Japan 2013: Pandamonium at Ueno Zoo

After our hearty lunch, we went out for a walk as we made our way to the zoo.  Ueno Zoo (or Ueno Zoological Gardens) was founded in 1882 and is the oldest zoo in Japan. Unlike most of the zoos I've been to, Ueno Zoo is located within a park where families and friends can hold picnics under cherry blossom trees. It's a perfect hanami spot during spring. Too bad, there were only a few fully bloomed trees left when we got there. Nevertheless, people were still enjoying the spring breeze under the shade of trees.

Ueno Zoo

Since it was a beautiful spring weekend, a lot of people also thought it was a good idea to visit the zoo. After all, tickets only cost 600 円 per adult. And because the Yagis treated us for lunch, we couldn't possibly let them pay for the zoo entrance so we treated them this time. After all, they will be accompanying us, not the other way around. Oh and as if our party of seven ain't big enough, we'll be meeting up with Shelou and her beau, Mikey, too. So today, the Japanese-speaking bunch outnumbers the non-Japanese speakers. Fun!

Uhh where's the panda?

Located near the entrance are the stars of the zoo - the Giant Pandas! Duh. There was already a long line leading to its shelter so we queued along. After all, seeing the pandas is what we came here for!

Ueno Zoo currently has two pandas in their care - Shin Shin (female) and Ri Ri (male). They were gifts from China and Ueno Zoo has been cooperating with other zoos all over the world in the conservation and breeding of wild giant pandas. Awesome!

Panda love ♥

You know how extremely cute these pandas look in pictures? Well, they're even cuter in person if that's even possible! But really, they're absolutely adorable. People were gushing and taking pictures around them but they're all like, "I don't know what the hype is about. I'm just chilling here, eating my bamboo."

Meet the pandaholics.

So yeah, they basically just sat there eating (and looking extremely cute) the entire time. Oh well, at least they weren't sleeping. Haha Oh and during our visit, Shin Shin was pregnant so everyone's excited about having a baby panda even though it will be brought back to the care of the Chinese. However, it turned out to be a false pregnancy. :( It would've been nice to have more pandas in the world.

At the Bird House.

After spending quite a while gawking at the pandas, it's time to check out the other animals. Next to the pandas is the Bird House where we also met up with Shelou and Mikey. We're not really fond of birds so we just breezed through it.

Strangers like me.

Next up: primates. They're pretty common in zoos but what's different in Ueno Zoo is the shattered glass wall on display. The zookeepers have no idea what happened. They just found one of the glass walls in the primate shelter all shattered one day. They believe one of the gorillas did it but they didn't see what actually happened. This proves how strong these gorillas really are.

Polar bear.

Then we went to where the sea lions and polar bears were. Another first for me! It was my first time to see a live polar bear and it was awesome. It looks so huge and white and fluffy on land. But when it went underwater, it moved so gracefully as if it's weightless! Lucky how we got there during feeding time so we saw the polar bear in action. Sugoi!

Busy black bear.

The zoo also has other bears in their care like the Hokkaido brown bears, sun bears, and Japanese black bears. They even have red pandas but they're not really bears, aren't they? Still, can someone say quota?? If you're a bear lover, you'll definitely enjoy your stay in Ueno Zoo.

Saru*

What's a zoo without monkeys? Some locals may overlook these common animals but we found them fascinating. You see, Philippine monkeys are either brown or gray but Japanese monkeys are white. So we found that pretty amusing. Their quarters even have several weighing scales scattered around so you can see how much a monkey weighs whenever they sit on a particular rock or something.

Funny but helpful signs.

As we passed by the tapirs, we noticed one tapir who was peeing by the buckets. And as we were strangely amused by this, Nee-chan pointed out these funny signs. We can't understand Japanese but the signs say to watch out for cute capybaras, spitting llamas, and peeing tapirs. HAHA

Cute monorail.

To get to the lower west area of the zoo, you can opt to take the free monorail. But as we were pressed for time, going on foot is still the fastest and most interesting mode of transportation in exploring the zoo.

Happy feet.

As we made our way to the west area, we passed by the penguins who were all so chill in their little icy home. Compared to other penguins I've seen before, these penguins don't stink at all. And they look so cute and chubby as they sunbathed in the warm sun.

Kangaroos

There were also kangaroos and we were lucky to see some of them hopping around. There was even a mama kangaroo with a kid in her pouch. Aww~!

More animals.

Now the flamboyance of flamingos is really eye-catching. I love their pinkish-almost-orangey colors as they basked in the sun. Aside from that, we also saw some of the common animals we usually see in zoos like otters, anteaters, tigers, sea lions, elephants, and crows (which sound really creepy).

Where's Pumba?

I forgot what area it was we were exploring but it housed meerkats. I've always found them amusing but seeing so many of them at once made me develop a new fascination for these creatures. And by that I mean spending a good half hour just watching them. The meerkats were going about in their own businesses, occasionally staring up at guests who pass them by, when suddenly, they all started standing up one by one. Yes, very Life of Pi! It turns out, we were once again lucky enough to be there during feeding time. And they knew what time it was. They even recognized their handler even if he wasn't carrying any food yet. The keeper explained the meerkat's diet consists of meat, insects, and fruits. So their food is a mixture of those but they especially love meat so they would take those first. Amazing how they would take portions out of their common dish and then eat it somewhere else. Some would even try to take the bigger meat but it didn't result to fighting or anything.

Talented Japanese girl.

Naturally, we weren't the only ones impressed by the meerkats as a crowd started to form around their
habitat. We even saw one Japanese girl trying to sketch them which was pretty amazing.

