This past year and a half has certainly been crazy. Even after receiving my covid vaccine, it’s been a slow startup getting back to the way things were before. The biggest transition has been traveling. Even with a vaccine, I still feel the need to be careful and proceed cautiously. As things are starting to get better here in Japan, little by little I am beginning to go out more. Recently, my better half and I decided to visit some animal friends at the Utsunomiya Zoo.

It had been a long time since I had been to a zoo. To be honest, I think the last time I’d been to one was around 10 years ago, when I went to Australia. I went for a trip with my choir at the time, and we had gone to the Australia Zoo (known as the ‘home of the Crocodile Hunter’: Steve Irwin). It was a large zoo with lots of different animals to see, and some you could even pet. I don’t think I’ll dedicate an entire blog to that trip, but here are some notable pictures I took from it (and also a rare look at beardless me!)

Utsunomiya Zoo, in comparison, is rather small. Considering the location, it’s not really a surprise. The price of admission wasn’t too bad, 1,400 yen for one adult ticket (about $14US). In addition, you could buy a bag of animal feed for an extra 100 yen ($1US), so we decided to buy some. I assumed the feed would be animal pellets, but it turned out to be various scraps of fruits and vegetables (carrots, cabbage, apples, etc).

One of the first animals we saw were the squirrel monkeys. They were small and active, climbing all around their enclosure. The coloring on some was especially pretty.

The giraffes were next. These animals we were allowed to feed. The giraffe could peer over the top of their enclosure, allowing them to reach down and take food from our hands. In the process of feeding them, it’s not uncommon to get a bit of giraffe tongue gracing your hand. It felt a bit like sand paper.

The next notable exhibit was the Japanese macaques. There was a fairly sized open enclosure featuring a group of them. At the top seemed to be the leader, siting proudly. A few feet away appeared to be a mother holding her child. It was neat to see their little society from up above.

With a little amount of feed left, we decided to give it to some hungry llamas. We tried to divide it evenly between the animals, but one greedy llama kept trying to steal the others’ share when we gave it to them. We ended up making a makeshift plate with the feed bag in order to give the last bit of feed scraps to the other llama (and to avoid getting llama slobber on our hands).

The biggest claim to fame for this small zoo is unquestionably the white tigers. They certainly were beautiful, but I had mixed feelings seeing them in these enclosures. The drawbacks of having a small local zoo came to light, as I  saw these large predators in enclosures that seemed to restrict their ability to roam just a bit too much. In comparison to the Australian zoo, which at least tried to mimic the natural habitat of the animals and had ample space to roam, these tigers were confined to metal cages which seemed cold and drab. Though one of the enclosure was larger than the others, it still seemed too small for the tiger. At least he could do more than his brethren in the other smaller enclosures, which reminded me of dogs in a kennel.

I guess there was also an opportunity to feed the tigers. We saw a small boy with a stick that had a piece of meat on the other end of it. He stuck the end near the tiger enclosure, and the tiger took the feed. I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Near the tigers was a laughing hyena. I don’t have much to say about this one, I just think he’s neat.

There was also a sort of ‘farm’ area which contained pigs, chicken, and ponies. Small children could ride the ponies for a small fee. Oddly enough, there was also a meerkat enclosure in this area. Most of them were lounging, but some were scampering about.

In addition to the animals, there was also a small offering of rides. Things like a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and other small rides were present. We decided to ride the Ferris wheel before we left. From here, we could get a good view of the whole zoo. It was a nice little way to end the trip.

Afterwards, we went for lunch at an American burger shop known as ‘Mother Road’. In our area, good burger shops can be hard to come by, and this place is one of the good ones. I opted for the chili cheeseburger with a root beer. This option may seem fairly common, but in Tochigi, it’s not something I see very often. The potato wedge fries were also a welcome addition, making the meal one worthy of being compared to meals back home.

Though a small trip, it was a step into venturing back into travel mode. I’m hoping to plan larger trips in the future, but there’s no reason to hurry. Hopefully, I’ll have more to update on here in the near future.