A day at the ZOO

Yesterday I visited the Tennoji/Osaka Zoo. It was only 500 yen to get in, that's about $6.50.

Inside was a beautiful park with trees fountains, creeks, and flowers. An oasis of nature in the middle of down town.

There where hundreds of school kids running around the park and people sitting down eating their boxed lunches.

I made my way into the zoo. There were animals there that I had never even heard of and in the exotic animal section they had such critters as Coyotes, and Mountain Lions. It was nice to see a familiar predator.

Let's see, lions, tigers, monkeys, camels, hippopotamus, deer, giraffes, zebras, gorillas, chimps, koalas, eagles, owl, seals, snakes, crocodiles, exotic birds, and elephant rides.

Among some of the animals that were new to me was the Red Panda or in Japanese, Tanuki. This animal looked like a cross between a Koala and a raccoon. It didn't look anything like a panda.

Another strange animal was the Speckled Bear. It was like a black bear but with a different face. They were fun to watch. Very active animals, I even saw a bear fight. With growling and clawing and peeing and everything.

Then finally there was the Malaysian Bear. I can't even describe this strange thing. You all will just have to look if up on the internet.

The Japanese zoo was just like the San Diego Zoo except instead of burgers and funnel cakes for snacks,  there is ramen and takoyaki. They also had cotton candy, popcorn, and ice cream because let's face it... everyone loves ice cream.

I also checked out the local movie theater. It is 3 stories high and has foreign and Japanese films. The ticket prices range from like $15.00 to $17.00 but popcorn and snacks are really cheap and you can order beer and wine. I think if you went to the movies for two people with refreshments it would probably cost you about $35 to $40. Which now that I think about it, dinner and a movie for two back home is about the sam.

Long story short I never saw a movie. I decided to save that for another day.
Some movies that were playing thought were, That new Matt Daimon movie that I think is called the department or the inquisitors or something, Gantz 2 because Gantz 1 was such a big hit, some chinese kung fu movie, and some cutesy kids anime that I don't recognize.

Next time maybe.