Misaki Park’s Shiny Stadium Dolphin Show

I previously visited Misaki Park in 2014.  My contemporary impressions of the park can be read at Misaki Park (July 26, 2014).

On that previous visit, I did not have time to watch the dolphin show, so this time I made viewing the show a priority.  Recently in many western countries, the issue of keeping cetaceans in captivity has grown into a very heated debate.  In April 2015, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) temporarily suspended the membership of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) over a controversy related to the drive fishery method used at Taiji village in Wakayama Prefecture to collect wild dolphins for sale to aquariums.  (WAZA reinstated JAZA’s membership after JAZA’s member zoos and aquariums voted to refrain from buying dolphins caught in drive fisheries.)  At the time of this post, Misaki Park is listed as a member on the JAZA homepage, so I assume that Misaki Park does not acquire dolphins from Taiji.

The below two photographs of the exterior of the dolphin show venue, “Shiny Stadium”, were taken on my previous visit.

Penguin exhibit

This photo of the Humboldt penguins was taken on my more recent visit.

Admission to the dolphin show cost 500 yen.  This is in addition to the 1350 yen it cost to enter Misaki Park. The dolphin show venue included a main performance pool in front and two smaller pools in the rear.

The main performance pool appeared to be somewhere between 20 to 25 meters wide, about 15 meters from front to back, and about 4 meters deep.  The two holding pools appeared to be about 5 to 8 meters wide. There might have been other pools somewhere on the property, but I could not see any.

I counted 7 trainers working with 6 dolphins.  Since it was a very cold winter day, there were few visitors in the park overall, and there were only 32 visitors in attendance at this performance.

The dolphins used were Bottlenosed dolphins and Pacific white-sided dolphins.  They performed tricks such as fetching balls, twirling hoops on their snouts, and jumping.  The performance was not as choreographed and impressive as the dolphin show at Wakayama Adventure World, and unlike at Adventure World, the trainers here did not dive into the pool with the animals. (See Wakayama Advenure World, February 15, 2018).

Whenever I observe these dolphin shows, I marvel at the intelligence of the animals and the dedication of their trainers.  But, at the same time, I think a lot about the debate over keeping dolphins in captivity.  I do not know enough about cetaceans to judge whether a certain pool is large enough for the dolphins to thrive in captivity (and some aquarium critics say that no pool can be large enough), but after having observed wild Bottlenose dolphins swimming in the ocean off of Kumamoto Prefecture, (see Dolphin Watching in Amakusa, March 25, 2016) these pools somehow seem very small.

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during visits on July 21, 2014 and February 13, 2018.  The comments in this post are based on observations made during the latter visit.  Conditions may have since changed. Please check it out for yourself.)

Hedgehog Cafes

In a previous post, I discussed the curious popularity of Owl Cafes in Japan. (Owl Cafes, September 12, 2015)   A few months ago, I discovered another type of animal café, the Hedgehog café.  This café was located in a popular shopping arcade in Kyoto City.  Admission to this establishment was 700 yen for each block of 20 minutes.

The café was full of glass containers (they appeared to be converted fish tanks), each holding a lone hedgehog.  There appeared to be more than twenty glass containers in the café, lined against the walls and placed on the middle of a table.

Customers were guided to a seat located directly in front of a glass tank holding a hedgehog.

Customers were given a short oral explanation from the staff as to the safe handling of the hedgehogs. For customers who couldn’t understand the Japanese language explanation, there were guidelines written in English.

If a customer chose to do so, they could simply watch the hedgehog move around in the glass tank.

But customers don’t pay money to only look at these animals.  They want to take cute photos to post on Facebook or Instagram.

Customers also want to have contact with these animals.  First-timers are given heavy garden gloves to protect themselves from the hedgehog’s needles.

Cat cafes, owl cafes, hedgehog cafes… strangely, I have not yet found a dog café.

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit in September, 2017.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.)