Japan's Eel-Powered Christmas Tree
Dec-03-2010

It's both eco-friendly and interesting. An aquarium in Kamakura, a Japanese suburb of Tokoy, has had an unusual Christmas display set up for the last five years. They have a 6 foot 6 inch tall Christmas tree, and connected to the tree is a pair of aluminum plates stuck inside a tank. The tank contains an electric eel, and the aquarium uses the electric eel to power their Christmas tree. It's both a great use of aquarium attractions AND eco-friendly decoration!



While the electric eel-powered tree is a longtime fixture at Enoshima Aquarium, new this year is a human-powered Santa statue. Santa is connected to a pad. When visitors go stomp on the pad, it creates electrical impulses that cue Santa to life. Santa sings and dances in response to visitor foot traffic. Generally, making Santa spill his beans requires Jack Bauer, but not this year.

"We first decided to get an electric eel to light up a Christmas tree and its top ornament using its electricity," said Kazuhiko Minawa, PR team member for Enoshima Aquarium. "As electric eels use their muscles when generating a charge, we also thought to get humans to use their muscles to light up parts of the tree and power Santa."

Posted by Clay Kohut at 12:43 AM - Link to this entry  |  Share this entry  |  Print