The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa, Japan, is the world’s second largest aquarium behind the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, USA. It’s one of the very few aquariums in the world that keep whale sharks in cavity.
Video of Kuroshio Sea, the largest tank in the aquarium; shot by Canadian filmmaker Jon Rawlinson. Mesmerising stuff; I can watch this for hours…
Mount Mat Cincang is one of the major tourist attractions in Langkawi, Malaysia, famous for its panoramic view of rainforest on the island and the Andaman Sea, with neighbouring Thailand within sight as well.
Photos from my Langkawi trip in August 2009. Couldn’t see much of the sea view unfortunately; the visibility was pretty low during my visit due to hazy weather.
Rio de Janeiro was picked as the host city for Olympic 2016, beating Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago at the IOC voting in Copenhagen on Friday.
The Brazilian metropolis will be the first city from South America to host the world’s largest sporting event. The 2016 Olympic Games are scheduled to be held on August 5-21, while Paralympics on September 7-18.
After the highly popular life-size 18-metre Gundam model in Tokyo, another giant Japanese robot statue, the Tetsujin 28-go (lit. Iron Man #28), is set to welcome its visitors in Kobe following its completion earlier this week.
Tetsujin 28 was created in 1956 by Kobe-born Mitsuteru Yokoyama; it was one of the earliest giant robot characters in Japanese manga. The comic was later adapted into anime series and was aired in US as well, retitled as the Gigantor.
The Tetsujin 28 statue is located at Kobe’s Wakamatsu Park. It’s similar in height with the Gundam statue, but doesn’t have moving parts like the Tokyo counterpart. The Kobe robot is built as a permanent structure though, whereas the Gundam was disassembled after two months of exhibition.
If the trend keeps going, we might be seeing dozens of giant robot models across Japan in future… pretty fitting tourist attraction for the #1 robotic nation lol.
[image from the project's official website [Jp]]
Video game developer Square Enix has released a seven-minutes long Japanese trailer for Final Fantasy XIII at the Tokyo Game Show 2009…
The Final Fantasy console game series was revolutionary in the 80s and 90s, popularising the role-playing-game (RPG) genre with its well written plots and high quality visuals & soundtracks.
Not sure if the game will appeal to younger generation these days; but for RPG gamers who grew up in that era, it’s a highly anticipated game for sure.
FFXIII will be released in Japan in December 2009 on PS3. Xbox and international versions estimated to be available in spring 2010.
[video via qarisu@Youtube]
Japanese race queens at Super GT Malaysia in June 2009…
Yuriya Hasegawa (Team Yoshiki Rockstar Girls)
[more illustrations on Creative Cloud, via Neatorama]
Dined at Chao Yen restaurant at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall in July 2009, which branded itself for authentic Teochew cuisine.
Teochew food focuses on braised, steamed and salt-preserved cooking methods; and probably most famous for its congee with variety of side dishes.
Braised intestines, duck meat, squid and tofu
Combo of some iconic braised dishes…
