The first time people in Japan looked at animals through a railing was here, in 1882.
Ueno Zoo is the oldest zoo in Japan, and more than a century later its gates are still open. Its own words for itself are "a living museum" — not a cabinet of curiosities; rare species and distinctive ones are kept together and shown together. So walking here, what is under your feet is the beginning of something: the way this country looks at animals was first learned in this garden.
Other cities have zoos too, and the animals behind the bars are much the same everywhere. It is only while walking along this path that it comes to you: someone walked it for the first time more than a hundred years ago, and what he stopped to look at then is the same thing you are stopping to look at now.
It closes early in the evening, so going in during the morning is the unhurried way to do it. Ueno Park begins at the gate, and if you follow it on, half a day passes of its own accord. The children talk about the animals afterwards; the adults now and then think of something else — that where they stood that day was the place where this country began learning how to look at the world.