Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Nagoya-Shi

It is an excellent place to go. I just loved seeong the gardens. The staff there are friendly, the gardens are wonderful. It was a great atmosphere, excellent amount of things to see and do!

In all of the zoos that I have visited in my life, this was, by far, the worst in terms of animal habitat, especially when it comes to the big animals. Amazingly small enclosures, resulting in animals that appear to be in poor health, and seem neurotic or lethargic. Put it this way: the Japanese appear to be in love with the Koala bears. Thus, the Koalas had an impressive habitat, and more room than the elephants, which are jammed into small, sparcely vegetated pens the size of a small front yard. Another example: the wolves, which, in the wild, will have a range of 100+ square miles. Here, they were jammed into a tiny area, and were pacing nonstop.

This zoo was great for the younger kids, as there were plety of exciting new animals we dont see often in Britain, but for my older children, they though it was a bit boring. Although there were plenty of animals, they didnt look to happy, which distressed my teenage daughter. The botanical garden were pretty good though, and all of my children enjoyed the pedalos, monorail and ferris wheel. A good day out for the kids and i, but the animals where slightly distressed looking.

this place was great! we just want to come back again! my family are just itching to come back! thankyou. hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello

Unfortunately, the zoo was more of a cage than a zoo. There were only a few animals who had enough room to enjoy life, while the other animals had to make due with crumby, concrete, claustrauphobic, and unkempt conditions. It was a sad day at the zoo. The botanical gardens were lovely, but not worth going to since the poor animal conditions darkened the day.

The zoo here is absolutely wretched - if you'd like to see why animal cruelty laws have been enacted in various places around the globe, this is a great place to check out. There are plenty of examples of animals pacing and exhibiting repetative behavior patterns, apparently having gone insane due to the tight confinement. Really sad. You can skip the zoo entirely if you enter through the Hoshigaoka gate, which I recommend (follow the signs out of the subway station and head straight up through the new shopping center). The gardens are quite nice - cherry blossom groves, a Japanese garden, an English-style garcen, etc. They're also quite large - after two visits, we still haven't seen it all. It's a nice place to wander for an afternoon or to picnic, and at only 500 yen to enter, it's a good value.