Nagoya City Science Museum

We took the subway into the city to the science museum on a Japanese holiday, sports day. 

Here there are four of us crammed into a spot meant for three people.  

Outside the museum.  There is a video at the bottom of this post with a compilation of the videos I made, including the fountain.

There were a lot of interactive displays in the museum, with so much to see.  These were all on the first and second floor.  Philip and I went up alone to the higher levels as the kids were getting tired.  It's nice that they are old enough to wait by themselves now. Not pictured is the area talking about different kinds of homes and the area talking about the human body.  There was so much to see and do!

When you rubbed your hands flatly together, it felt smooth.

Mirror fun.

Bubble fun!

Metal maze.  It was similar concept to playing operation.  There is a video in the compilation at the end. 

Making bubbles in a viscous medium.  

Shooting water.

This looked like a giant hamster wheel, so we all had to try it.  It wasn't easy.  

 More mirror fun!

There was so much to see and do, we would need to visit several times to properly see everything. 

Higashiyama Zoo and Sky Tower

 Come with me on a trip back in time as I forgot to write about the trip to the zoo that I did when the kids were off school, but Philip wasn't.  This zoo is only a couple of stops away on the subway.  I love how they design for the zoo starts before you even get there! 

This is right outside the zoo.  The crosswalk played a fun little tune! What a great way to start a memorable time together!

I was trying to take a selfie with the boys with this fountain in the background. I didn't do a very good job of it.  

Then, a familiar face who I have seen at school parent activities offered to take a picture of us.   

Philip likes to call Rhinos "tank puppies," at least the babies.  I still think I like it for the adults, but maybe you can think of something better, like just, "tank"? Lol

It's kind of hard to see, but the Rhino in the background is smart. It was right in the stream of the sprinkler, getting wet!

Wallabies.

I love the "I don't care" attitude of this one!

Not sure why, but this female was in a small cage just pacing.  😢

Red panda!

This tiger was pacing as well. I thought it looked like he was eyeing an employee who was sweeping. 

I love giraffes!

We watched for a while when the keeper refilled their food.  

Penguins!

I got C to take a picture with me! He loves tigers!

Next we headed up the sky tower!

On the first landing were these.

Then we went into the tower and up the glass elevator. The view of the city was fantastic!

The boys "taking in" the view, AKA, resting and playing on their phones.  

There was a shrine inside one of the observation floors.

There was also one for lovers. I think I will make Philip do this with me when we get a chance to go all together.

 

You buy a heart here.

And then hang it here after you have written on it. 

Or here.

I took some wider angle shots.

We could see the giraffes!!!

I'm the sky tower!

No one wanted to take a picture with me, but I took one anyway.  I love how they change the date on these every day, so you know when you took the picture.  It was September 16.

No escalator on the way down!

The elephants had a great display. This was how much water one can hold in its trunk.

Molars. They were huge.  Wish I had a banana for scale!

How much an elephant eats in one day!

How much an elephant poops in one day!

Not sure why, but they were in this enclosure.  They had a bigger area to roam, but were here. 

While were were leaving the zoo, C was beat, so G was helped him.  It's so sweet to catch these moments!

Another cute mosaic near the subway station.  By Higashiyama Zoo, I am sure we will visit again.  We didn't even see all the animals, or the botanical garden!