Asahiyama Zoo

Asahiyama is a small city zoo that rebuilt itself around a single idea: show animals doing what they actually do rather than standing in a pen. Penguins swim through a glass tunnel overhead, seals shoot up a vertical cylinder of water set into the middle of a viewing room, polar bears are watched from a dome sunk into their pool, and orangutans move on high ropes above the path. In winter, when snow makes the king penguins restless, keepers walk them along a cleared track through the grounds twice a day. The reputation this earned turned a struggling northern zoo into one of the most visited in Japan.

History

The city of Asahikawa began building the zoo in April 1966 and opened it on 1 July 1967 with 75 species, and visitors peaked at 597,000 in 1983. After a gorilla and a lemur died of an echinococcus infection in 1994 and the zoo closed early that year, visitor numbers fell, and from 1997 the chief manager Masao Kosuge began building the new viewing facilities, from a free-flight bird cage to the penguin tunnel and the seal tube (Wikipedia, Asahiyama Zoo).

What to look for

• The penguin walk - king penguins led along a snow track on winter mornings and afternoons.
• The seal cylinder - a vertical water column the seals swim up through the viewing hall.
• The polar bear pool - a sunken dome that puts you at eye level underwater.
• Feeding talks - scheduled times when keepers explain what each animal is doing.

When to go

Winter is the reason most people come, since the penguin walk runs only while there is enough snow, usually from late December into March. Summer opening hours are longer and the grounds are pleasant, but several northern animals sleep through the warm afternoons. Check the daily feeding schedule at the gate and plan the route around it.

Practical notes

It is still a compact municipal zoo, and several enclosures are small by current standards, which bothers some visitors more than the clever viewing angles impress them. The penguin walk draws a wall of people and cameras for a short event. Winter means standing outside at well below freezing on steep, icy paths, and the bus from the city fills up.

Nearby

Asahikawa city, the Furano and Biei countryside, and the Daisetsuzan mountains to the east.

Key facts