My planning trip to Japan for 2019

Hi kakapo, I’m Japanese, and I live in the northern part of a city called Kawasaki, which is close to both Tama Zoo and Zoorasia.

Since I’m extremely busy right now for personal reasons, I don’t have enough time to give you full explanations on each zoo/aquarium you intend to visit, but I though I ought to tell you not to miss these animals:


TAMA ZOO: King cheetahs, especially the male named Ibuki, which is usually on display with his littermate Shuren. Ibuki is incredibly beautiful. I recommend you to go to the Cheetah exhibit at the “African Garden” section on arrival at Tama Zoo, and if you don’t find a King cheetah there, see the time table hanging on the right side of the wall of the indoor exhibit. You will see which cheetah will come out when; and you can come back at that time. The other is called Nadeshiko, but she comes out alone because she is a female. The Kings are on exhibit also in the afternoon; the time table isn’t fixed.

By the way, one of the female Tasmanian devils (Murdunna) died last year, but two males have arrived.


ZOORASIA: Red-shanked douc langurs. You should be able to see one of the two groups, and if you’re lucky, you might be able to see a baby (Zoorasia have Douc langur births almost every year).


UENO: Aye-aye. They currently have an infant of eight months or so. And also the Eastern lesser bamboo lemur.


I would drop Higashiyama off your list, because I am quite sure you will get depressed there and would want to rush out as soon as possible. Although they are in the middle of their five-year renovation project, you can feel which animal is treated properly, and which animal is not. Only a part of the keepers are well trained - some don’t even know the nicknames of the animals they are in charge of! The old cages are horrible; Japan Monkey Centre’s exhibits are equally horrible, but the animals are treated with great care, and the keepers are highly professional (actually, JMC belongs to the Kyoto University Primate Institute, and that is the main reason why they do not put emphasis on the appearance of the exhibits). But Higashiyama do have two groups of Volcano rabbits...


Kumamoto City Zoo charges you only 200 yen at the moment. Most of the carnivores (lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards) have been accepted by other zoos, because the earthquake which occurred in 2016 damaged some of the exhibits. Currently the zoo is open only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.


Just for your information, my best three in Japan are:

1. Zoorasia
2. Tokiwa Zoo (splendidly beautiful, but tiny!)
3. Tama Zoo


I don’t visit aquariums so often, but I hear from other Japanese zoo/aquarium fans that Kaiyuukan (Osaka) and Suma Kaihin (Kobe) are far better than the famous Churaumi (Okinawa).


Ah!! I see your plan has been delayed to 2023!! Anyway, feel free to contact me if you need to.
 
Hello FrancoiseLangur! So finally you contacted me before I had even time to contact you, hehe. Since I will got here probably by 2023, I tought that I could contact you by 2020 or so. I see that you're really a zoo fan more than an aquarium/rare species fan :) Maybe by 2023 you will be less busy than now, and maybe we can meet or you could host me by then? Do you live in/near Tokyo? (that is the best zone for get to many zoos/aquariums in short distance).

I'm not much excited about king cheetahs, or any other animal colour morph. For me the importan unity is the species and I have enough good photo of cheetah. Although I will photograph the king one if it's in a good photographic situation, but I prefair the tahrs, serows, moles, shrews, butterfly and insect house of that zoo :)

Red-shanked douc is a very exciting species, the shame is that I visited Cologne zoo just last year :) But crested argus and proboscis monkeys are even better!

For sure I will not drop off Higashiyama and miss the best zoo in Japan! In number of species kept, that is what I want (fill my camera with new species, hehe). And also I will not reject the unique chance of see critically endangered Volcano rabbit, so unique and absent from European collections! I will get depressed only if I don't see the rabbits, hehe.

I will skip Japan Monkey Center for reasons mentioned before - there are too many better zoological places for put one more without "must" species :-)

Kumamoto seems incredibly cheap. Probably by 2023 they will have updated the fee again to 300 yen, but still is very cheap. I was unaware of an earthquake here! Please tell me, the golden snub-nosed monkeys are undamaged and still here? I only will visit this zoo if I can see these monkeys!

