One week in August, Ueno Zoo in Tokyo has a “Night Zoo” event. We went to it yesterday. We’ve been to it before too (click here to see my post about it in 2011).
Before we went to the zoo, we stopped for lunch at 東京駅 (Tokyo Station):
An 「駅弁」 (Train station “bento”) shop. Have you ever had a Japanese “bento”?
You can watch them preparing the bento meals.
The 「銀の鈴」 (“Silver Bell”) in Tokyo Station…a popular meeting spot.
「チキンラーメン」 (“Chicken Ramen”)
The one on the left says 「有休とります」 (“I’m gonna take a holiday”) to give your boss or co-workers. The other says 「ごめんね」 (“I’m sorry”) to give someone as an apology.
The Ultraman Shop’s “manager”.
The less-photographed entrance of 東京駅 (Tokyo Station).
Break time
The popular Japanese cartoon character “Doraemon” in the small children’s mini-amusement park outside Ueno Zoo.
I have many memories of taking my kids to this 「こども遊園地」 (Kids’ Amusement Park) when they were little.
The entrance to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. We went to the zoo in the afternoon and stayed until the end of the “Night Zoo” event.
We could see the pandas eating, rather than sleeping – as they usually are.
パンダ (Panda)
シンシン (メス) … (“Shin-Shin” the female panda).
リーリー (オス) …. (“Ri-Ri” the male panda).
The polar bear was a highlight for us because it was feeding time when we happened to go to that exhibit…and also, Ueno Zoo has added a new viewing area where we could watch him swim!
Huge ゾウガメ (Giant Tortoise)
コビトカバ (Pygmy Hippo)
Sleeping seals.
The sun was setting and “Night Zoo” began.
Tokyo Five 
Such awesome pictures! I took my wife to Ueno in early 2015, and she absolutely loved it. It was probably her favorite part of the entire trip, in fact! Those bears are hilariously cute, and I love how they dive through that segregated tank. Loving these pictures!
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Was it your first trip to Japan?
There are many great zoos in Japan, a number are in the Tokyo area … next time, you should visit some other Japanese zoos!
And thanks for the compliments about the photos … my wife and I took them (she took the nicest ones! )
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It was her first trip, yes, but not mine. We’re going to be going back in September for a week, then again from Feb-May for 88 days in 2016, so we’ll definitely visit more places!
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Wow! So many times! You like Japan a lot, don’t you?
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How fun! I love a zoo! We didn’t get a chance to go to the zoo, but we went to the aquarium in Kyoto!
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There are many great zoos in Japan. In the Tokyo area alone there are a lot.
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Here the zoos also offer those night events but sadly we never had time as they have it only during special days or weekends
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In Japan, many zoos have this event too. It’s normally during “obon” (which is now)…so many people have free time.
Why can’t you go on the weekend? Isn’t that the most convenient time?
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Well the weekends we are usually on purchasing trips for our business and with it we have little to no time to go anywhere
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What type of business?
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