Aquariums in Japan

I’ve just realized that I am an aquarium junkie.

I’ve visited 4 different aquariums in the last year; one of them twice!

After what I’ve written earlier about Animals in Zoos,

http://planetross.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/animal-penal-system/

I think I am a hypocrite.

I guess I don’t feel the same way about fish as I do about animals. I do feel sorry for all non-fish creatures at aquariums: I hope that redeems me somehow. Even that is hard; those dolphins and sea lions always look so damn happy during the shows.

But the fish…

I have no sympathy. I guess I’m heartless. I like to rationalize it by thinking it’s better to be in an aquarium tank than in a restaurant tank or a fisherman’s net.

For the record: there are no sashimi/sushi restaurants at aquariums in Japan. Japanese people have their limits I guess.

I’m not a pet person, but at a local festival I ended up taking home a goldfish someone else had won. I put it in my biggest glass bowl, bought some fish food for it, and was getting all attached to the little bugger. Then it died.

I think it died of happiness; but I could be wrong.

So what do you do with a dead goldfish? I flushed it down the toilet: returning it from whence it came.

I told my Japanese co-worker this and she thought I was strange.

I gave her the “returning it from whence it came” argument, but that didn’t work.
She said since it was a pet, I should have buried it.
I think I need to go to a Fish Sensitivity Counselling Seminar.

note: I hope they have fish and chips for lunch.

double note: I have 2 blogs. Same crap on both, but the wordpress one is better for feedback and hits. Check it out! Go on! I dare you!