I'll be honest, I don't like zoos. They're depressing. A couple of weekends ago I paid a visit to the Asahiyama Zoo in Asahikawa. A few friends from Takikawa wanted to visit the zoo so I met them there with my friend Nikki. We walked around on an emotional low (I wasn't the only one to dislike zoos) to see the animals on exhibit in their cages, like glass displays of exotic pets. The most saddest polar bear I've ever seen was in a walled enclosure made of fiberglass rocks, like you'd see on a movie set, with a regurgitating waterfall for ambiance. To add to insult, they planted two separate trees to give a fake impression that somehow this was nature! I watched the polar bear, yellowed with age, walk back-and-forth from wall to wall with its head tilted to the left, probably waiting until next feeding time, and imagined myself living there for 15 years. A virtual jail! I'm not gonna go out and join PETA or anything, but how can you enjoy looking at owls and hawks that can't fly, or gorillas surrounded by concrete and steel, or a lone snow leopard in a giant bird cage?! I'd rather watch them on TV than see them at the zoo, thank you very much.

Sadly, by going there, I was helping to prop up this animal Guantanamo Bay. Not only did I pay to get in, but I bought a lifetime membership :P Seriously though, how do they get away with charging 800 yen for a single entrance fee and 1000 yen for a lifetime membership? Well anyways, I bought a lifetime membership... probably because I'll go back there in the winter when they let the penguins walk around, heehee, but then that's it! I'm throwing my membership in the fire.. or using it to pick the locks on the animal cages. I did like the Red Panda though, I want one (=^.^=)