The space is great for humans, but not that good for the animals. Many cages are small and the animals seem obviously bored or stressed. In cold winter it was sad to see many hot weather beings in small rooms; a very artificial environment. It looked like a prison for the sake of people’s entertainment. It’s absolutely awful to have such a well developed country as Japan presenting a structure that absolutely doesn’t attend the animal's basic needs. They were all taken from their lives, families and environments; the least we can do is to give the necessary conditions for them to have a pleasant life. Ueno Zoo should make the cages bigger, even if that means holding less animals. Also, I have visited many zoos that are concerned in explaining the origin of the animals (if it was rescued from illegal trades, etc), I’m not aware if these informations are available somewhere, but I would like to see them more easily in Ueno Zoo, it is a very basic transparency policy.

About how we were treated as visitors in the Zoo, all the staff was very kind and professional. The walking areas were nice. I wish the store stayed opened a little longer, when the Zoo was 15 minutes from closing, it seemed we couldn’t do anything else inside, but to go to an exit. If you’re visiting Tokyo and have some spare time, it’s definitely worth visiting, specially if you’ve never had the chance to observe Asian animals.

Let’s pressure Ueno Zoo to give better conditions to the animals.