Ep. 19 The Great, Circuitous Zoo-Regard

Following a week of jubilation and holiday hi-jinx, our hero was ready and rip-roaring to visit the undersea world of wild delights known as: aquarium. But what's this? Changed plans at the last minute left me stranded and adrift, not a plan in sight and only my wits for comfort. What was our hero to do in such a daring 'dicament? Make the best of it, of course.

So, karmatically, I had this coming. I am always early to work, I am emphatically on time to my personal schedule on weekends, but have someone else try to plan a day for me and I can, at times, be a tad tardy. To be honest, it runs in the family. This particular karma-punch came from the effects my tardiness at Nikko caused--again, I am really sorry that it happened. I had planned a rather nice day at a spectacular aquarium with some friends and, the night before...plans changed. They decided to spend the night drinking in Tokyo. Now, trains in Japan are not like trains in many US cities, in that they do stop running during the most dead parts of the night. This pause is usually after midnight. So, a night of drinking in Tokyo is, quite literally, a night of drinking in Tokyo. As such, our 3pm meeting time was just a tad too early for my companions, and as I'd rather share this experience and the aquarium was a tad expensive, I was left relatively plan-less. However, a few days ago I had decided to join my predecessor on a fun adventure out to a Book-Off extravaganza. Book Off is a Japanese chain book store, so my Portland Powells senses were a bit uppity about going to a chain book store. But I went anyway, and ended up having a blast. I don't get to nerd out as much as I would like to over here, so it was nice to talk to someone really nerdy. We wandered around the mall, shop to shop, looking at things. The book store itself felt like the love-child of a, "Good Will" and a book store. They had everything, from clothes to DVDs to CDs. Oh, and they had books too, against the far wall. Because, being a book store and all, they kind of have to have a few of those. Still,

it did live up to its name as a bazaar.
We then had lunch together, and went off to the pet store. I don't know what it is about these places, but they depress me. No, I know exactly what depresses me:

It's those two eyes, pressed against the glass, looking cold, and scared, and utterly confused and alone. It's the idea that this little guy has to sit here day after day, and hope that his cute appearance gets him adopted before he grows too old. Don't get me wrong, apparently pets get a great life over here, and being a Papillion means he'll probably get adopted soon, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't depress me. Now, yes, I do realize that this depression is partially biologically driven so that we'll always take care of our offspring when they're small, cute, and useless. That does not change the fact that it can be depressing.
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Speaking of small, cute things, there was a religious children's performance in the mall the other morning.

Your average Japanese person celebrates Christmas, but without any hint of a religious aspect. These kids, however, sang many well known songs (in Japanese) and were darn cute to boot. Now, back to my daily inanity.
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After a few hours of exploration, my companion and I parted ways in Omiya. She needed to go home and, darn it, I wanted to do something besides wandering around a mall. What better way to forget the depression of small, cute animals in small cages than to see large, less cute animals in...big-yet-still-small cages. That's right, I went to a zoo.

In Ueno park.

Which had water writing.

Photo monkey was excited to go to

The Ueno zoo.

 So, if the statues weren't obvious, this zoo has pandas:

That's right, a Japanese zoo has pandas on loan from China. Now, after the travesty known as the Omiya zoo, my hopes were not high, and at first I was not impressed. The Panda cages were pretty big, but the elephants' enclosure was a tad small--I know, they're huge so it's hard to make anything big enough--and one of the tapirs had an obvious bad limp. However, I was quickly impressed by the rest of the zoo. I even got lost and went in circles for a good twenty minutes. Now, it is getting late here, so I'm going to just upload a bunch of zoo photos:

This is the best squirrel photo I got. How I miss the fluffy devil spawn and their suicidal road-dashes.

Nice antlers...must be feeding time.

I am Simba now!

 The polar bear enclosure was impressive, and I got there just as they were feeding him. There was a hole in the ice that I got to watch him climb out of! It was very impressive.

The closest I want to be to a grizzly bear.

