Local Hamura Zoo & Sake Tour #2

The weekend after the Sumo Tournament we wanted to go do something, but kinda got a slow star that Saturday. A lot of the stuff in Tokyo takes a good 1-2 hours to get to from base, and they close around 5pm, so we wouldn't have had much time seeing anything there. So, we decided to just drive to the local zoo. It is only about 15 minutes away. I'd heard it wasn't very big or exciting, but it did get us out of the house. Our friend Matt, Brett and I set off for the Hamura Zoo to see what it was all about. It only cost $3 to get in- our first clue it wasn't all that spectacular. We joked that it probably had farm animals and guinea pigs on display, and what do you know... the kids section was full of these little guys! There was also about 12 cages with roosters in them. We laughed that our joke was actually 1/2 true! There were a few cool animals though- this guy had his feathers out and on full display (I think he was trying to woo the girly peacock, but she was having none of it!) 

These guys were cute to watch. Although I was sweating, so I'm not sure how the poor penguins were holding up. Their water was also a dingy, dirty color- note how not 1 penguin is swimming? I don't think Japanese zoos are held to the same standards as American ones- I really felt sorry for some of the animals here.  This little porcupine had his quills out and up too. He was funny looking- he sorta waddled around, and his quills kept poking into the rocks and sides of the cage, so he would "bounce" off the edge- he looked like he might have had one too many glasses of sake or something! This guy was the best. I know- who goes to the zoo to see llamas, right? But this one was a riot! He was obviously NOT in a good mood about something. When we walked up to his pen, he had his ears back flat and he was pacing back and forth. We stood and watched for a minute and as we did, he made direct eye contact with Brett, and SPIT on him! Little flecks of corn (or whatever he was eating) went all over Brett's shirt. It was hilarious! We were all laughing so hard. I don't know if Brett looks like the zoo keeper or what, but that llama wanted NOTHING to do with him! He didn't seem to mind Matt or me, but Brett just ticked him off! I guess the laughing made the llama even more mad, because he proceeded to look right at Brett again, and spit on him a second time. This time, Brett saw it coming and ducked at the last second, avoiding a second spraying of yellow bits on his shirt. We were outta there after that- obviously the llama was less than happy to be on zoo display that day! 

After the zoo, we went to the local Fussa sake brewery (why do Matt and Brett feel the need to tour every sake brewery in town while I'm pregnant? Can't they save that until after the kiddo gets here?) It was nice, although not nearly as pretty as the other one we went to. We didn't do the tour again this time, but took a few minutes to walk around the grounds on our own (doesn't take long to see everything- especially when all the signs are written in Japanese so you can't read them and learn anything!)  Here are the big sake vats, and a picture from the grounds of the brewery: It was quite pretty, and they had a neat little restaurant on the premises, so we ate dinner there and it was good. After our bellies were full of dinner (and sake for the boys) we headed back to the house and had a good evening playing Rock Band. Just another fun-filled day here in Tokyo!