Oh, Tokiwa is another new place. I don't care of being tiny if it holds some extremely interesting species.

Thanks for the tip about aquariums. Maybe I will end skiping Okinawa despite the unique species of cetaceans and tiger shark. It's just too far from everything. Have the other aquarium you mentioned some unique species of cetacean?
 
You can see the animals kept at Tokiwa Zoo on the website below:

動物たち - ときわ動物園 - ときわ公園|山口県宇部市

Tokiwa’s exhibits are faithful to the animal’s original habitat - some are mixed exhibits, but I guess you won’t be much interested because there are no rare animals, so you’d better skip this zoo.

Unfortunately, the area the Golden snub-nosed monkeys were displayed at Kumamoto City Zoo was also damaged by the severe 2016 earthquake, so you cannot see them yet. I think they still have five of these monkeys - a couple and three offspring. You should still be able to see at least one or two of them in 2023.

About rare cetaceans at Kaiyuukan and Suma Kaihin, I will ask a friend who knows much more than I do - so allow me some time.

By the way, have you ever seen the Kagu? Nogeyama Zoo (admission - 0 yen!!) displays Kagu.
 
Kakapo said:
Oh, I saw earlier in this post that Northern elephant seal disappeared from Toba, but as I said, it's still at Kamo aquarium (according to JAZA), right?

(tough, "long and expensive travel from Tokyo" applies much more to Toba than to Kamogawa, right?)

Bottlenose of species aduncus?


Oh, I,ve readed 9:00 to 10:00 and understood 9:00 am to 10:00 pm. So it's 9:00 am to 10:00 am only??? Just one hour? Seems strange for any kind of place with animals!

Oh, please don't tell me that! For me, volcano rabbits can be almost the total value of the zoo entry fee! Are you talking about being hidden usually, or behind the scenes? Any trick to see them? (early times, pre-feeding hours...)

With the best monkeys of the world in other Japanese zoos (proboscis and snub-nosed), for sure I can skip this place, hehe. Anyway I will check the species for curiosity.

You're talking about the Tama zoo ones? Hidden, behind scenes..? Anyway, although very good, theyre not "must".
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I've not been to Kamo so I don't know about their elephant seal.

Toba takes about 2.5 hours to get to even from Nagoya, so there's no way you could affordably visit from Tokyo in a day.

There are several T. aduncus in Japanese aquaria because they can be found in Japanese waters.

The Tokyo Tower Aquarium is currently open from 10.30 in the morning, closing at 6 or 7pm depending on the time of year. I guess you were probably looking at opening hours for the Tokyo Tower itself.

They're on display but difficult to see, and they move *very* fast! I didn't see them at all until my last (fourth) visit to their enclosures soon before closing. I didn't get any identifiable photos for the first 15 minutes, and only got the one you see in the gallery because the rabbit stopped for a drink. I suggest you visit their enclosures late in the day if you had no luck earlier.

JMC also has an impressive taxidermy collection, including red colobus, Philippine tarsier, mountain gorilla and Santarem marmoset, if that makes a difference.

All the giant flying squirrels rarely leave their nest boxes. The only one I've ever seen was specifically brought out. Many zoos now have TV screens showing the view into their boxes though.
 
FrancoiseLangur said:
You can see the animals kept at Tokiwa Zoo on the website below:
動物たち - ときわ動物園 - ときわ公園|山口県宇部市
Tokiwa’s exhibits are faithful to the animal’s original habitat - some are mixed exhibits, but I guess you won’t be much interested because there are no rare animals, so you’d better skip this zoo.

Unfortunately, the area the Golden snub-nosed monkeys were displayed at Kumamoto City Zoo was also damaged by the severe 2016 earthquake, so you cannot see them yet. I think they still have five of these monkeys - a couple and three offspring. You should still be able to see at least one or two of them in 2023.

About rare cetaceans at Kaiyuukan and Suma Kaihin, I will ask a friend who knows much more than I do - so allow me some time.

