Marient Aquarium, Hachinohe

Flat fish, starfish, doctor fish, Nemo fish

Peter Sidell Aug 15, 2013 - 1 min read

<p>Hello, little fish in your colorful home!</p>

<p>The tanks house lots of different kinds of fish</p>

<p>Baby jellyfish float around, cartwheeling like spacewalkers</p>

<p>Sardines going round and round together like a little tornado</p>

<p>A model of a mining ship, one of the educational displays</p>

<p>My note says "Fat fish" (All the labels are in Japanese.)</p>

<p>In the restaurant, with a view back to Kabushima</p>

<p>My lunch, a tasty curry with locally produced 'Mishima' cider</p>

<p>Tickly little 'Doctor Fish' nibbling the dead skin off my hand</p>

<p>Some starfish and a little rock lobster</p>

<p>The touch tank, where the kids can pick up starfish or sea cucumbers</p>

<p>Insert here your own joke about having found Nemo, or post suggestions in a comment</p>

<p>Evolution has produced some pretty weird creatures</p>

Just a few minutes' walk from Kabushima is Marient, a small but appealing 'Marine Science Center'. There are plenty of educational displays in Japanese, which look like they're about tectonics and oceanography, but the main attraction is the aquarium part.

The tanks house a diverse range of marine life such as clownfish, starfish and tiny jellyfish; there's also a touch tank where the kids can get to handle some of the residents, and a small tank full of 'Doctor Fish' which happily nibble the dead skin off your hands, which isn't bad for a mere ¥300 admission. Upstairs there's a roof terrace and a restaurant, both with fine views out over the ocean and back to Kabushima. For more information (in Japanese only), the website is here.

Peter Sidell @peter.sidell

I came to Japan from Manchester, England in 2003, and have travelled a lot since then, around Japan and in Asia. When I'm not working, I write satire and perform stand-up comedy in and around Tokyo. Check YouTube for a taste.