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Ueno Zoo

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Ueno Zoo
Ueno Zoo entrance gate
Map
Interactive map of Ueno Zoo
35°43′03″N 139°46′17″E / 35.71750°N 139.77139°E / 35.71750; 139.77139
Date openedMarch 20, 1882; 144 years ago (1882-03-20)[1]
LocationTokyo, Japan
Land area14.3 ha (35 acres)[1]
No. of animals2600[1]
No. of species464[1]
MembershipsJAZA[2]
Major exhibitsgiant panda, Sumatran tiger, western lowland gorilla
Public transitEast Japan Railway Company Keihin-Tohoku Line Yamanote Line Utsunomiya Line Joban Line Ueno
Ginza Line Hibiya Line Ueno
Chiyoda Line Nezu
Icon for the Keisei Main Line. Keisei Ueno
Websitehttps://www.tokyo-zoo.net/zoo/ueno/, https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/ueno/, https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/chinese/ueno/, https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/korean/ueno/ Edit this on Wikidata

The Ueno Zoo (恩賜上野動物園, Onshi Ueno Dōbutsuen) is a 14.3-hectare (35-acre) zoo, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and located in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is Japan's oldest zoo, opened on March 20, 1882. It is served by Ueno Station, Keisei Ueno Station and Nezu Station, with convenient access from several public transportation networks (JR East, Tokyo Metro and Keisei Electric Railway). The Ueno Zoo Monorail, the first monorail in the country, connected the eastern and western parts of the grounds, however the line was suspended from 2019 onwards due to ageing infrastructure until being announced as closing permanently on 27 December 2023.[3]

The zoo is in Ueno Park, a large urban park that is home to museums, a small amusement park, and other attractions. The zoo is closed on Mondays (Tuesday if Monday is a holiday).

History

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The zoo started life as a menagerie attached to the National Museum of Natural History. In 1881, responsibility for this menagerie was handed to naturalist and civil servant Tanaka Yoshio, who oversaw its transition into a public zoo,[4] the Ueno Imperial Zoo.[5] The ground was originally estate of the imperial family, but was bestowed (恩賜, onshi; forming the first part of the name in Japanese, untranslated officially) to the municipal government in 1924—along with Ueno Park—on the occasion of crown prince Hirohito's wedding.[6]

World War II

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In August 1943, the administrator of Tokyo, Shigeo Ōdachi, ordered that all "wild and dangerous animals" at the zoo be killed, claiming that bombs could hit the zoo and escaped animals would wreak havoc in the streets of Tokyo (in truth, Ōdachi gave the order for propaganda purposes). Requests by the staff at the zoo for a reprieve, or to evacuate the animals elsewhere, were refused. Ōdachi's order was then carried out with unusual and unnecessary cruelty by acting zoo director Saburō Fukuda. The animals were executed primarily by poisoning, strangulation or by simply placing the animals on starvation diets. A memorial service was held for the animals in September 1943 (while two of the elephants were still starving) and a permanent memorial (built anew in 1975) can be found in the Ueno Zoo.[7]

Shortly after the March 1945 bombings of Tokyo, the Japanese placed U.S. Army Air Force navigator and bombardier Ray "Hap" Halloran on display naked in a Ueno Zoo tiger cage, as Halloran later recalled "'the hated B-29 prisoner', naked, unwashed and covered with sores from fleas, lice and bed bug bites", so civilians could walk in front of the cage and view him.[8][9]

In 1949, elephants Hanako and Indira were imported to live at the zoo. After a few years, Hanako was moved to Inokashira Park's zoo in Mitaka and Indira was sent on a tour of Japan.[10][11]

Recent renovations

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The zoo provides animals an environment similar to their natural habitat. In recent years, some of the old-fashioned cages of the past have been replaced with more modern habitats, such as the "Gorilla Woods", built after two well-publicised mishaps in 1999.[12] Many of the animal enclosures, such as those of the giraffes, hippopotamuses, and rhinoceroses are still the old style single stall concrete cages with very little room for the animals to move around.

Animals

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Polar bear at the Ueno Zoo
Tiger at the Ueno Zoo

The zoo is home to more than 2,600 individuals representing over 500 species.[1]

Principal animals

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Western lowland gorilla at the Ueno Zoo
Red panda at the Ueno Zoo
Giant panda at Ueno Zoo in 2024

After the death of giant panda Ling Ling in 2008, Ueno Zoo was without a member of this species for the first time since 1972.[13] Two new giant pandas arrived from the Chinese Wolong Nature Reserve in February 2011. The male panda, Billy (比力 ビーリー) was renamed in Ueno to Ri Ri (力力 リーリー) to emphasize his playful vitality. The female's name Siennyu (仙女 シィエンニュ 'Fairy') was changed to Shin Shin (真真 シンシン), referring to purity (純真) and innocence (天真).[14][15] The new names were based on a public poll. The final choices picked by the zoo were, however, not among top choices.[16] Reduplication is very common in panda names.