By the way, have you ever seen the Kagu? Nogeyama Zoo (admission - 0 yen!!) displays Kagu.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your kind effort. Once seen the species in the map, for sure Tokiwa is a zoo that I will not visit, I would don't even if it was in my own country. I see that you are much worried about exhibits, but I'm only concerned about animal species themselves.
What a shame that a so endangered and unique species was damaged by the earthquake too :( but so good to hear that a reproductive pair was saved! Maybe by my visit they recovered a bit the group.
Don't worry for investigate for rare cetaceans, I will check in JAZA when I have time. You said you're very busy now so we can talk in next years, very calmed :-) Two important things happened since I opened this thread: my delaying to 2023, and the knowlegde of the existence of JAZA website provided by the kind people that helpes me in this thread :) So now I will be much more able to check the animals of Japanese zoos by myself :)
I commented before in the thread my surprise about the free entry of Nogeyama zoo, and also that I've seen enough kagus :-)
 
birdsandbats said:
Only exited about the Ribbon Seals? If The Japan Times is to be trusted, Aquamarine Fukushima has FATHEAD BLOBFISH!!!!!!!!!!!
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Will, ribbon sean is hundreds of zillions times more exciting for me than blobfish (which doesn't mean that I don't wish blobfish too), and also much more exciting than any other seal to me (except maaaaaaybe leopard). Anyway I was unaware of the existence of blobfish at Fukushima, but with one entire aquarium dedicated uniquely to deep sea creatures and deep sea sections in some more generalist aquariums, just one deep sea fish more (that very probably will not be alive for 2023) don't worth a visit! And you said "has"... so I suppose already died.
 
devilfish said:
Toba takes about 2.5 hours to get to even from Nagoya, so there's no way you could affordably visit from Tokyo in a day.
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Ohhhhhh so bad :( :( :( Maybe I can forget about Okinawa Charumi, but not this one. I will not get any chance to see dugong, African manatee and FINLESS PORPOISEEEEEE anywhere else. Sigh... Well, I will see with time.

Good to know about Tursiops aduncus, although the more wished Okinawa species are the rough-toothed dolphin and tiger and whale sharks, hehe. Yes maybe I got confused about Tokyo Tower opening times. About volcano rabitts, if needed I will stay quiet in front to their enclosure from the time I finish seeing everything else to the closing time, hehe. I suppose they move as fast as wild common rabbits when active.
The taxidermy collection makes a difference really, although I was unable to imagine it in a monkey specialized zoo. I got mountain gorilla at König museum last year, and had tarsier from a French museum before, but I'm not so a primate fan (tough loving every kind of life form) to visit the place (anyway I still must check the species, I had no time lately).

Well, shame about squirrels. I guess they are nocturnal.

Thanks for your kind reply :-)
 
Kakapo said:
Ohhhhhh so bad :( :( :( Maybe I can forget about Okinawa Charumi, but not this one. I will not get any chance to see dugong, African manatee and FINLESS PORPOISEEEEEE anywhere else. Sigh... Well, I will see with time.

About volcano rabitts, if needed I will stay quiet in front to their enclosure from the time I finish seeing everything else to the closing time, hehe. I suppose they move as fast as wild common rabbits when active.

The taxidermy collection makes a difference really, although I was unable to imagine it in a monkey specialized zoo. I got mountain gorilla at König museum last year, and had tarsier from a French museum before, but I'm not so a primate fan (tough loving every kind of life form) to visit the place (anyway I still must check the species, I had no time lately).
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Two hours is not a long time for a day trip in Japan - it might be worth looking at distances and times to travel by train. Tama is likely going to be at least an hour from your Tokyo hotel, even zoos in Tokyo will take a long time to get to; Numazu is some distance from both Nagoya and Tokyo; Okinawa Churaumi aquarium is more than two hours from the nearest airport...

The volcano rabbits are faster than Europeans, and their two enclosures are both very well-planted, so many visitors don't even notice that there's a volcano rabbit hiding by the window. They were racing around when I first spotted them but as I say I couldn't get any reasonable photo for ages.

I can try and see which taxidermied specimens were displayed in JMC for you.
 
