there wasn’t much that we hadn’t already seen at the feeding.

After our brief stint at the aquarium, we headed over to Aomori’s western side, to Hirosaki. While technically smaller than both Hachinohe and Aomori City, Hirosaki gets my vote for Aomori’s best city to hang out in. This is likely due to the presence of the local university, which attracts “young people” (an unknown species in most of the prefecture) and all of the strange things that they seem to enjoy. Hirosaki also boasts:
Taco vans!
Ireland’s answer to the Fonz, Mark “Mongo” Montgomery,
internet celebrities in their easily spotted orange plumage,
and hardcore players like Hirosaki's other Irishman, Kevin (seen here writing his digits on a girl’s face).
If there was anything more remarkable than the weekend’s festivities it was the humbling sight of Aomori in late April on the drive back home. For a while there I kept telling myself that spring had to be on the way but I think I might have jinxed it. Sorry, Aomori.