Higashiyama Zoo: A Time Commitment

 

 

Japanese Required: A little

Good for: Everyone

The Higashiyama Zoo is huge, and it has exhibits for fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. To look at all of them took me several hours (mostly spent standing up), but it was a very enjoyable experience.The most interesting exhibits, for me, were the ones of the fish and reptiles. The birds weren't terribly interesting, but the rest of the exhibits had some animals that I liked.

Although zoos are not really known for fish exhibits, there were actually a few interesting ones. I managed to get a really great picture of a fish with an eye mark on its body, which I felt I should share even if the fish itself isn't that interesting. And then there were also fish whose fins actually changed colors while they were swimming. I have known about these kinds of fish for a while, but it was a first for me to actually see them in person. I really enjoyed staring at them for a couple of minutes just to see how many different shades they could change to. The fish exhibit area was set apart from everything else, and it was purely smaller fish. Overall, it took roughly ten minutes for to see all of them.

 

The reptile / amphibian area had crocodiles, lizards, frogs, snakes, and more. The majority of the animals in this area weren't very active when I saw them. Quite a few were hiding away under a rock or behind something and sleeping. This made it a lot harder to take pictures, but I managed to get some good pictures of the lizards (my favorite animal). I've always liked lizards the most out of all the animal kingdom. Their intelligence, the way they move, everything about them fascinates me. Particularly interesting to me are the monitor lizards. Monitors are the most intelligent of the lizard species, and there's quite a bit of variety even within this subset. The zoo only had one type of monitor, but I quite liked their coloration.

Lizards aside, there were several types of frogs as well, including a poison dart frog. Although there was an entire section devoted to frogs, it was actually a bit difficult to find many of them. So many of them were difficult to see that I actually ended up making a game out of it just to avoid being frustrated. I actually gave up on even looking for them after the third failed attempt. To make myself feel better, I went back to the other amphibian sections and took a picture of a newt waving at me.

Newts, frogs, and lizards aside, the displays also had a few types of giant salamanders, crocodiles, some turtles, and a few toads. The most amusing thing for me in the entire zoo was the crocodile exhibit. There was a Japanese crocodile in a cage that looked rather small, and in a cage right next to it was one from America that was at least twice as large. The sheer difference in size really displayed just how a difference in environment can lead to drastic changes in even the least changing type of animal that I can think of.

About ten minutes' walk across the zoo from all of this, there are large and small cats, birds, koalas, and some other animals. The birds had a bald eagle, a few cranes, and some other varieties. The large cats included a jaguar, a couple of small tigers, a female lion, and a snow leopard. The snow leopard was the only one that really moved around in a way that it was possible to take a picture. The majority of the caged animals stayed near the back or zipped about their enclosure with wild energy. I haven't seen many snow leopards, so it was nice to get a close up view of one.

Personally, I find koalas to be very boring, but I know that a lot of people like them. The koalas had their own building, and they got to sit in their trees doing basically nothing while a rather sizable number of people stared at them in fascination. So, for all of you koala lovers, I took a picture.

Overall, the Higashiyama Zoo is a great place to go, but expect to be out and walking for the better part of your day if you want to see everything it has to offer. The place has rhinos, elephants, penguins, birds, monkeys, reptiles, amphibians, fish, lions, tigers, and bears. You'll be there a while, but don't worry. There are places to buy food and take a rest. If you plan to go to the botanical garden and other places in Higashiyama Park, expect it to take all day. I didn't even go to those places and still took more than three hours with just the zoo.

SCMaglev and Railway Park: About the Trains!

Japanese required: Some (To get in takes some Japanese, but little to no Japanese is required while inside)
Cost: 1000 yen for adults, 500 for children (elementary school to high school), 200 yen for children (ages 3 and below), with separate, discounted rates for groups.
Good for:  Everyone

The SCMaglev and Railway Park is more of a museum for trains than a park. The park is located a bit out of the way at Kinjō-futō station, roughly 25 minutes from Nagoya station by train. Despite it's location, the railway park is definitely worth visiting on a day when you feel like going out but don't have anywhere in mind to go. The place is mostly suited to people who like science museums and trains, since there are many similar displays.

I found the place very easily thanks to a bunch of signs at the station, and it's a very short walk. Even though I'm not particularly interested in trains, I had a lot of fun at different exhibits, and I even got to relax and sit inside some of the trains. There were a lot of different train models on display, including both very old and very new designs. There was also a children's play area and a place to buy Japanese food and snacks on the second floor. The food place had some uncomfortable plastic chairs to sit in, but there are several places to relax in soft, reclining train chairs on the second floor as well.

While I walked around, I got to see even some trains that looked like they were old enough to be powered by boilers rather than electricity. I have always found the look of old trains to be very interesting, so these were my favorite displays. An interesting difference that can be seen when looking at modern and older designs is that older trains tend to be darker colors (black, usually) while trains are commonly white or other bright colors these days.

Although most of the trains were on display inside the building, there were two trains outside (one just the conductor's box, the other a full modern train). Although the older train couldn't be entered, there was a ramp leading inside the other. There were even several Japanese people sitting down in the train seats and resting or sleeping. I took some time inside the train to relax as well as soon as I found out that the train cars had working air conditioning! The museum's not hot, but having cool air blowing on top of me was still refreshing.

I found the trip to the museum to also be very educational, since there were many electronic displays explaining how trains worked. Many of these displays were interactive, indicating in English and Japanese to push a button or pull a lever. Some of the exhibits even had English explanations of what was going on. The most interesting ones explained how the newest train design (SCMaglev) actually used magnetism to levitate the train and propel it forward rather than using traditional train tracks. There was a small portion of this exhibit where anyone could spin a lever and cause a model train to simulate the levitation of a real train. The concept of a train moving at super high speeds using only magnets to keep it going was both a scary and exciting one. It definitely made me want to try riding in a SCMaglev train at least once in my life.

In addition to all of this, there was a possibility for me to win a lottery and get to try a train driving simulator. I unfortunately didn't win the lottery, but you might be lucky if you go (keep in mind that doing this costs an extra 500 yen for 15 minutes). I did get to see the simulator, and it seemed to be pretty realistic, if a bit less dangerous. If you've ever wanted to try driving a train without having to go through all of the training, this is probably your best shot.

I had a really great time at the park and would definitely recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in looking at life-sized train models or finding out about some of the mechanical operations of trains.