Asahiyama Zoo

Riding the Bus

"Cotton ball" snow in the trees

We took a day trip to Asahiyama Zoo in Asahikawa, Hokkaido.  One of Anna's supervisors found bus tickets for us that were less expensive than the ones marketed for tourists.  We walked the 25 minute walk to the subway station and took the subway 3 stops to Sapporo Station.  There we went out exit 21 to the Ana Hotel where we had found the bus stop as we had rehearsed with Anna ahead of time.  We decided to wait inside the hotel, which was a good thing.  A Japanese woman who spoke English found us waiting there and asked if we were going to Asahiyama Zoo.  She found our names on a list and gave us an envelope with 200 Yen (about $2.00) because we had overpaid :)  Then she showed us which bus to get on and which seats to sit in.  Everything from then on was in Japanese. The bus trip was three hours.  It took about an hour to get out of Sapporo and then we got on a 4 lane toll road.  Two hours into the trip the bus stopped at a rest stop.  The bus driver told everyone in Japanese when to get back on the bus (we guessed that we had 10 minutes) and then stopped us and held up his fingers with the time we were to return.  The rest stop had lots of sweets and zoo souvenirs. In Japan, whenever you go on a trip, you bring back sweets (even one little piece of candy) for your co-workers.  So people were buying lots of sweets.  On the way to the zoo, we drove through mountains with forests that had what we called "cotton ball" snow in the branches.  It snows so heavily here and then sometime the wind blows some of the snow off the trees and leave the rest--producing a "cotton ball" look!

Asahiyama Zoo

This zoo was more compact than zoos in the States.  And we could see the animals much closer up. They must not have as many safety precautions or maybe just not as much space as the U.S.  Because there was LOTS of snow, the animals that live in cold climates were featured wonderfully. 

Polar Bears

We really enjoyed the polar bears, who were very active and playful in their snowy enclosure.  They had lots of ice in and around their pool.  It was fun to see them in their natural environment.   They had a little glass dome in the middle of the snow in their enclosure that people could pop their heads up into to get a view of what it would be like for a seal popping up out of the water.

Seals

The seals had lots os ice in their pool and holes around the snow in their enclosure where they could pop their heads up.  A famous feature they have is a vertical tube that the seals swim up through.  They swam up through the tube pretty fast except for one guy--he would lazily float in an upside down position down the tube--pretty cute! 

 Cute Lesser Panda

I loved the Lesser Panda.  Here he is eating bamboo stuck in the snow for him.  Isn't he KAWAII? (that's "cute" in Japanese--a word you hear A LOT because Japan has such a "cute" culture.  Lots of billboards and signs have really cute cartoon characters on them.)

Penguins

They also had really great penguins.  We wanted to see the "Penguin Walk" (where they let the little guys out and they walk through the people) but realized later, since we can't read Japanese, that they only do that at certain times.  :(  Oh Well, we still enjoyed watching their personalities.  These little guys were my favorite.  There were three different kinds, including Emperor penguins, who had their heads twisted and tucked down asleep, and another kind that would swim quickly through the water, making little flying leaps, and then pop up quickly onto the shore.  They also had an underground tunnel that we could walk through and watch them swim.

Jess in the penguin tunnel.  See the little guy swimming above him?

 Jellyfish

I LOVE jelly fish!  I think the creation on them is so amazing--it seems like there is hardly anything to them but they swim so beautifully!

 The "Fierce" Animals

Siberian Tiger--up close and personal!

The zoo had beautiful "fierce" animals--as they called them.  Siberian Tiger, a snow leopard, a black panther, a lioness who sat so regally right by the fence.  My favorite was the snow leopard whose tail looked to be about 8 inches think.  

Gorgeous snow leopard!