We visited Ueno zoo today, to see these guys:
That’s Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, the twin pandas born at the zoo in 2021. They were indeed cute as they sat and ate bamboo in the sun but what I found even more fascinating was the crowds there to see them.
For starters we arrived about a half hour before the park opened – not too unusual for us since we’re early risers – only to find a lengthy line ahead of us. It was quickly apparent that this was no random zoo line, and judging by the vast array of Panda-themed clothes, jewelery and accessory items, this bunch was here to see Pandas as well!
Secondly the line was very carefully managed to allow each guest exactly 2 minutes of panda viewing after which they were herded away by a man with a big stick (and yes I mean that literally). Naturally everyone followed the rules and it all went smoothly, and we only had to wait 30 minutes to see the beasts.
Thirdly the cameras were insane. These days we rarely see anyone with actual cameras since we all use our phones and that’s because all the cameras are at Ueno zoo with Panda groupies. The line was mostly middle-aged women and it seemed at least half had large digital SLRs with 30cm telephoto lenses and attachments to hold phones and other devices. It was madness.
For their part the pandas took the attention in their stride and kept munching their bamboo, and as you can see I was able to get fine photos with just my phone! After a time we too grew bored and moved on to the rest of the zoo, which was fun if a little simplistic and dated.
After lunch we went to Tokyo Dome City with a specific plan that sadly did not come to fruition. However we didn’t give up and we’ll try again tomorrow, so watch this space!
Two interesting ‘only in Japan’ purchases to round your day:
That is a strange little custard-filled mochi that was packed with a foil sticker from the series Hololive. Kristin ate this, and said it was ‘pretty good’.
And this was a bath bomb that melted away to reveal an UMA inside (I got a jackalope). Japan has a fascination with UMAs and OOPs and all things supernatural but that’s a blog post – nay a weekly blog series – unto itself 🙂
