The zoo…

As I mentioned in the post I wrote this morning (Click here to see it), the 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) offered free admission today. So my wife and daughters went there (I couldn’t go because I had to work…but they invited our eight-year-old niece who lives not too far from us to join them).

We expected it would be crowded there today, but it wasn’t too bad…probably because it was rainy for the past two days. But the weather was fine today.
They had a good time.

As I wasn’t there, my wife and daughters took all of these pictures.

Here’s the 北極熊 (Polar Bear):

And they happened to get to the アザラシ (sea lions) just in time to see two of them fighting:

The ゴリラ (gorilla) was wearing a tarp like a blanket.
Here he was picking his nose:

Another shot of him:

This is a バク (Tapir):

The Petting zoo portion of 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) has 鶏のメス (chickens), 鶏のオス (roosters), ヤギ (goats), 羊 (sheep), アヒル (ducks), and ネズミ (mice) (there used to be 豚 (pigs) there..but, it seems, they’ve been moved):

I like サイ (rhinoceros):

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上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) is Japan’s first zoo. It opened on March 20, 1882.
It used to have パンダ (pandas), but the last one died in April 2008. China offered to lease more pandas to the zoo, but the Tokyo government decided the price was too steep. (You can read my post about the panda’s passing by clicking here.)

リンリン RIP

This morning the panda, named “Ling Ling”, at Ueno Zoo died.

It was on the news. He was 22 years old.

There are eight other pandas in zoos in Japan…but Ling Ling was the only “Japanese” panda. I mean he was the only panda that Japan owned…the others are on loan from China.

Many people went to the zoo to leave condolence messages.

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A couple people have expressed difficulty in finding particular Guest Comments on my site…so I added “Most Recent Comments” links to the column on the right (click on the name of the post (ie: the word after “on“)).

Does that help?

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Yesterday my youngest daughter played in a お琴 (O-koto) concert at a local festival.

The “Koto” is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument that my daughter studies. She’s pretty good…actually, the leader in her class!

She wants to stop taking Koto lessons and start taking piano lessons like her older sister, though. So, yesterday’s concert was her final Koto concert, it seems.

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Just an observation…

Anytime that they show Americans on TV (here in Tokyo), they seem to be dressed in a Polo style shirt tucked into Chino style pants. And have their cellular-phone in a case clipped to their belt.

Is that accurate?

I ask because it’s quite different than the way people dress in Japan.