sunshine city

 I went to Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, um, a couple of months ago. The object was to go to the aquarium and the planetarium.

I don't usually go to aquariums or zoos, but I broke my rule for Beth. Beth, why are you always making me break the rules?

Well anyway, the fishes were beautiful but things like this are why I don't like to go. I hate hate exotic animals in small cages.

By the way, please don't visit the free Nogeyama Zoo in Yokohama. Giraffes in tiny enclosures, the most depressing thing ever.

But then we got to my favorite part, the planetarium. I love planetariums! Even though I couldn't get all the explanations (my black hole and supernova vocabulary is sadly deficient), they still put on a really good show! They don't allow pictures inside, so you get something from their website.

I also went to the Hayabusa film at the planetarium in Sagamihara, but it was boring. I fell asleep. I love learning about constellations and hearing about ancient philosophers and seeing what different cultures see in the sky, but watching a film about a failed sample collecting spacecraft hovering around a big lifeless rock was not quite what I was hoping for. I'd like to go back and see a different show though.

Oh yeah, and the Sunshine City planetarium is funded by Konica-Minolta, while I think the Sagamihara City planetarium has links to JAXA, seeing as the JAXA campus is right next door, and they launched Hayabusa.

This is also a good indoor activity now that the rain and chill has set in and I want to take a bath with a hot apple cider. If I go outside, I think I'll be going star watching.