Springing into Singapore and Japan.

[GarrettM]

From here the only way is up, but not before you check out the replica of an almost fully articulated skeleton of a Camarasaurus, a copy of a discovery in the US.




Comes complete with map to help illustrate what's what.

 

[GarrettM]

Now we're on to the 1st Floor, and the main exhibition hall. The museum has about three dozen skeletons displayed on a roughly circular system. There's apparently a preferred route for people to traverse here, but the place is crazy busy and I am inclined to wander where the eye takes me.

And the eye takes me to this Eodromaeus from the late Triassic period. Discovered in Argentina in 2011. So a fairly recent species.


Sticking with smaller therapods, and a Ceratosaurus from Wyoming. One of the first discovered dinosaurs from 1884.


Something slightly more local, Sinosaurus, discovered in Yunnan Province China. An early Jurassic creature.

 

[GarrettM]

Some Camarasaurus skulls. First a mounted one.


And this very interesting original fossil, protected by a glass cover.


And here is more or less the full beast, in bone form. This is actually all original fossil, and therefore completely priceless. Given the cost of genuine fossils on the black market the accumulated worth of these things must be astronomical.


Several years ago Nicolas Cage purchased a T-rex skull that had been stolen from Mongolia. Was a snap at $276k. But for that price you can almost get three full size replica rex skeletons made for you.
If only I had the space!

 

[GarrettM]

And some more skulls, because they're interspersed throughout the collection.

Suchomimus.


Carcharadontosaurus. Possibly named for its teeth I'd say.


A contemporary relative of T-rex, Tarbosaurus, from Mongolia. One of Asia's largest theropods.

 

[GarrettM]

So why is there this incredible museum seemingly tucked away in the Japanese midlands? Well, not too long ago paeleontologists discovered THREE new species of dinosaur very close to Katsuyama. One impressive theropod, one large sauropod, and one small hadrosaurid. They were named respectively, fukuiraptor, fukuititan, and fukuisaurus.

What better way to celebrate their discovery, than to build one of the world's great dino museums? Works for me.

Here is what Fukuiraptor would look like if it was in Jurassic Park.


And for the traditionalists...


Speaking of Jurassic Park, experts believe Fukuiraptor grew to about 4.5m, considerably larger than the actual size of velociraptor, which was greatly enhanced for the film version. Also the book version I guess. Chrichton has to take blame too.
Fukuiraptor belongs to the Allosaur family though, not Dromaeosaurs. Australia has an even bigger carnivore though, which is not displayed here though, as only scant remains have been found. Australovenator was a beast. Up to 6m long and weighing 1000kgs. Sheesh.

But back to the tour...

 

[GarrettM]

Fukuititan.



Discovered in 2007 and named in 2010. The first and I think only Japanese sauropod, so far.

A cute model.


And Fukuisaurus, described in 2003.


This is I guess a map of where some of these specimens were found. There was no English info and no audio guide, so just guessing.

 

[GarrettM]

While I was off indulging myself, the wife had taken bub to some of the kid friendly activities, and then we joined up for lunch. The queue for the dining hall was long, but eventually we made it inside.

Naturally the food was themed. This is Japan after all.

Kids meal.


The dino burger for me. It was pretty average.


And the pork ball set for the wife. She enjoyed it.


Speaking of queues, the museum shop was a hotbed of insanity. Perhaps we got it at a bad time, but I think they should expand both the dining hall and the shop. Way too small for large crowds.


I mean I got in there eventually and nabbed some good stuff, but it was a squeeze. (For those wondering, I plan to collect all my Japanese purchases in the near future for a pic to show you all the extent of my splurging. May not match some of you, but I think I go ok.)

 

[GarrettM]

Loaded up with energy, and back to the exhibition!

First up, Hesperosaurus, which you may guess is part of the stegosaur family.


And still my favourite of the thunder lizards, Triceratops.

 

[get me outta here]

Gym class attendees will know what the dude is doing!

What is that dude doing? . .

 

[GarrettM]

This is a very cool mummified Edmontosaurus, again discovered in Wyoming. It even has intact skin impressions, which is quite rare.

 

[GarrettM]

Heading up the ramp to the second floor offers a broader view of the displays. It's very dark inside the hall though, so images don't always come out the way you'd like.

 

[GarrettM]

The second floor is full of earth science stuff. Not as cool as dinosaurs, but still interesting.

From memory this rock displays evidence of the development of an oxygenic environment. I know there are some actual geologists on this forum, so please feel free to correct me if need be.

It's a cool rock though we can all agree.


A famous non-dinosaur, Dimetrodon.


And another aquatic fossil, stenopterygius.

 

[GarrettM]

There is a very cool history of life exhibition on this floor, but I couldn't quite get pics to do it all justice, as we had to get going for the long trek back to Kanazawa. This is a shame. Fukui is an incredible museum and I hope to be able to go back one day to spend serious time crawling through its entire catalogue. Can't recommend it highly enough to anybody with an interest in prehistory.

The large time scale wall is very hard to capture in one pic.


A tried to get a panorama inside. Dark.


And of course there's a T-rex. Come on.

 

[GarrettM]

So outside it was to get the bus back to Katsuyama.

A few pics out here too.

 

[GarrettM]

And back on the train to Fukui. The museum dominates the landscape here.

 

[GarrettM]

That was the museum. I didn't even get time to check out the outdoor parts. The field activities and fossil preparation exhibits. Nor did I spend any time playing with bub in the kid displays, although she's a little young for them too. Oh well. I know she had fun with some of the things. Not sure about the wife though. This was definitely an activity for my benefit, she's just kind enough to allow it.

Perhaps I should have rewarded her with this delicious beverage I found at Fukui train station.


Although I don't think she'd have been too impressed.

 

[love_the_life]

....

Perhaps I should have rewarded her with this delicious beverage I found at Fukui train station.
View attachment 98059

Although I don't think she'd have been too impressed.

You like to play dangerous don't you

 

[GarrettM]

You like to play dangerous don't you

Well it's not like she's going to read this.

 

[love_the_life]

Well it's not like she's going to read this.

You never know.....

 

[GarrettM]

Thursday May 4.

We had Thunderbird tickets booked for just after midday, but decided to see if we could get an earlier train by showing up at the station. And we did. So departing Kanazawa about 10.30am to arrive at Osaka just under three hours later.
Excellent.

Off the train and into a short taxi ride to the Hotel Monterey Grasmere. Unfortunately we're a little early for check in, so bags are dropped and off we go to search for food.
Luckily there's a JR bus station right next door, and a couple levels of restaurants to choose from.


We'd read a little about okonomiyaki so figured we'd give it a shot, but I guess we ordered wrong. Oh well.
This bacon and cheese wrap was very good though.


Plus some vegies.


And a squid and noodle dish.