Ueno Zoo
- Published 2010.7.13
Established in 1882, the zoo in Ueno is Japan’s oldest, and also boasts the largest number of animals in the country. The park is split into two different areas, the west area, and the east area, with a monorail which runs between the two.
he symbol of Ueno Zoo is the giant panda. In 1972, Japan received two pandas from China as part of Japan China diplomatic relations normalization. Soon after, Japan went through a panda boom and many Japanese people went to see the pandas at Ueno. It was normal at that time to wait several hours in line before even a glimpse at the famous pandas. Ever since, the giant panda has remained the main feature, but on April 30th, 2008, one of the pandas, Linlin, passed away. At first, Japan planned on “renting” a pair of pandas from China to replace Linlin, but at a price of 100,000,000 yen ($1.1 mil. US) per year, talks of renting were halted. With the loss of one of the pandas at Ueno, the park saw a sudden decrease in tourists, and from the cries of the public, Ueno Zoo plans to bring back the pandas for 2011.
There are two panda statues at JR Ueno station: an adult and a child panda. They are stationed at the Panda Bridge Entrace and the Dairenrakukyo Concourse, which are both used as meeting places
Information
| Hours | 10:00am – 5:00pm |
|---|---|
| Holidays | Mondays, New Year’s holiday etc. |
| Fee | Adult – 600yen / Middle school student – 200yen / Senior – 300yen / Elementary student – free |
| Access | Five minute walk from JR Ueno Station |
| Address | Tokyo-to, Taito-ku, Ueno Park 9-83 (post: 110-8711) |
| Tel | 03-3828-5171 |
| Website | http://www.tokyo-zoo.net/zoo/ueno/ |
| Map |