Thanks, don't worry too much about taxidermy specimes of JMC, probably I will have plenty and more varied with natural history museums. But I'm interested in know if they're well stuffed, livelike appareance, and if they are shown in natural background (with well made artificial plants/rocks etc) or in a cabinet style.

The last natural history museum I've visited is König museum in Bonn, and their Congo forest diorama is absolutely impressive, looking more real than the authentic one. Each artificial leaf looks absolutely natural and have fungus diseases, chewings from insects, etc... there are dungs and fallen fruits in the leaf litter, where stuffed butterflies go to drink, even with the proboscis out.... even the zebra duiker is partially hidden as you would see it in natural habitat... It was the best diorama I saw ever! So will be interesting to know if JMC center have similar displays :-)
 
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Since I have access to JAZA I'm seeing what have each collection exactly, and...

birdsandbats said:
Only exited about the Ribbon Seals? If The Japan Times is to be trusted, Aquamarine Fukushima has FATHEAD BLOBFISH!!!!!!!!!!!
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The species holded in Fukushima is not the famous Psychrolutes marcidus, but Psychrolutes paradoxus. Are you really so excited about that fist that looks like identicaly to any common sculpin?
http://www.elasmodiver.com/Fish Pictures/Tadpole_Sculpin_029.jpg

For sure, hagfishes, spotted ratfish, Mississippi paddlefish and BOWFIN are by far much more exciting, at least to me, hehe.
 
According to JAZA; Otaru aquarium is not the only housing Ringed seal, Kamogawa Seaworld also have them, so definitely I will not see Otaru.
By other side, an absolutely exciting MUST added to the other cetaceans seen at Okinawa aquarium: PYGMY ORCA!!!!! (Feresa attenuata)
 
This maybe is of interest to @Chlidonias as we're talking about his favourite animal to see: Kamogawa Seaworld supposedly have now, according to JAZA, a GOBLIN SHARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And an increcible number of species of other deepwater sharks too!

But for sure I can't expect that the shark is still alive when I finally visit Japan...
 
Goblin Sharks don't last long when they make it to the Japanese aquariums - usually a matter of a few hours or days. I don't know how JAZA is updated (i.e. how much of a lag there is - it probably depends on the collection itself updating the data), but I expect the shark is already dead.
 
Yeah, it's to be expected. Would be interesting to know about the operating way of JAZA, but I guess that is very much comparable to Zootierliste - updates based in reports from the collection themselves and from the visit to zoos from the website makers, and private communications, etc. Thus resulting in some collections being accurate and others very much outdated. As ZTL, JAZA doesn't count all the collections, for example I see that the Numazu Deep Sea aquarium is apparently not listed here.
 
Kakapo said:
Yeah, it's to be expected. Would be interesting to know about the operating way of JAZA, but I guess that is very much comparable to Zootierliste - updates based in reports from the collection themselves and from the visit to zoos from the website makers, and private communications, etc. Thus resulting in some collections being accurate and others very much outdated. As ZTL, JAZA doesn't count all the collections, for example I see that the Numazu Deep Sea aquarium is apparently not listed here.
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The website is the official JAZA site - it isn't comparable to Zootierliste, which is an enthusiasts' website. The site includes only JAZA facilities and the information comes from their data (i.e. provided directly by the facilities).

I expect Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium isn't a JAZA facility.
 
Hello! After seeing that no JAZA zoo holds any of the next species, I would ask:
There are any no-JAZA zoo or any natural history museum with well done taxidermy, to see the next species?

-Iriomoto cat
-Okinawa rail
-Okinawa woodpecker
-Ryukyu robin
 
The only captive Iriomote Cats are on Iriomote, and they are not viewable.

There appears to be a captive-breeding facility for the Okinawa Rail on Okinawa, but information is a little conflicting and vague.
 
Thanks! So it seems that it will be impossible to see holders of these species. I was surprised that Okinawa zoo and museum don't keep both the rail and the woodpecker.

I hope to find some taxidermy specimen viewable in a museum... I've found that National Museum of Nature & Science in Tokyo have one cat on display. Not in naturalistic diorama but enough for my photographic purposes :-)
 
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