On July 5, 2012, Shin Shin gave birth to an unnamed male cub[17] that died six days later from pneumonia. She later gave birth to a female cub, Xiang Xiang, on June 12, 2017.[18] On June 23, 2021, Shin Shin gave birth to male and female twin cubs, later named Xiao Xiao (暁暁 シャオシャオ) and Lei Lei (蕾蕾 レイレイ).[19] In January 2026, the pandas were returned to China, leaving Japan without giant pandas for the first time since 1972, attributed to the rising tensions between China and Japan in 2025.[20]

The zoo is split into two sections, connected by a bridge called the Aesop Bridge, built in 1961 and a monorail (now defunct).

List of animals

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As of 2026:[21]

East Garden

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Japanese animals
Prairie animals
Monkeys of the World
Pheasants, otters, and birds of prey
Elephant Forest
Bear Hill
Polar Bear and Seal Oceans
Cranes, Secretarybird, and Crested ibis
Nocturnal house
Gorilla Woods and Tiger Forest
Bird House (closed for renovations)

West Garden

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Animals of Africa
Vivarium
Aye-aye Forest
Panda Forest
Small Mammal House
Children's Zoo STEP
Miscellaneous

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "About Ueno Zoo". tokyo-zoo.net. Tokyo Zoological Park Society. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Member's List/zoo". jazga.or.jp. JAZA. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Baseel, Casey (18 November 2023). "Japan's oldest monorail is permanently closing next month". SoraNews24. Archived from the original on 26 November 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Mayumi Itoh (15 November 2010). Japanese Wartime Zoo Policy: The Silent Victims of World War II. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-230-11744-0.
  5. ↑ Miller, Ian Jared (2013). "Japan's Animal Kingdom". The Nature of the Beasts: Empire and Exhibition at the Tokyo Imperial Zoo (1 ed.). University of California Press. pp. 29–30. doi:10.1525/j.ctt3fh2wj.8. ISBN 978-0-520-27186-9.
  6. ↑ Kawata, Ken (2001), "Zoos of Japan", in Kisling, Vernon N. (ed.), Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Animal Collections to Zoological Gardens, CRC Press, p. 298, ISBN 978-0-8493-2100-9
  7. ↑ Starving the Elephants - The Slaughter of Animals in Wartime Tokyo's Ueno Zoo Archived 2025-03-31 at the Wayback Machine, japanfocus.org. Accessed May 27, 2024.
  8. ↑ War trauma leads to efforts to reconcile Deprecated link archived 2012-07-16 at archive.today, japantimes.co.jp. April 30, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
  9. ↑ The Autobiography of Raymond "Hap" Halloran Archived 2011-05-09 at the Wayback Machine haphalloran.com. Accessed May 27, 2024.
  10. ↑ Itoh, Mayumi (2010), "Zoos in Japan in the Early Postwar Years", Japanese Wartime Zoo Policy, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 161–184, doi:10.1057/9780230117440_9, ISBN 978-1-349-29183-0, retrieved 2025-02-22
  11. ↑ Miller, Ian Jared (2013). The Nature of the Beasts: Empire and Exhibition at the Tokyo Imperial Zoo (1 ed.). University of California Press. doi:10.1525/j.ctt3fh2wj.12. ISBN 978-0-520-27186-9.
  12. ↑ "The Controversy over the Value of Zoo Animals: Two Stories about Gorillas in a Japanese Zoo and What They Mean", Kawasaki Journal of Medical Welfare Vol. 6, No.1, 20007-12
  13. ↑ Giant panda Ling Ling dies at Ueno Zoo Deprecated link archived 2012-05-24 at archive.today, Kyodo News, Japan Times, 2008
  14. ↑ (in Japanese) The Ueno Pandas' Profiles Archived 2022-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, Ueno Zoo, 2011
  15. ↑ (in Chinese) PRC Embassy in Japan, 大熊貓"比力、仙女"抵東京 Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine (Giant Pandas Bili & Xiannü Arrived at Tokyo)
  16. ↑ (in Japanese) ジャイアントパンダの名前が決まりました Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine (Panda's Names Have Been Decided)
  17. ↑ "Tokyo's panda Shin Shin gives birth at Ueno zoo". BBC News. July 5, 2012.
  18. ↑ Julian Ryall (December 11, 2020). "Panda diplomacy: tears of joy as China extends Xiang Xiang's stay in Japan". South China Morning Post.
  19. ↑ "Twin giant pandas born in Tokyo zoo named Xiao Xiao, Lei Lei". Japan Wire by KYODO NEWS. 2021-10-08.
  20. ↑ "Japan's last 2 pandas to be returned to China by end of January". NHK. 2025-12-15. Archived from the original on December 15, 2025.
  21. ↑ "Animals | Ueno Zoological Gardens". Archived from the original on 2022-11-13. Retrieved 2022-11-13.

Further reading

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  • Itoh, Mayumi (2010). Japanese Wartime Zoo Policy: The Silent Victims of World War II. Palgrave-MacMillan. ISBN 978-0230108943.
  • Miller, Ian Jared (2013). The Nature of the Beasts: Empire and Exhibition at the Tokyo Imperial Zoo. University of California Press.
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