Spring Break Catching Up - Tama Zoo!

Continuing in my penance series on what happened during the last three months, here are some pictures of my trip to Tama Zoo!


Some context - my friend Matt told me that he'd been invited to an event by a Japanese girl.  She also told him she'd bring a friend, so he should too.  Wanting to be a good wingman, I was made too volunteered to go with Matt.  After I agreed, I found out that we were heading to a zoo in the outskirts of Tokyo.  Zoos have never been my favourite thing (tell me if this isn't true, Mom), but I figured it'd be worth checking out a Japanese zoo while I am here.


We met up in Shinjuku station - turns out it was Matt, myself, two Japanese friends of Matt, as well as three other foreigners: a British girl, a French guy and a Portuguese girl.  Definitely one of the more international events I have taken part in since getting here...


In any case, I don't think I have any other witty things to say, so here are some pictures.

Zoo entrance

Going to Africa!

For those of you with Japanese experience, you will probably facepalm at the next two pictures. English explanations will follow.

Dangerous!  Don't you dare climb this!

So, why is this sign funny?  Notice the light blue characters at the end? In Japanese, "elephant" is 像 (ゾウ, zou), but the same sound (ぞう, zou) is used in masculine speech to add emphasis.  So yeah, it's a pun.

Dangerous!  Please don't climb here.

And this one?  The word for rhinoceros is 犀 (サイ, sai), and one of the words for "please" is ください (kudasai)... Yup.  Another pun.

Now, I should frame the rest of this post by explaining that it was bitterly cold (by Tokyo standards) when we visited the zoo.  We first went to go see the lions...

For some reason this is the building where the lions were kept

For 1000Y, you can be driven around to see the lions  "up close" - seemed expensive

Soaking up the sun, it seems

The watering hole

The lions, by and large, seemed to be freezing their respective posteriors off.  I felt kinda bad for them, really.

More animal pictures follow:

Elephant!

This poor guy looked really lonely...

Flamingos which were much more white than they were pink

This cheetah

Arctic monkeys?

Only guy who didn't seem to be freezing

This poor fellow had clipped wings and couldn't fly at all

Lazy joey

This guy was walking around like a boss

Of course the Koalas were one of the main attraction

The koalas were indoors, but... their living space was pretty lame

Poor frozen tiger

This... Jaguar? kept pacing back and forth at us - I think he was hungry

Red panda!  This guy was so adorable - I want one!

 So that was the trip to Tama Zoo!