Friday, June 15, 2007

"Uzushio" Whirlpools in Naruto






Seeing these natural whirlpools was probably one of the highlights of my year here in Japan....

The Naruto Strait is about 1.3 km wide and is where the Pacific Ocean and the Inland Sea meet. At low and high tides, water rushes through the channel causing these huge whirpools!

We took a boat tour to get closer to the whirpools, and surprisingly, the water wasn't as choppy as I had suspected. The video captures the excitement of all onboard. "Sugoii" roughly translates to "SOOOO cool!!! awesome!!!"



We also went through the Uzu-no-Michi Museum (w/ glass floors at some points!) below the bridge (ummm, hello?!? architecture senior thesis!!) to get a view from above of the whirlpools/water....

The walkway went out about 450 meters (a bit more than a quarter of a mile) and we were about 45 meters (150 feet) above the sea!

It was badass... and "one of nature's most exciting spectacles!"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

WOW, that's amazing! Sugoii ANF kowaii!