Japan Day 16 (jū roku)

Ueno Zoo Day

Today we ventured up to Ueno to hit the park and zoo.

As usual, it was freakin hot and humid.

Coming out of the station, you wouldn't know there was a big park right next to you.


But about fifty meters down, a quick turn to the right, and there it is.


Statue at the beginning of the park.


The map showed three large ponds in the park. Well, there were but....


Now that's a lily pond! There actually is water in down in there. Lot's of signs saying not to jump in too. You couldn't pay me to.

A bit more walking and we found the lily-less pond. You can rent those swan-shaped paddle boats if you're keen on a case of heat exhaustion.


Past the ponds you can get into the Ueno Zoo. Kinda small. Maybe a bit bigger than the LA zoo. They had some interesting things I hadn't seen before, like a shoebill stork.


The meerkats were pretty popular.


I felt bad for the penguins as it was about 100 degrees warmer than it should have been for them.


They definitely are way more laid back about the animals than we would be in the States. There was a tree in the middle of the walkway with a sign that said 'Watch out for poop'. Turns out there was a sloth up in the tree. No fence or anything around it. He could have dropped a duece on an unsuspecting passerby with ease.


Hey Juan, here's your mascot.


I felt bad for the penguins, but I felt real bad for this poor polar bear. Maybe they enjoy 90 deg / 90% humidity?


The cutest animal I saw was a red panda. Much cuter than a 'normal' panda in my opinion. There was one wandering around in a nice enclosure, but I could only get a shot of this one in a little holding cell. They kind of look like a cross between a wildcat and a racoon.


Last animals of the day were the monkeys. These guys were just chillin, having some lunch.


Here's Debbie just prior to being mauled by a freakishly large panda, made into a giant by leakage from the nuclear power plant that was damaged in the earthquake.
(Godzilla eventually showed up and saved her)



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