Japanese Skating Rink Forced to Close After Freezing 5,000 Fish Under the Ice

November 29, 2016

A skating rink in Japan which used 5,000 frozen fish and other sea life embedded in the ice was forced to close down after receiving a massive amount of criticism.

According to the Telegraph, the rink was opened on November 12 inside the Space World amusement park located in Kitakyushu, Southern Japan. In an attempt to educate the guests about different kinds of fish and marine life, they created an unusual fish display.

Channel News Asia stated that the rink froze 5,000 fish in ice which served as an attraction to visitors. However, the rink was forced to shut down after it received a lot of negative reactions from the public.

“We received critical voices saying it is not good to use creatures as a toy, and that it is bad to let food go to waste,” Space World spokesperson, Koji Shibata said.

In defense, Shibata said that the fish used were all dead and were considered unfit to be sold in the market. He also added that the company had a discussion about the morality of the idea before the fish display was set up.

General Manager of Space World, Toshimi Takeda, also spoke about the issue and said that their intention was for customers to have fun while being educated about marine life.

“We wanted customers to experience the feeling of skating on the sea, but after receiving criticism, we decided that we could not operate it anymore,” Takeda said.

The amusement park has decided to melt the rink which will take about a week. Takeda added that they will hold a memorial service for the fishes by inviting a Shinto priest.

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