![\"Tiger\"](\"http:\/\/japaninfoswap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Tiger-150x150.jpg\")
Let’s start at the start with Japan’s oldest – and probably most famous – Zoo. Established in 1882 and situated and land bequeathed to the city by the Imperial family slap-bang in the middle of the city, Ueno Zoo\u00a0is as convenient as it is evidently popular. It is a world class zoo home to some 2,600\u00a0representations of over 460 species, some of the most popular being the western lowland gorilla and the Sumatran tiger (pictured). However the current stars of the show are most undoubtably\u00a0Lily (\u30ea\u30fc\u30ea\u30fc)\u00a0and Shin Shin (\u30b7\u30f3\u30b7\u30f3) the two Giant pandas for who, if reports are to believed<\/a>, are currently in the mood for love, raising hopes of the cub-less pandas successfully breeding for the first time in 10 years. The zoo is split into 63 sections including the Gorilla Woods, Tiger’s Forest and a petting zoo. To navigate your way around the vast space you can ride on\u00a0Japan’s first monorail.<\/p>\n- \n
- Where<\/strong>:\u00a09-83 Uenokoen, Taito, Tokyo <\/a><\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a09.30am – 17:00\u00a0(last admission 16:00); closed Mondays or\u00a0Tuesday if Monday is a public holiday.<\/li>\n
- How<\/strong> much<\/strong>: Adults: 600 JPY, Seniors: 300 JPY, Students (13-15): 200 JPY, Children: free<\/li>\n
- Website<\/strong>:\u00a0www.tokyo-zoo.net\/english\/ueno<\/a><\/li>\n
- Interesting fact<\/strong>: In 1943, fears that escaped animals could wreak havoc in the Tokyo streets due to the bombing of the city were so great that the government ordered all “wild and dangerous” animals destroyed. A monument to this now stands in the grounds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Tama Zoo<\/h2>\n
The Tama Zoological Park, to give it its full name, was originally opened in 1953 as part of Ueno Zoo. However today the park, making the best of the topography of the luscious\u00a0Tama Hills, stands at nearly four times that of its neighbour (52 ha, compared to the 14.3 ha), meaning that the animals have more freedom to roam about as if it were their natural environment. The grounds are split into three major ecological areas – the Asiatic Garden, the African Garden and \u00a0the Australian Garden, – as well as a vast Insectarium. Amongst its stand out points must be the fact that it was the first zoo in Japan to not only raise koalas – always particularly popular in this country thanks to their\u00a0evident cuteness – but having a\u00a0Lion Bus, from\u00a0which you can see the lions in safari-esque conditions.<\/p>\n
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- Where<\/strong>:\u00a07-1-1 Hodokubo, Hino, Tokyo <\/a><\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a09.30am – 17:00\u00a0(last admission 16:00); closed Wednesdays\u00a0or Thursday\u00a0if Wednesday\u00a0is a public holiday.<\/li>\n
- How<\/strong> much<\/strong>:\u00a0Adults: 600 JPY, Seniors: 300 JPY, Students (13-15): 200 JPY, Children: free<\/li>\n
- Website<\/strong>:\u00a0www.tokyo-zoo.net\/english\/tama<\/a><\/li>\n
- Interesting fact<\/strong>: The Australian garden was built in 1984 in comemoration of the twinning of Tokyo with the State of New South Wales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Edogawa City Natural Zoo<\/h2>\n
But vast tracts of land and searching out big game may not be\u00a0your family’s cup of tea – particularly if you have small children – then the Edogawa City Natural Zoo in\u00a0Edogawa’s Gyosen Park may be more suitable to your family’s needs.\u00a0Featuring smaller animals such as rabbits, hamsters, peregrine falcons and seals, it also has a display of aquatic animals that live locally in the Edo River, but their signature animal is the adorable red panda. On each animal there is detailed description of their lives and habitats to encourage learning for all ages, but best of all it is free to enter!<\/p>\n
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- Where<\/strong>:\u00a03-2-1 Kita-Kasai, Edogawa-ku,\u00a0Tokyo <\/a><\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>: Weekdays\u00a010:00 to 16:30;<\/span>\u00a0Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 9:30\u00a016:30;\u00a0November until February closes\u00a016:00;\u00a0July 21-August 31 9:30 to 16:30; closed Mondays.<\/li>\n
- How<\/strong> much<\/strong>: Free!<\/li>\n
- Website<\/strong>:\u00a0www.edogawa-kankyozaidan.jp\/zoo<\/a><\/li>\n
- Interesting fact<\/strong>: There are less than 10,000 wild red pandas in existence today, a number that is in decline partially due to poaching and habitat loss.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Inokashira Park Zoo<\/h2>\n
If your area of particular interest is the animals and wildlife of Japan, then Inokashira Park Zoo is worth checking out. Two zoo\u00a0for the price of one it is separated into two sections, the first being a squirrel and duck sanctuary that specializes in breeding and releasing mandarin ducks into the wild. The second enclosure houses all the other animals such as\u00a0red-crowned cranes, Amur cats, rhesus monkeys\u00a0and Yaku deer, the latter of which range freely. One other draw is\u00a0Hanako the first Asiatic elephant to come\u00a0to Japan following\u00a0WWII, although the conditions in which Hanako is kept have recently given the park some international notoriety<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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- Where<\/strong>:<\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a09:30 to 17:00\u00a0(tickets sold until 16:00); closed Mondays or\u00a0Tuesdays if Monday is a public holiday).<\/li>\n
