Tokiyo Trip 13.1 : Ueno Zoological Garden, Ueno

Day 7 : Ueno ( Tuesday ) Part 1

During our stay in Tokyo, I wanted to spend some money to visit any tourist spots like aquarium or zoo or planetarium - even for once. We missed Inokashira Park Zoo while we were visiting Mitaka because the zoo is closed on every Monday, so we chose to visit Ueno Zoological Garden in Ueno the next day.

Ueno Zoological Garden is the oldest zoo in Japan, opened in 1882. There are around 500 hundreds animals in the zoo. It costs around 600 yen per ticket for adult. 

We took a train ride to Ueno Station and saw the signboard to the zoo rightaway. It wasn't hard to find it. The zoo is located near all the museums ( Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, National Museum of Nature and Science, etc ) - if you love museums, this is a must-go place.

We both bought 2 tickets and took a huge nicely illustrated map to guide us. The zoo got 2 sections, connected by a monorail ride (150 yen) - so you can imagine how big the zoo was o-O We used the map to walk around the area, it is much simpler to aim each place and walk towards it right-away than walking blindly to places because we were trying not to spend the whole day at the zoo. Our trip was almost over :(

Our first animal was 2 pandas. And next it was the otters - among the other that were swimming around, there were the ones that slept in the glass tank right outside of the gated area so we can just see it right in front of us, and the birds - the huge eagles, and owls, and we went to see a tiger  - we were just separated by a thick glass next to one another, this was the best view I got so far. I don't have to zoom in anything :

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And the cute gibbons hanging out, and the grumpy gorilla, the bears and elephants, the cranes and ibis, kangaroos, ridiculously cute pack of penguins running around, majestic polar bear, snow owls, bun-bathing seals,  giant antler, storks, okapis and zebras, bug rhino and cute chubby pygmy hippos and giraffes! Also all those super-slimy-creepy-crawly that I love so much - double chin crocodiles, turtles, snakes and frogs and all weird things they could offer.

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I freakin' love the zoo. Everything were so near, so touchable, so right next to the mirror. It's far better than what we have here, far cheaper, far bigger. I just wish there were small mini market that sell foods, other than their main cafeterias. We couldn't find any small stores to buy our onigiris before entering the zoo, so it was a hungry zoo date for both of us.

Do I recommend coming to the zoo? Yes.
If you are a nature lover and not so adventurous, you should visit all the zoos and aquariums and parks and gardens in Japan. Those places are really nice. I would  want to visit other zoos and aquariums next time, that's for sure.