Zoo
Comments: 3
I don’t know why, but we decided to go to Inokashira Zoo on the weekend. It’s even more depressing than most zoos, and the overcast day added an extra pallor we could have done without. It’s not even really a zoo — just a small, motley collection of sad animals in enclosures substandard even by Japanese measures.
If you’re up that way, give the zoo a miss and stick to Inokashira Park instead where the human exhibits are somewhat more uplifting.
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Posted to General Rants • 2003.03.17 (Mon) • 22:53
Comments
Posted by Brent 2003.03.17, 23:37
I took my brother to Ueno Park for the afternoon last week while he was visiting Japan. It was a bit too chilly to just hang around so we decided to check out the zoo (first time for me too). I had the same feeling regarding the animals there.
All the animals looked sickly, listless and depressed. The tiger was so skinny - he must have only weighed about a hundred pounds. Looked like a big dog, not a ferocious beast… Big birds (condors, eagles) in small cages…One monkey (highly social animals, right?) was all alone in a big cage.
The only animals that showed any excitement were the polar bears but that may have been because we saw them at closing time (guess what music was playing?) and they were probably excited about dinner.
I’m glad my son fell asleep just before we entered the zoo. I don’t think I want him to experience animals in that sort of environment.
Posted by Anonymous 2003.03.18, 00:54
yes. zoos in japan are disappointing. museums also are, in general, without merit (there are some that are good, but they are the exception that proves the rule). i have always thought that “advanced” concepts such as zoos and museums can be used to prove the point the japan is actually still pretty much “pre-modern” in its attitude and general human tenor. no? architecture, etc, yes, most defintitely post-modern. michael graves would love japan. but for all japan’s money, and outward wealth, it is, and fairly constantly so, still non-western, with a very predeterminate level of asian influence. i hasten to say that ofcourse japan does not see itself as asian. maybe like england not seeing itself as part of europe. but at any rate, i dont know if you are aware of this, but there is an idea that is floating around tokyo government halls these days to completely remove the ueno zoo from tokyo, and move it to the far suburbs. supposedly one of the reasons for this is that the japanese themselves are becoming aware of the “enclosure gap” so to speak between the way it pens its animals and the way that more modern cities do. enclosure envy. very japanese. one last zoo story: do you know the story of the elephant called Hanako? Hanako was an elephant at the Ueno Zoo during the early 1940’s. the zoo could not afford to feed its anmals due to the terrible food shortages at that time. People were starving. So it was not found justifiable to continue to feed zoo animals. And so it was forced to kill the zoo animals, one by one. when it came time for Hanako to meet her untimely end, they tried various means to do her in. They tried to kill Hanako by shooting her, and by poisoning her. However, nothng worked and she continued to live. During the final time when she was facing her keepers, she raised her trunk, and shouted a loud trumpet. And the keepers gave up. Within a few weeks later, the war had ended, and Hanako had survived.
For long after the war, during the ’50s, Tokyoites saw her as a symbol of strength and resolution to survive.They needed this example during the late ’40s, as life was grim, with much starvation in Japan. Hanako finally died a natural death much later in her long life. pls dont be too harsh on the ueno zoo. the inogashira zoo and its ilk stand out as a sunday’s walk for city-bound people. if you have been to china, you will see real pre-modern thinking when it comes to how and why animals are kept in cages. at least here in japan there is a growing argument that animals kept in cages are “kawaisoo”. this is a pre-cursor of allowing them more dignity.
Posted by Richie 2003.03.18, 06:31
I visited Ueno Zoo several years ago. It was a cold spring day and the atmosphere in the zoo (animals and human alike) was quite gloomy. I agree with what Brent said, “All the animals looked sickly, listless and depressed.” and this was several years ago! I headed to Ueno museum after spending what I thought was my money’s worth at the zoo.
BTW, I think it may be more exciting to check out a pet store in Japan rather than going to a zoo. :)
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