Day 9 - Ueno Zoo and Osaka Ghetto

Today is my last day in Tokyo. Very sad to be quite honest. I really love this place. This morning I set out for Ueno Zoo. I was quite impressed with the size of the zoo for the price you pay. The zoo entry fee was only 600\ and there was a lot to see. I ended up dropping off my backpack in a locker at Ueno Station for 500\. It was very safe and totally worth it so I didn`t have to carry it around.

When I got to the zoo it was nice to know that they had posted a note saying that the panda there had died in April of 2008 so people wouldn`t wonder where it was and would know before they went it. It was nice because it wasn`t a surprise like in Barcelona when I went to see the albino gorilla only to find out he died about 4 months earlier.

This zoo is a lot nicer than a lot of zoos that I`ve been to before. There was a lot of vegetation, extremely clean and the holding areas for the animals were quite large. This zoo had a bunch of very normal animals like lions and tiger and bears, but it also had red pandas, opakis and aye ayes. I`d never seen the opaki before。 Its kinda weird. It looks like a cross between a zebra and a giraffe. It has a longer neck and eats like a giraffe but its about the size of a horse and has a striped lower body like a zebra. It took me about 1 1/4 hours to go through in a hurry but I was definitely glad I went.

I ended up going to pick up my backpack and headed to Tokyo station to catch the Shinkansen to Osaka.

The ride to Osaka was very smooth. Unfortunately it again was too cloudy to see Mt. Fuji. I guess that`s another reason to come back to Japan!

I didn`t think that Japan had a ghetto. But I was wrong. I`m staying in it. Think the Waverly hotel at Spadina and College in Crackdale. It`s kinda sketchy but its a place just to sleep. This place is filthy and old. I don`t think anyone has cleaned the toilets since well, ever. I`m only here for 4 nights. We`ll see how tonight goes. If it`s horrible I`ll change hotels tomorrow.

I`m planning on going to Hiroshima tomorrow. I thought it was covered by my JR West pass but was mistaken. I should have gone there today on my JR all pass because it would have saved me 20000\ ($200)! Or I should have gotten the JR pass for 14 days before I left. But I`m here and I think its a place I should see so I`ll spend the money. You only live once.