Ueno Zoo 1.0

Thursday, April 16th--Today is Nathan's 6th birthday!!!  To celebrate, we are going to go to the Ueno Zoo here in Tokyo!  We have been to zoos in America and they are all nice--but a Japanese zoo is a very different experience than the American zoos because it will have more Japanese animals!

There's something else that makes this zoo very special--PANDA BEARS!  None of us have seen panda bears in real life before.  This was going to be the biggest highlight of the entire zoo--and it was the first animal to see upon entering the gate.

Luckily for us, it was eating time!  The first panda, Shin Shin (female), was chomping on a big piece of bamboo.

The kids with the panda in the background, with the exception of Kirstin.  There were so many people that I couldn't get the stroller close enough.

Pretty cute!

There are two panda bears at the Ueno Zoo, and they are in different cages.  After watching Shin Shin eat bamboo for awhile, we moved onto Ri Ri (male).  He was sitting in the shade working on a piece of bamboo also.

Then, he got up and started moving around....

ALL of the kids this time, in front of Ri Ri.

We watched Ri Ri for a bit, and got excited when he ambled over to the water hole.  We thought he was going to drink, but he proceeded to get in it just like it was a bathtub!

Lounging in his bath...

Then, he got out and went over to some more bamboo and decided to eat some more.

 Because most zoos in the world do not have panda bears, the pandas here at the Ueno Zoo are highly celebrated.  There are several places around the panda exhibit where one can take photos with plastic or stuffed panda bears.

This pavilion is a gift to Japan from Thailand celebrating their long friendship.  It was gorgeous.

This exhibit was where Japanese birds and fish were housed.  The kids were obviously really interested in what they were finding.

There were a lot of school kids at the zoo today.  All of them are in their uniforms, of course.  It was pretty warm today, with a touch of the mugginess that the Japanese summers are full of.  I felt sorry for these boys in their black uniforms.  They look like they are very warm.

Here are some of the girls in their uniforms.  We also saw several school groups with younger children, but the teachers were keeping a close eye on me and my camera.  I tried to take a picture of the cute little students once, but a teacher approached me and told me no.  I can respect that.

In the place where the animals native to Japan were, we found this beautiful five-story pagoda.

The pagoda was built in 1631 at the Kanei-ji Temple here in Tokyo.  In 1958 the temple gave the pagoda to Tokyo Metropolitan Government, who assigned its management to the Ueno Zoo and it was moved here to this spot. 

We ate our picnic lunch of onigiris and then moved on to the elephants.

Besides the pagoda to give the zoo a traditional Japanese feel, we also found a tea house built 350 years ago.

It seems a little drafty, but is elegant and beautiful.

Next, we found the tiger.  He was pacing back and forth and didn't move from this spot.

On the other side of the cage, we noticed these claw marks in the mud.  Pretty awesome, as long as you are looking at them outside of the cage where you are safe.

Monkeys!

Right above Nathan's head, you can spot a lioness.  We couldn't find the lion anywhere, and the lioness was taking a nap.  We moved on....

...to the gorillas.

This gorilla was busy picking through the foliage, and we watched for a bit before moving on.

Posing with the gorilla statue.

While we were climbing on the gorilla statue, we had to be quiet so as not to disturb this gentleman and the little boy that was sleeping on his chest.  So sweet.

There were a ton of birds at this zoo!  One of the birds that the kids got the most excited about was seeing a toucan in real life.

We came to Bear Hill and saw a Hokkaido brown bear.  He was huge!  He was very interested in what was happening at the window, so we went around to that window to get a closer look at him.

This is really close to a very big bear!

Look at those claws...

We watched him for a little while, including watching him playing with a ball.

Next came the polar bear.

You can see the polar bear's "other side" behind the kids.

Next to the polar bear were the seals.  The kids went a little nuts over the seals.  We spent quite a bit of time here.

The seal exhibit was on one side of the room we were in, and the polar bear exhibit was on the other side.  Connecting the pools on both sides was this arch tunnel where the seals could swim from one pool to the other over the room.

The seals swam through the tunnel a few times, and the kids loved it!

 

Then, we went outside and watched the seals some more.

Watching the polar bear swim by.

These creatures are South American Tapirs....

...who apparently have a unique skill.  Stand back, everyone!

The Ueno Zoo is divided into two big areas, and the areas are connected by a children's monorail.  There is a walking path also, but of course, the kids wanted to ride the monorail.

The monorail was very cute and colorful and the littles were very excited to ride it.

We got right in the front of the monorail so the kids could have the best views.

The monorail after we got off.

Checking out the penguins.  This exhibit was disappointing.  The Denver Zoo has a great penguin exhibit, and this one didn't even come close to Denver's.

Ring-tailed lemurs!

Beautiful flamingoes!

Audra really liked the "pink birds".

Kangaroos. 

Next, we went into the Small Mammal House.  We saw all kinds of interesting creatures in this building.  Strollers were not allowed inside, so Kirstin got to get out and get a break from her wheels. 

She got a kick out of all the small mammals that we saw and was laughing and banging on the glass quite a bit.

These were the cutest little armadillos!  Loved their quick little feet as they scurried around.  We also saw naked mole rats, mice, bush babies, kangaroo rats, fruit bats and fox bats.

After we got out of the Small Mammal House, we tried to get Kirstin back into her wheels, but she was having nothing of it!  She fought us pretty hard, but we eventually got her belted back in.

 

The hippos were next, but the day was over and the zoo was closing.  Nathan ran over to the hippos in a flash, but the zoo keepers had already put the hippos away for the night.  He came back crying.  He told me that he had been looking forward to seeing the hippos all day long.   I explained to him that we were not done seeing all of the zoo, and I planned on bringing them all back tomorrow.  We could start with the hippos first thing in the morning.  He dried his tears and we began to make our way to the zoo exit.

Nathan and Tayla.  4/16--Nathan's birthday!

Just outside the zoo was an ice cream cone stand.  Dad has class tonight and so we won't be able to do Nathan's birthday cake this evening....ice cream cones seem like a nice substitute!  Nathan has been begging for months for an ice cream cone, but we never buy them because they are always expensive.  These weren't cheap, either--300 yen a piece--but it IS Nathan's birthday.  We each got a cone and then played on the playground for an hour before getting on the metro to head home.

The ice cream had little candy pieces mixed in it--very yummy!

On the metro heading home, the kids struck up a conversation with a Japanese family that was sitting next to us.  The father was in a wheelchair, and there was a kind mother and her adult daughter.  When they found out that it was Nathan's birthday today, they got into their groceries and found a little treat for him.  It was a roll with something hard in the middle, don't know what it was.  They also gave some hard candy to each of the kids.  That was so incredibly sweet of them!  Japanese people are SOO kind!!  It's something that we just really love about this country!!!!