In Japan, they have sun bears...

that actually move and do things.

No, I am Simba!

Anteaters are surprisingly acrobatic.

Of the two Dholes, on knows how to relax...

while the other's a tad upbeat.

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 I saw this scene while wandering around lost. Yes, there were a lot of people around, but a little patience got me this great shot of mother and child. Even in the wild, most great apes are good parents to their offspring. Also, fun fact: monkeys have tails, apes don't. Just saying.

Penguins! But couldn't really catch the fun drip feature.

Zelda fans rejoice!

Huh, naked mole-rats that aren't in a pile up...

Bush Babies! Really cute and unbelievably tiny.

 Without going into why, I really hate the flash feature on cameras. Yes, there is a reason why I'm saying that here, but I'm a little embarrassed to tell the tale. This, however, was natural lighting, and it turned out just fine.

Last, but not least, an Okapi. The butt of a zebra, the body of a horse, and the closest relation (I think) of giraffe. These creatures are well adapted to their rainforest home, able to blend into both low grasses and heavy trees. They also have rather long tongues.
So, the Ueno Zoo was actually pretty good as far as zoos go (Oregon Zoo, you have spoiled me). Next, however, I decided to go to the Kyu-Shiba-rikyo Gardens. Billed as a taste of Edo and, "impressive view of rocks," it really it a peaceful place in the middle of the city...at least, I would say that if it really could get out of the city.

What a pretty pond...and buildings.

That reflection is amazing...and buildings.

The center of the park...and buildings.

 At least in the Ueno Zoo, the buildings were far off and subtle.

Far away, and if you happen to squint and see the pagoda, that's the Benten temple.

The distant Sky Tree.

But no, in the middle of what should be a calm park, there's the sight of towering buildings and the roar of cars and trains. Don't get me wrong, I think that Tokyo is a fantastic city where one can find anything and everything. However, more and more I am even more glad for how far out I am. I can get out of the city, I don't have to listen to traffic. All in all, it's a bliss for me that I don't have to look far to find the quiet. One last picture about the gardens, before I move on. Sadly, there was a busy street in the way, so I could not get the clarity that I wanted. However...

 

This man and daughter caught my eye. I apologize for the graininess, but this was the best photo that I could take. Part of the reason that I went to the park was that the Pokemon Center is across the street, and I wanted to see their Christmas stuff (I'm a bit addicted, so sue me). However, on this day they were closed, and they're at the top of those stairs. Now, I wasn't the only one surprised by this fact, and I will bet that these two were as well. I don't know what their story was--and I would have missed them if the shop hadn't been closed--but there was such a profound melancholy in the way that they were walking. Clearly, they had been excited to go to the store, and clearly those hopes had been dashed. To top it all off, this little (I'm going to assume here based on the color and what I could see of the child) girl had to walk down steps that were clearly really big for her. Her father (once again, assuming here), carefully walked down each and every step with her. Like I said, I don't know there story, but I wish them both well, and hope that their next parent-child adventure goes much better.
Following that adventure, I went to Akibahara, spent some money, and then went home. I then decided to test my skill at a claw machine--I had some 100 yen coins left over--and was rather perturbed that I could get this with my first coin:

 and no farther. I don't know what kind of anti-gravity device they use, but clearly it works. To be honest, I neither want nor need such speakers, but they would have made such a nice gift, and instead I was thwarted by...I have no idea. That, dear reader, is utter BS, and I doubt that I will be spending money at that arcade any time soon.


I will leave you now with this image:

I don't know what the bridge did, to deserve being chained to its pillars. I didn't know that bridges were a flight risk, but whatever it did must have been bad. Of course, it might be that this particular section was not connected as well as the others, as evidenced just out of shot, and so needed the additional linking in the likely event of a massive earthquake, but either way that's Japan for you. Anyway, this has been another adventure in the austentatious. If you liked me, tell your friends; if you hated me, tell your enemies; and if you didn't care either way, then tell everybody. And now, good night.