Last summer I was really excited to find the Gyotoku Yachou Kansatsusha, a great bird sanctuary just 30 minutes on the subway from downtown Tokyo. Its really interesting, but the Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park is even more convenient and enjoyable.
Surprisingly, it’s right by Haneda Airport, but the birds don’t seem to mind all the planes at all. It’s a wonderful escape from the crowds and noise of Tokyo.
To be honest, I have no idea what kind of birds I was seeing, but they were really amazing and I spent hours photographing and enjoying their beauty.
If you go down to the basement of the visitor’s center, there’s a mud flat with hundreds of crabs and mudskippers.
The reason this park is better than Gyotoku is that you can get a little closer to the birds and have a bit more freedom to go where you want.
As with Gyotoku, there are lots of telescopes you can look through, but if you want to take photos you’ll probably want to have at least a 200-300 mm lens.
Admission is just 300 yen.
There’s a good article with more information at:
http://metropolis.co.jp/travel/travel-features/tokyo-port-wild-bird-park/
The official website is in Japanese only:
http://park15.wakwak.com/~tokyoko/index.html
Open:
09:00-17:00 (Feb.-Oct.)
09:00-16:30 (Nov.-Jan.)
Closed: Monday (Tues. if Mon. is a holiday), New Year holidays
Admission]:
| Private | Group (20 or more) | |
| Adults (high school and above) | 300 | 240 |
| Over 65 | 150 | 120 |
| Jr. high school | 150 | 120 |
| Elementary school | free | free |
Monorail: Take the Tokyo Monorail to Ryutsu Center Station and walk 15 minutes. (Warning, airport express trains [Kukou Kaisoku] do not stop at this station.) Go out of the exit and you’ll find yourself on a big street called Kannana-dori. Turn right on this street, and walk straight, crossing a river, and highway #357. The wild bird park is a few minutes walk past the highway on the right side. It’s about 15 minutes on foot.
Tel：03-3799-5031／FAX：03-3799-5032
It’s most probably showing my ignorance and bias – but I had never really imagined such a place. Of course, any water-course is going to have it’s marine life, even one next to a megapolis such as Tokyo. Looks like an interesting place to get out and see some different wild-life other than the human jungle that is the city.
It’s great to know there are places like this in an urban monster that is Tokyo and its surrounds
Wow, those photos are really amazing!