Ueno Zoo Audio Guide

Ueno Zoo: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Ueno Zoological Gardens

   Welcome to Ueno Zoological Gardens, known in Japanese as 恩賜上野動物園, in the Taito ward of Tokyo. It sits inside Ueno Onshi Park, the green heart of a district packed with museums, temples and cherry trees. Locals simply call it Ueno Zoo, dropping the word onshi from the full name. You will find the main gate about five minutes on foot from the park exit of Ueno Station. Until 2022 this entrance was called the Front Gate. Today it is the main gate. Inside, the grounds cover 14 hectares and are split into a west garden and an east garden. A bridge called the Aesop Bridge links the two, so you can cross from one half of the zoo to the other. This is the oldest zoo in Japan, and today it is run by the Tokyo Zoological Park Society. Over the next few minutes I will take you back to its opening in 1882, introduce the people who shaped it, and point out a five-story pagoda that stands among the animals.

2. 02

   Ueno Zoological Gardens: Japan's First Zoo

   Let us go back to 1877, when the first National Industrial Exhibition was held in Ueno Park. When it ended, the museum that had stood at Uchiyamashita-cho moved onto the exhibition grounds. Next to it, on a stretch of land called Kanshoin-ga-hara, a zoo was laid out as an attached facility of the museum. On the twentieth of March, 1882, the zoo opened together with the museum, which is now the Tokyo National Museum. It was under the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, and it became the oldest zoo in Japan. The early zoo was modest. The first grounds held a crane house, an office and a bird house. The original main gate stood near the bottom of the slope by the Kankantei pavilion, roughly where you now find the Tiger Forest and its Indian lions. The old museum site at Uchiyamashita-cho was not left empty. It was later used for the Rokumeikan, the famous hall of Meiji-era high society. For a long time the zoo had no official name. The museum passed to the Imperial Household Ministry in 1886, but the zoo carried on under its popular name, Ueno Zoo. That nickname has stuck ever since.

3. 03

   The Pagoda Among the Animals at Ueno Zoological Gardens

   Here is one of the most unusual sights in any zoo in the world. Within the grounds of Ueno Zoological Gardens stands the five-story pagoda of Kaneiji temple, rising 33 meters. Its first level enshrines four Buddhas: Yakushi, Amida, Miroku and Shaka. The pagoda was first raised in 1631, a gift from Doi Toshikatsu, the lord of Sakura. It burned down in 1639 and was rebuilt. Centuries later, in 1958, it was donated to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Today it is designated a national Important Cultural Property. That gives the zoo a rare double character. Keep an eye out for the pagoda as you wander between enclosures. Few places let you watch animals with a seventeenth-century temple tower rising behind them. It is a reminder that this zoo was carved out of a hillside that already had centuries of history.

4. 04

   Keepers and Directors of Ueno Zoological Gardens

   A zoo is a story of people as much as animals. The first director, from April 1901 to May 1907, was Ishikawa Chiyomatsu, a fish scientist. In those days the zoo was an attached facility of the Imperial Museum, and Ishikawa put his talent to work importing animals from overseas. He was followed by Kurokawa Yoshitaro, who served as head of the zoo from June 1907 until January 1933. After his retirement, Koga Tadamichi took over the post. These long tenures gave the zoo continuity through decades of change. Another name worth knowing is Nishiyama Toshio, a hippopotamus keeper who later became the first director of Tobu Zoo. He became famous as the Hippo Director. The zoo's reputation has also travelled abroad. In 2016, Ueno and the zoo in Hsinchu, Taiwan, each described as the oldest zoo in its country, agreed to cooperate on matters such as training staff. And in December 2017, a baby giant panda named Xiang Xiang was shown to the press here, drawing crowds across Japan.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from Ueno Zoological Gardens

   The zoo today welcomes visitors to meet about 300 species. Some of its enclosures are designed to recreate the habitats of the animals living there, and there is plenty on show about how they live and why conservation matters. As you explore, notice how the place is arranged. Think about the west garden and east garden joined by the Aesop Bridge, and imagine the first small collection with its crane house and bird house at the foot of a slope. See how the pagoda anchors the older history of the hill. The zoo is also just one stop in a park full of cultural treasures. The Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, the National Museum of Nature and Science, and the famous statue of Saigo Takamori by the sculptor Takamura Koun are all within the same green setting. Leave yourself time to wander on, and let the park tell you the rest of its story.