Hi all!
So, after reading some bad reviews regarding Ueno Park Zoo (I initially wanted to go for the Pandas but…) I scratched that from our Itinerary. I spotted a few other Zoo recommendations that I took a look at and initially came down to three.
Tama Park in Tokyo for the fact that the enclosures are bigger and more natural (though no Pandas but oh well).
Wakayama Adventure Park – determined to be too far out of Osaka for our first time trip and is instead being shifted to our next time trip. Has pandas!
Asahiyama Zoo in Sapporo if we head up that direction.
Thoughts on this? We both really love animals and while the Pittsburgh Zoo (we are close to it) is nice and is supposed to be getting a renovation soon, we both thought seeing a couple of Japanese zoos would be nice!
5 comments
Zoorasia in Yokohama and Kobe’s Animal Kingdom got fair reputations.
Asahiyama Zoo is in Asahikawa, not Sapporo, and as much as the penguins there can be fun, I would really only visit if you were already in that area for Biei/Furano and Daisetsuzan, and had time to kill.
Kaiyukan Osaka Aquarium is a pretty neat place if you need entertainment on a rainy day.
Tama park was interesting to me and the exhibitions and habitats definitely are better than Ueno. It is still “Japanese” for lack of a better description and gives off a sense of sadness sometimes though.
When I went, there was a single cheetah inside a glass enclosure with nothing much in it. It was the day after it snowed and tbh the only day we managed to go there (bad idea right after snow), so I got why the cheetahs weren’t out where the environment is colder and a bit snowy but it was sad for me to see and I’d have preferred if the cheetah was kept inside with their friends where it’s warmer even if I didn’t get to see it. Other people around me didn’t seem to care….
The bugs area was fun.
Tama Zoo is great! BUT it was completely closed for 2 months due to an outbreak of avian flu. It just reopened but the birds are off limit still so keep check the website. The Lion bus is a must. Get there before gates open and go straight to the lions. Watch ohayo lions then get on the bus. (I was stunned by how loud the lions roar in the morning)
Zooasia is a good alternative in the Tokyo area, Ueno is not, if you don’t go to Tama
So I got an email stating a comment on here that I cannot see? Email showed a bit of the post, so I will just answer the question which was: why is Ueno Park bad?
Basically, from what I was able to research and figure out their enclosures are very small for the animals they are exhibiting. Animals all have space requirements as well as enrichment needs and companionship needs (thinking of the poor meerkat…?) that require multiple animals in a grouping and all of these categories fall very short with Ueno. So…I hope person I cannot see the comment for or name you see this.