Ueno Zoo — Attraction in Tokyo

Ueno Zoo is located in a beautiful park that is extremely clean, well-maintained, and very pleasant to walk through. The admission price is very fair, and at first glance, everything seems to be very well organized.

However, the animal enclosures themselves are far too small and unfortunately not suitable for the species. While the facilities are tidy and clean, the limited space is clearly not enough for large animals. This is particularly visible with the rhinos, hippos, and several other animals. On hot days, like the one I visited (around 36°C), many animals looked exhausted and lacked sufficient shaded areas.

It feels cruel to see such magnificent creatures in such confined spaces. My honest advice: keep the beautiful park, but let the animals live freely. I would still happily pay the 1,000 Yen entrance fee for the park alone.

Because of these conditions, I can only give one star, even though I would have loved to rate it higher for the cleanliness, organization,...

Conflicted thoughts about Ueno Zoo. Many interesting and unusual animals on display, but conditions for the animals quite poor (especially in the small mammal house, many enclosures in here very small and bare, animals stressed and stereotyping). Most enclosures make no attempt at naturalism, being largely bare concrete boxes. Quite a large facility, you could easily spend most of the day here. I visited on a weekday and it was very crowded, especially in indoor areas. Be aware that a number of animals go off-display up to several hours before closing time, or are only on display for a short period each day, so if you have specific animals you want to see make sure to plan your visit accordingly. Queues to see some animals (eg. panda, tiger, gorilla) can be very long, the estimated wait to see the pandas when I visited was over an hour so I didn't bother waiting...

I honestly think this is the most depressing place I’ve been, not just for zoos, but anywhere in Japan. Every exhibit is more heartbreaking than the last. The polar bears were born in captivity, and have the smallest, saddest concrete enclosure I’ve ever seen. I doubt they’ll ever see ice in their lifetime. Tigers and gorillas pacing back and forth, or walking in circles with nothing to do, giraffes and elephants standing still with no space to move around or anything to do, penguins with no room to swim, cranes in cages, and pandas without any bamboo.

This is the saddest I have been after 3 weeks in Japan. Can you see some cool animals? Sure. But are those animals well off? Not even close.

At 14.3 hectares, it is less than 5% the area of Toronto Zoo. If you’re looking to get depressed, or get off on lack of animal welfare,...