Tokyo unfortunately greeted us on our first day with covered skies.
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Ueno Park in Tokyo
It was simply not an ideal “sightseeing-and-photography weather” to explore Tokyo. So we decided to take the subway from our Hotel Nishi Shinjuku Mystays to the Ueno district and go to the Ueno Zoo there. The zoo is located in Ueno Park, a large public park located in Tokyo’s Taita district.
The Ueno Zoo
The entrance fee for the Ueno Zoo of just 3.50 euros per person was incredibly cheap and Japan’s oldest zoo had a lot to offer – at least in terms of the number of animals.
A map of Ueno Zoo in Tokyo
The flagship of the zoos are mainly the pandas. Simply ❤ beautiful animals
The Great Pandas
Another main attraction is the sea lions.
We also found the Ottergehe funny, where the otters could swim over a tube up to the visitors. In total, we spent a good three to four hours in the zoo and saw many animals.
The zoo also has a five-storey tower (Pagoda).
The Pagoda at the Zoo
However, we must also say that from our point of view a lot of enclosures in this zoo are a bit down and designed unlovingly and that due to small cage sizes often (from our point of view) there is no species-appropriate attitude.
Starbucks Global Icon City Mug of Tokyo
We are collecting the Starbucks Mugs from the cities and islands we visit on our travels. Unfortunately, not every city that has a Starbucks store with an own mug. But if the city has an own mug we like to collect them as a souvenir. We only collect city mugs from the "Global Icon Series", which was released in 2008. You can see our complete collection here: Starbucks - Our collection of Mugs from the Global Icon SeriesTokyo has several Starbucks stores, but the cup of the Global Icon series is incredibly rare. These were probably only available in limited quantities at the US Naval Base. Luckily, we were able to buy one of these rare city mugs on eBay and are very happy about it 🙂
The Starbucks City Cup of Tokyo
All travelogues from Japan
After spending 4 days in Japan we can say, that we really liked Tokyo! The Japanese are incredibly polite and friendly and despite such a huge city there is no hectic rush. There's something to see on every corner, the city seems very modern and is nevertheless down-to-earth. Even the taxi drivers all wear suits and ties. In Tokyo we would have definitely wanted to spend a few more days.
» Tokyo – Our flight from Australia to Japan» Tokyo – The Pandas & Sea Lions at Ueno Zoo
» Tokyo – Ameyoko Street & the district Shibuya
» Tokyo – Metropolitan Government Building & Tokyo Tower
» Tokyo – Imperial Palace & Sensoji Temple in Asakusa
» Arakurayama Sengen Park, Chureito Pagoda & Mount Fuji
» Shibazakura Festival – Beautiful flower carpet at Mount Fuji
» Tokyo – Shinjuku District & Hibiya Oktoberfest