One of the oldest in Japan (opened 1915). In the guide it was written that it is a small family type Zoo. Both small and family do not sound very encouraging even if you are with small kids but we had no choice and once the Tennoji Koen was reached the Zoo was our main destination. It turned out that the Zoo is definitely not so small and it is actually quite fun (we really didn’t expect to end up in the middle of African savanna/jungle (you’ll see the pictures later)).

First – this is a view toward the Zoo from the Tennoji Koen (the picture was taken just in front of the Osaka Art museum – the second picture):

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The main entrance (I think the white bear on the photo is kind of celebrity in the Zoo):

We are already inside the zoo:

Actually the Zoo is situated on both sites of this road leading toward/from the Osaka Art Museum. As to the family part of the Tennoji Zoo the Disney composition sums a good part of it (colorful – isn’t it?:)):

Now a short pause to present you some of the Zoo inhabitants (the chimpanzees were particularly interesting – non stop arguing for something and quite noisy).

[View with PicLens]

Of course you cannot have a real Japanese Zoo without Anpanman and all of the rest of the heroes (the white bear from the entrance was also here – it definitely must be one of the Zoo’s main mascots):

[View with PicLens]

Apparently the Tennoji Zoo is famous for its artificial savanna. The idea is that the animals are situated in such a way that it looks like they are in their natural habitat and there are no barriers between them. When we reached the savanna part it was too late (almost 16:30) so we had to hurry but still here are a few photos from it (I think they succeeded with the imitation of savanna quite well but you decide on your own):

[View with PicLens]

Here is another part of the Zoo – the area around the elephants. It looks more like a jungle (than a Savanna) to me so I grouped the photos separately:

[View with PicLens]

Now this is an interesting one (you may want to click on the image to enlarge it):

I really had to touch this thing to confirm that it is not real (it was from something like concrete). The Tennoji Zoo people definitely like to craft the details!

And again – if you have any doubts you are in a Japanese Zoo – you will be reminded :) :

At 5:00 p.m. everything is over and you must go (usually toward Tennoji station unless you are Osaka-jin). But we’ll be back that’s more than sure – still too much left to bee seen from both Tennoji Park and Zoo.

Just one last photo for goodbye (taken from the road above the Zoo):

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Build in 1912, dismantled in 1943 (because of the war). Re-build in 1956. The only one with enshrined American lucky charm figure in it – Billiken. This is the story of Osaka tower in brief and you can find much more in Internet.

I always thought it must be a boring one because it is relatively small (only 103 meters) and it is all gray (compare it with the red and white Tokyo tower). What I discovered though is that Tsutenkaku has its own charm especially if you look at it from the artificial savanna of Tennoji Zoo. Actually it was looking like the last building standing in a post-apocalyptic world (semi-submerged in the jungle):

[View with PicLens]

It reminded me also of  “Time Machine” of Herbert Wells – the giant towers of the far, far future. Eloi or Morlocks are hiding in this one? :) We shall learn if the zoom we use:

Not quite there yet. But it is really difficult to clearly see through the canopy of the forest:

Finally! It looks like there are humans after all (even though the Eloi or Morlocks theory was way more interesting). Just one final zoom to be absolutely sure:

[View with PicLens]

Yes, definitely humans and it looks like they are staring down at us. The big Hitachi commercial also brings us back to the Nihon world.

And just one final photo (my favorite of this series) – the branches touch the tower (may be better for a sleeping beauty theme):

I must confess though that this post was a warm up for the Tennoji Zoo one (as I mentioned all the pictures were taken from there). The point is that the photos are so many and the themes within them so different that it will be a challenge to sort them in a single coherent story. But this is after all our life in Japan – variety to its extreme (and a lot, a lot of Udon):)!

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