So anyway, I went to the zoo today. Not just any zoo, but Ueno Zoological Gardens, the oldest and most famous (and also largest, I think) zoo in Japan. It was founded in 1882. This was after the Imperial Government abolished the Shogunate but before there was any constitution in Japan (the constitution was enacted in 1890). The zoo now holds about 2600 animals from over 450 species. So it's kind of a big deal. It also has pandas! Now, I know that there are pandas in zoos in the US, but the pandas are the big draw at the Ueno zoo. In my pictures of Ueno from last week, I took some of various store fronts that had a panda motif. All the stores in the Ueno district have stuffed pandas for sale in addition to whatever else they're selling. They're pretty fond of their pandas.
And you can tell in the zoo, too. There's this massive roped off area like the line to get on a ride in front of the panda enclosure. I showed up early enough that I did not have to wait, but on my way out of the park I saw that the wait to see the pandas was at least 45 minutes, probably longer. They are such a big draw that they have to arrange lines for people to take their turn to view them. And whenever a panda so much as rolls over everyone screams bloody murder. It's both amusing and frightening.
So while I was excited to see the pandas, the most fun can be had away from the large crowds and long lines. For example, they have a rarely-advertised birds of prey exhibit with a number of owl species and quite a few hawks. They also have a vulture who, about halfway through my walk through the bird zone, decided he didn't like all the attention and started making noise and stalking back and forth across the front of the cage, as if getting ready to attack the people below him.
"Get off my lawn!"
The zoo also has a few surprisingly averagely-priced eateries. This seems to be a difference between America and Japan. Put anything in a paid or secured area (like inside zoos, theme parks, or inside the secure zone of airport terminals) and food tends to be priced higher than average. This is because they have a captive and presumably hungry audience. But here, even in the train stations for the long-distance Shinkansen lines, the food is reasonably priced. I was very surprised by how cheap things were at the zoo.
My favorite part was the gorilla exhibit. Because at this time the Ueno zoo has a baby gorilla. He would run around the bigger, lazier gorillas and try to play or bug the other gorillas. He would slap this one other gorilla across the face repeatedly until the bigger gorilla would grab his hand in mid-flight and push him away. Then the baby would run around the enclosure looking for something else to do. I feel like I got a few really good pictures out of the gorillas.
This is my favorite.
But it was a close battle for 'best exhibit'. They also had a reptile/amphibian building kept at an uncomfortably high temperature that contained a ten foot crocodile. It was the biggest croc I've ever seen, and I used to go to Florida every year and do fun things there like go to the Everglades. But I suppose those are mostly not saltwater crocodiles, either. The baby Hippos were also some of the most adorable animals ever. You can see the pictures of all the animals I saw today here and here.
On my way back I was lucky enough to walk past a set of fountains near my dorm that were going through a light-show thing that I didn't realize they could do. The spouts from numerous fountains are illuminated and the colors are constantly changing. I tried to get a bunch of angles, and those pictures are also in the album. But here's one to give you a taste.
Tomorrow is my last day in Osaka, and then I move to Tokyo for the last two nights of my trip!
Cory
I like your blog. Very exciting new adventures every day! I love the zoo. Such a good date spot but I can see how lines might kill the mood. Enjoy the rest of your trip!
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