Ueno Zoo and Tokyo Museum - Rainy

4/23/10

This was the day I went to the Ueno zoo. It is in two sections and quite big. First I walked to the other section, but on the way back I took the little tram. It didn’t cost that much and it was easier on my feet. The Ueno zoo was located in the Ueno park.  So before I got there I was staring all around at the beautiful forest like scenery. They were also having a small area of music and food tents. I wasn’t sure what it was for but I bought Dango, little grilled balls of rice with sweet soy sauce type stuff on it. It was a nice little treat. Also when I went to ask about a Grutt pass at the little information center at the edge of the park across from the train station, the lady talked me out of it. It made a lot of sense. She said the pass was really good if you were going to be there for like a month. In the end she was very right. I found right when I got to Japan that traveling takes a lot of time and walking. So you might not fit in as many activities as you think you can when just looking at a map. Even with a good constitution, you can get severely worn out with all the people about and getting crushed on the train all the time, not to mention a billion steps everywhere! No wonder Japanese women have thin legs. Couple all those steps, walking, and high heeled shoes, they get a high powered work out every day, just leaving their homes.

Anyways back to the zoo. It was lightly raining at the zoo, but a lot of the animals were still out. It appeared mostly the monkeys preferred to huddle inside where it was dry and warm with other monkeys. Most of the birds, besides some freezing flamingos by the mini lake, also were pretty active with one another. There were also many animals in ‘night zones’ that were kept inside so it would be nice and dark for them. My favorite was a strange tiny kangaroo/rabbit animal. It had ears and face like a rabbit, but legs like a kangaroo. Also it stood up right and hopped everywhere. It had a long tail too. It was super cool. They were large though, probably the size of a medium sized dog.  In one area they had meer  cats too! A small family with a burrow. They were quite popular and people took a lot of little cell phone pictures of them. The zoo was pretty well rounded and had a lot of sections with lots of animals. They even had a swamp like place with crocodiles and reptiles and stuff. 

I also enjoyed the petting area for the kids. It had friendly mice, baby chicks, and guinea pigs / one bunny. Then in another area which was also petting area away from the kid's petting zoo, it was outside and had goats, chickens, and sheep. You could see baby chick be born through a glass window too there. They name all the goats :)

You’d think the zoo would be all, but since I was in the area and the Tokyo National museum didn’t close till later at night. I went and saw the special exhibit. The actual museum is free, but the special exhibit was kinda expensive, over 1000yen. On the way to the museum I saw an artist watercoloring the beautiful area around the museum.. It was an added bonus. She was very good! How I wish I could just simply sit and watercolor too. I saw the The Lineage of Culture - The Hosokawa Family Eisei Bunko Collection. Basically it showed that samurai were really refined and collected a lot of art. There were watercolors, paintings, calligraphy, letters, stories, armor, and exquisite swords and their hilts with tiny golden carved scenes. Amazing! I also saw a Cezzane , matisse, and Renoir in the collection.  They were the real deal and close enough to touch.  Really great and unexpected. By the time I got through the special exhibit, I briefly looked at some of the regular museum offerings, but got too tired quick. I bought a few museum postcards and called it a day. Back on the train and to the hostel.