Little World of Man

Japanese Required: Moderate

Cost: 1,600 for adults and college students, 1000 for high school students, 600 for junior high, and 300 for children
Recommended for: groups, families, history buffs, people interested in eating food from different cultures

On one of my many attempts to visit Inuyama castle, I ended up at the little world museum of man. First off, let me say that I have no idea why, whenever I suggest visiting Inuyama castle, my friends always have some place in Inuyama that is "better."  According to H, it’s not worth visiting because  it's small, other castles are more interesting, and so on and so forth. Let’s see... I’ve been to Ukai fishing, water rafting, and the little world museum of man and outdoor museum of man throughout time.

The place is massive, so be ready to walk around a lot in order to see everything the place has to offer. Most of the outside exhibits are buildings showing how people lived in the past or small patches of flowers, which are lovely if you go when they are in bloom and do not allergies but not really impressive when compared to gardens you can see more conveniently elsewhere. The main reason I would suggest doing the walkabout outside is to experience food from many different cultures. Bring an appetite - there's at least five restaurants. The traditional exhibit halls were rather unimpressive to me with the exception of the hall of masks.

I really enjoyed variety in masks between cultures even though many of them revolved around the same ideas: demons, spirits, and gods. Looking at the make of the masks helped me feel like I was more truly connecting to the cultural and spiritual aspects of by-gone eras. Even with the same materials used (wood, most commonly), the textures and chosen colors and effects had such diversity that it was hard to believe that the masks and statuettes came from the same stuff. It gave me perspective that even with the same ideas, every person will have a different way to represent it.

All in all it wasn’t a bad of an experience and, if you know what to expect, can be quite enjoyable. I had the misfortune of going after eating a big meal. Don't make the same mistake I did! I think this is a good place for families, groups or exploring on your own if you have a day to kill and don’t want to spend all that much money.

Jokoji: Hiking and the Temple

Japanese required: Moderate
Cost: Transportation from your location to Jokoji
Good for: Everyone

Jokoji is a great hiking area with many scenic views. The actual hiking is not particularly tiring, so it's good even for people who have kids or aren't very athletic. I went to Jokoji near the beginning of Winter, so the leaves were changing colors, and it was very beautiful. All told, the hiking along with the temple took about four hours. I went with a group of people, so it probably took longer than it would have if I was by myself.

At the Jokoji station (which took 20 minutes to reach by train from Ozone), there's a really good view that exemplifies the beauty of the area. To actually start hiking, you have to cross a bridge. The stream below had very clean looking water, and the rocks were practically shining in the sunlight. The view made me have a very optimistic outlook on the beauty of the rest of the hiking trip, and I was not disappointed in the least. If anything, the rest of Jokoji had sights that were more spectacular than the one at the beginning.

The hike up the mountain had mostly light inclines, and several locations had stone steps in place to make it easier (though I hate steps, personally). After a bit of hiking, there's actually a very gorgeous lake and park. The lake itself isn't very big, but the view across it to the park and the tree covered mountain behind it was really fantastic. The park also made for a great picnic spot: there were several groups of people picnicking, and my group did the same thing. The air was very clear, and it felt very refreshing to relax after walking for a while.

After enjoying the picnic, my group went to Jokoji temple. The trip to the temple was the hardest because there were actual stairs instead of just an incline. The multitude of steps made the tip up rather painful and exhausting whereas the hike up the mountain had been a kind of leisurely strolling experience. That being said, the temple itself was gorgeous. There were numerous places to get amazing views, there were traditional Japanese statues and altars, and the trees were alive with brilliant splashes of color. The temple was rather large, and there was even a large, open area with chairs near a small stand that sold some warm food. I had a rice cake stick covered in sesame seeds. Despite the journey up being rather painful, there were actually a lot of elderly Japanese people in the temple. Judging from the small parking lot that I ended up seeing while I explored the temple, it's actually possible to drive all the way up the mountain (though most seemed to have parked their car lower down).

The entire trip was very great, and it was nice to go with other people. I'd say this trip works best for groups of people or couples, as there's a lot of places that make for great shared experiences. If you like easy hikes, then going alone might be a great experience as well.

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.