- How<\/strong> much<\/strong>:\u00a0Adults: 400 JPY*, Seniors: 200 JPY, Students (13-15): 150 JPY, Children: free (*Reports say that foreigners with a passport can receive a 20% discount)<\/li>\n
- Website<\/strong>:\u00a0www.tokyo-zoo.net\/english\/ino<\/a><\/li>\n
- Interesting fact<\/strong>: Hanako the elephant was given to Japan from Thailand in 1949 as a gesture of good will.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hamura Zoological Park<\/h2>\n
A zoo with a goal \u201cto nurture affection for nature by introducing children to animals,\u201d Hamura Zoological Park is a pleasant though smallish zoo that you can find your way around in as little as two hours. Like the zoo in Edogawa, it is ideal for small children: to the left of the entrance there is a petting zoo in which children can hold chicks and guinea pigs and there is a large playground and picnic area in which you can sit and eat your lunch. On the animal front small is very much the way forward with\u00a0lynx, red foxes,\u00a0wolves, prairie dogs, and wallabies, while there are a few giraffes, zebras and emus.<\/p>\n
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- Where<\/strong>:\u00a04122 Hane,\u00a0Hamura-shi<\/a><\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a0March through October 9:00-16:30pm (admission until 16:00);\u00a0November through February 9:00-16:00 (admission until 15:30);\u00a0Closed Mondays.<\/li>\n
- How<\/strong> much<\/strong>: Adults: 300 JPY, Children: (4-15) 50 JPY, Infants: (0-3) free.<\/li>\n
- Website<\/strong>:\u00a0www.t-net.ne.jp\/~hamura-z<\/a><\/li>\n
- Interesting fact<\/strong>: The zoo’s\u00a0theme is ‘fairytale’, and both peacocks and flamingos freely roam the grounds giving the park a particularly exotic feel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u014cshima Park Zoo<\/h2>\n
Okay, so\u00a0\u014cshima Park Zoo isn’t strictly in Tokyo, but instead is on the (relatively) close island of, you guessed it, \u014cshima. Home to 50 species of animal it is a zoo that does a wonderful job of encompassing its natural environment. The walk through Flying Cage is home to 15 species of bird and using the island’s\u00a0camellias and \u014cshima Cherry trees, is the largest of its kind in Japan. Perhaps the jewel in the zoo’s crown is the 300m Monkey Hill,\u00a0made of\u00a0naturally formed volcanic lava rock and through which a bridge bisects giving visitors various angles from\u00a0which to view\u00a0the primates.<\/p>\n
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- Where<\/strong>:\u00a0Oshima Park, 2 Senzu Fukuju, Oshima-machi<\/a><\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a08:30\u201317:00<\/li>\n
- How<\/strong> much<\/strong>: Free<\/li>\n
- Website<\/strong>:\u00a0www.oshima-navi.com\/zoo<\/a><\/li>\n
- Interesting fact<\/strong>: The island of \u014cshima is one hour and 45 minutes away by high speed jet ferry, and it is said that the\u00a0epicenter of the Great Kant\u014d earthquake<\/a> in 1923 was deep beneath the island.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
By Mark Guthrie<\/p>\n
Image: flickr.com \"Khunde - Sumatran Tiger<\/a>\"<\/span> by Harimau Kayu (AKA Sumatra-Tiger)<\/a> (<\/span>CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>) \u2013 Modified<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As spring starts to raise its oh-so welcome head, it’s time to abandon the confines of the indoors and e […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,37],"tags":[47,176,45],"class_list":["post-2097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoors","category-tokyo-2","tag-tokyo-city-2","tag-tokyo-day-trips","tag-tokyo-metropolis-2"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51095,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097\/revisions\/51095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- When<\/strong>:\u00a08:30\u201317:00<\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a0March through October 9:00-16:30pm (admission until 16:00);\u00a0November through February 9:00-16:00 (admission until 15:30);\u00a0Closed Mondays.<\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a09:30 to 17:00\u00a0(tickets sold until 16:00); closed Mondays or\u00a0Tuesdays if Monday is a public holiday).<\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>: Weekdays\u00a010:00 to 16:30;<\/span>\u00a0Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 9:30\u00a016:30;\u00a0November until February closes\u00a016:00;\u00a0July 21-August 31 9:30 to 16:30; closed Mondays.<\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a09.30am – 17:00\u00a0(last admission 16:00); closed Wednesdays\u00a0or Thursday\u00a0if Wednesday\u00a0is a public holiday.<\/li>\n
- When<\/strong>:\u00a09.30am – 17:00\u00a0(last admission 16:00); closed Mondays or\u00a0Tuesday if Monday is a public holiday.<\/li>\n