Fruit bats.

Since the zoo closes at 5:00 PM, we had to leave the meerkats alone and check out the other remaining areas. :( But not without watching the feeding of fruit bats first on our way out!

World of darkness

We then checked out the Nocturnal House where I honestly had a hard time seeing the animals thanks to my poor vision in the dark. I didn't even notice that cute cat pictured above!

Pygmy hippos.

Then we went to the pygmy hippos. They were so huge! And some of them were even as old as we are. They look pretty cute staring with their beady eyes and little wiggly ears, but they're quite scary once they open their mouths. Yikes!

Panda omiyage.

After finally going through all the different zoo areas, we were ready to buy some panda omiyage before the zoo closes. I bought a cute couple panda magnet and a panda beanie even though they're a bit pricey. But for the love of pandas, why not!

With Panda-san!

On our way out, we passed by this huge Panda-san where guests were lining up to take pictures with it. Of course, I just had to! It's too cute to resist.

Thank you, Ueno Zoo for making my panda dreams come true!

There was also an adorable mama panda with a baby panda sculpture near the zoo entrance. There was no crowd forming around it so I had the chance of taking pictures with it right before closing time. Hihi Ueno Zoo is definitely a happy place for panda lovers like me. Funny how when we chanced upon a kiosk selling panda-yaki (panda-shaped taiyaki), Kenta was no longer surprised to see me lining up for some. Haha They tasted like normal taiyaki but yeah, curiosity got the best of me. For more panda omiyage, check this out: Tokyo souvenirs for panda lovers.

And that concludes our zoo adventure. We may have said goodbye to the wonderful couples who accompanied us today but that doesn't mean our friendship ends there. It's just the beginning so I hope to see them all again soon!

Harajuku

After splitting up with the couples, we had some time to kill before dinner so we went to Harajuku because Ariel wanted to see more cosplayers in action. Unfortunately, most of them were already on their way home when we arrived so we just looked around. We even passed by one of our churches where Nee-chan used to attend when she was still studying in Japan. I still find it amusing to find a church in the middle of Harajuku. Haha Oh and we even bumped into some Pinoys who were surprised to realize we were Pinoys too. I guess being in Japan for days made us look like Japanese. Or maybe we just blend well with our surroundings. o.O

When we finally got hungry, we went to Jonathan's for dinner and took advantage of their drink bar. For some reason, we always end up eating at Western family restaurants in Japan. Haha We were starving so much, we didn't even remember to take pictures until we were outside the restaurant. Fail!

Harajuku at night.

Being in Japan makes you pretty immune to weirdness so unusual things no longer surprise me that much. I still find them amusing though. Take this party bus we spotted in Harajuku for example. They were promoting an entertainment dining bar I think? The party bus was filled with dancing girls and they definitely caught everyone's attention especially the boys. Pretty good advertisement I must say.

After getting distracted by that, we went to our favorite omiyage store, Oriental Bazaar, but they were already closing when we arrived. :( Oh well, we were already beat anyway so we might as well head home. Karly wanted to check out the Roponggi night life but we just had to pass. Maybe next time.

Sachanubi** Moment #2:
Once we arrived at our home station, Nee-chan accompanied Ariel to look for nearby hostels while Karly and I went to a nearby Lawson to hoard Van Houtens and onigiri. Sounds like a pretty easy task for non-Japanese, right? Sure. But not when you can't find what you're looking for!!! We wanted to buy tuna mayo and yakiniku onigiri but thanks to my limited Kanji vocabulary, I had a hard time finding which one was the yakiniku onigiri. The label on the tuna mayo onigiri was written in Katakana so finding it was a piece of cake. But desperate times call for desperate measures so thanks to our JAP10 elective back in college and our love for Japanese food, we thought about asking the crew which one was gyu (beef as in gyudon). I thought Karly knew what he was doing when he came up to a staff and politely said, "Sumimasen..." (Excuse me...) then pointed to a random onigiri and  asked, "Gyu?" HAHAHA That completely caught me off guard and I started laughing uncontrollably while the staff smiled and politely answered, "No no no" while shaking his head and making the X sign with his hands. But Karly wasn't fazed. He pointed to the next onigiri and once again asked, "Gyu?" HAHAHA That went on for quite a while (it was really embarrassing, I had to go to another aisle because I can't stop laughing) before the staff finally searched all the onigiri labels and said something in Japanese that I thought meant the yakiniku onigiri was out of stock. It was only then that I managed to convince Karly to just give it up. Haha He just wouldn't stop asking "Gyu?"!!!! Talk about a never say die attitude! When we finally met up with Nee-chan, Karly still couldn't get over the fact that we weren't able to buy some yakiniku onigiri (it's his favorite if that's not obvious) so he asked Nee-chan to look for it. As Nee-chan asked another staff who confirmed that the yakiniku onigiri was indeed out of stock, we saw the previous staff Karly harassed with his endless "Gyu?" questions and he couldn't help but smile a little upon seeing us. Yup, he didn't even snicker! That's how polite the Japanese are even when foreigners are being silly. So yeah, no yakiniku onigiri for today but maybe we can find some tomorrow? Haha


* Saru - Japanese for monkey

**Sachanubi is a term that resulted from our last Japan trip. I was asking Nee-chan the Japanese word for something when she replied with "sachanubi." I kept wondering for a while before I realized she was saying "Such a noob/newbie." I guess I turned Japanese for a moment there, eh?

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Traveling party: Daddy, Karly, Nee-chan (organizer), Sera, Ariel, Kenta, Junko, Shelou, and Mikey
Travel date: April 13, 2013 [Day 4]
Photo credits: Karl