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The story
Visitor numbers at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo have been sliding since giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were returned to China at the end of January. Attendance from February to August this year dropped roughly 19% year-on-year, and the zoo has announced plans to promote the shoebill — known as “the bird that doesn’t move” — as its new star attraction. On 5ch, a thread debated candidates to replace the pandas, floating ideas like red pandas or a dinosaur exhibit, while others pointed out that shoebills actually move quite a bit in captivity, fueling further discussion.
Visitor numbers at Ueno Zoo (Taito Ward, Tokyo) have been falling since giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were returned to China and the zoo lost its pandas at the end of January. Attendance from February through August this year fell by about 20% compared with the same period last year. The zoo continues to search for solutions, including promoting the popular shoebill — known as “the bird that doesn’t move” — as a new star attraction. (By Yuka Isogawa)
Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, who were born at Ueno Zoo and became popular for playfully frolicking together as twins, were last available for viewing on January 25. According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, visitor numbers in January, the month the two pandas were returned, actually exceeded the previous year’s by nearly 30,000 — but attendance slumped afterward. The zoo’s visitor count from February to August was about 1.53 million, down 19% from the same period the previous year.
Deputy director Mikako Kaneko said, “The drop in visitors has shown up as a clear effect. Previously, many people came even on weekdays specifically to see the pandas.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
https://imgur.com/a/hMRQEh9
Reposted it at Re: #3
Sorry about that
The image won't load for me
Red pandas would be fine
Not cute at all
Stoats would be better
It's already right next door at the National Museum of Western Art
Rhodan? (mixing up the sculptor Rodin with Perry Rhodan, Japan's long-running pulp sci-fi novel series) As of September it's up to volume 769 — so which volume of Rhodan are you going to display?
If you say 'the latest one,' watch out — it'll be up to 772 by November!
Meanwhile, China just painted a dog and put it on display
https://www.cnn.co.jp/fringe/35224137.html
Kid: 'Yay, there's a panda!'
Dad: 'Nah, nah, that ain't no panda, nah, nah' (dad slips into Kansai dialect)
Kid: 'Dad, I don't know what you're saying'
Admission is dirt cheap compared to zoos in Europe
Yeah, Japan's even seen as a cheap travel destination by Southeast Asia these days
They can't charge big money for a place that cramped
That's not a zoo
It's a freak show
Every animal is pacing around a tiny space like a sleepwalker
It's unbearably sad
The black parts and long torso on red pandas kind of creep me out
They're actually doing that right now
This is why Tokyo people are such a joke… all excuses, no actual countermeasures, total trash.
"Adventure World has changed too. Where posters and videos used to feature nothing but pandas, now other animals are front and center too — baby penguins, for example.
There are 120 species and 1,600 animals there. Plenty of appealing things to see. I think they've worked hard and held up well despite the panda shock."
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/e242a60a3bf4d85d1392efd764e00159f2923b96
It's been just over a year since all four of the giant pandas that were the star attraction at Adventure World, a leisure facility in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, were returned at once.
Locals in Shirahama expected a major drop in tourists, but according to the prefecture's 'tourist trend survey' for last year, released in late August,
the total number of visitors to the town and tourist spots like Shirahama Onsen actually exceeded the figures from two years earlier, and has held at roughly the same level in the months since the pandas left.
They've racked up tens of billions of yen in losses on panda enclosures, breeding facilities, and the like
All just so some idiot city could show off
Source on the 'tens of billions in losses'?
Did Ueno Zoo actually say that?
Isn't the captain who gets eaten the real star there
But people travel from the countryside just to see pandas
You just don't know how popular shoebills are lol
By the way, shoebills actually move around a lot in captivity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHuyk8sdhUw
Honestly, that take might be right on the mark
Rather than fixating on pandas — which can be politically exploited by China and the like —
they need to seriously think about exhibiting an animal that could draw crowds from everywhere
and that everyone secretly, truly wants to see…
and ideally one that doesn't need to be imported from abroad each time, but can be sourced domestically in Japan…
There's an ultra-clever secret plan hiding in that idea
Come on, a sudden 20% drop right after the pandas left has to be because of the pandas
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Pandas disappeared from Ueno Zoo because Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were returned to China at the end of January. Pandas on loan from China are part of “panda diplomacy,” and returning them once the loan term ends is standard practice. Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture had a similar experience returning its pandas, but is said to have maintained tourist numbers by diversifying its animal exhibits — a contrast with Ueno’s response that became a talking point in the thread. Opinions were divided on whether the entire drop in visitors can be blamed on the pandas, with some commenters questioning the specific figure of “tens of billions of yen in losses.” There were also comments pointing out a gap between image and reality regarding the shoebill, known as “the bird that doesn’t move” — in practice, many individuals are quite active in captivity.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Panda-less Ueno Zoo sees visitors drop 20%… promoting the ‘bird that doesn’t move,’ the shoebill, as a new star attraction.”
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