Kids-friendly Japan Trip - Tama Zoo

I wrote before that my parents bought us tickets for this trip. My dad had a little surgery this year. When people are ill, they usually find out what they really want to do. My dad found that he wanted to see his grandson.

my dad and Nico at Tama Zoo

 Soon after we bought the tickets, my mum started planning things that she (and dad) wanted to do with Nico, like going to the zoo, theme park, little trips and more. All we wanted was for my parents and Nico to have wonderful time together.

Tama zoo was one of the first places we visited together. June is the rainy season, so we couldn't really choose the best day to go, but it was pleasant day with a few showers. In Japan, when the weather's good, people are everywhere, so maybe it was good that we could enjoy a quiet zoo without much of a crowd.

Nico in his rain coat

 I visited this zoo so many times when I was little. The entry fee was about 50c for school kids in those days (now it's free and for adults about $7) so I used to go there with friends.

Since I came to Australia, I often heard Japanese people talking about Japanese zoos negatively compared with Australian zoos..they felt sorry for animals in Japanese zoos having not much space and always seemed to be in cages.

 I don't know which zoo they used to go to, but those discussion became so common, so I kind of forgot what Tama zoo was like and just believed that it was worse than Australian zoos. Then this time, I actually really enjoyed this zoo all over again - Paul was really impressed with this zoo too, especially the huge spaces for the animals. We also saw some interesting animals that we'd never heard of before.

 This zoo is in the middle of the mountains, so you can enjoy hiking at the same time - you can catch a bus to go up the top and walk down the hill too. The animals were close in their enclosures, so it was easy for Nico to find them and really enjoyable for him too.

 Tokyo has many interesting things to see, so you might not be interested in going to a zoo, but if you plan a trip with kids, I think this is a great option to enjoy Japanese style zoo and nature at the same time.

With love,
Allie