Nihongo-a-Go-Go :: Mandy's Journal

ZOOOOOOOOOOOo!

Well, we looked at the calendar a few days ago and realized that not only do we have just ten weeks of work left. We also only have ten weekends in which to get stuff done. And we have sooooo much stuff we want to do before we go home. This weekend, we headed off to the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

Hmm...well, it cost 500 yen to get in, so about five dollars. It would have cost more had we wanted to go up into the Sky Tower, and though the view was probably great, we opted out. We were more into seeing animals. The grounds were huge, but the animal enclosures were disappointingly small. And a bit behind the times. Kind of like zoos in the 60's, or something. But the animals were all healthy, and in beautiful condition. Just made me a bit sad to see them in smallish spaces. I'm not a fan of zoos for that reason already. The polar bear and elephant areas were nice, as was a vivarium with small nocturnal mammals, reptiles, and amphibions that was up at the top of a hill. Anyway, I tried to get pics that didn't make the animals seemed closed in...*sigh*

First we walked past a rhino enclosure, which wasn't too bad. However, in the heat of the day, one rhino was sleeping and another was playing in a thing of water...with his rear end facing us. So...no pic. However, all of a sudden, a THIRD rhino walked across. Just like I'd practiced in Pokemon Snap, I got a nice, relatively centered pic of the fast moving pokem-um, creature.

We moved on and saw the lions and tigers, which all seemed hot and bored out of their minds. This tiger was lounging in a little stream when we walked up, them got up to check out the people standing around. He didn't seem to appreciate some of the people infringing on his territory. I've never heard a shriek quite like the one the woman made when he sprayed. He was a proud, proud beast.

After this amusing bit, we headed over to look at some small local bears and goats, including the huggiest bear I've ever seen. Can't remember the name to save my life, unfortunately. We also saw a bear that is the largest land animal in Japan. It was really rangy, maybe shedding for summer? But it was uuuuuuuuugly. Then we moved on to see some animals that were having fun. First, the penguins totally stole our hearts. There were three kinds of penguins in one enclosure, that was set up like an iceberg home with little caves, and water all around. They were fast little suckers. The penguins with the yellow were very dignified, and they totally disdained one of their number, who promptly disdained them and went to take a shower (first pic). And the other, lone penguin of his species was this crested one. He was so the oddball, sort of like the mad scientist penguins. The others kept their distance.

The seals were really cool too. The spotted seals were a bit mellow, and seemed to enjoy swimming underwater on their backs. The other seals were really zippy, and while we were drinking ramune in the shade near their pool, became very vocal. We figured it was seal drama.

The pride and joy of the Nagoya Zoo is its koala exhibit. This exhibit is the result of cooperation with Australia, and it is a really nice little home for these adorable little guys. We couldn't use flash, even though it was a little dim, not wanting to scare the poor things, so the pic came out a bit blurry (it was through glass). But he was so napping in his eucalyptus. So cute! I also bought my one souvenir--a big coin, with an enameled pic of two hugging koalas, that say Higashiyama Zoo on it in Japanese. Then we figured out how to use the other machine to stamp the date and my name onto it. Heheheh...so touristy. So nice and loud when the metal was being stamped.

We went through the rest of the zoo pretty quickly (it closes early). We particularly enjoyed the house at the top of the hill. It was more modern and it had all sorts of adorable mammals and reptiles. Oh, I just love my reptiles! Here is a...I believe it's called a gaviel. It's some kind of alligator/crocodile. If anyone has any info on it, I'd love to hear it. It was a cool looking animal.

The sun was hot, but we were prepared; we wisely slathered ourselves in sunscreen. Watch out for next weekend, when we go on to make history. Finally...we are going to the Aichi Expo. *cue dramatic music* See you later!

Posted by Mandy at July 8, 2005 11:39 PM