Famous for their penguins coming out from the enclosure to walk around during winter. Unfortunately when we were there in beginning of December the activity have not started yet. Zoo have variety of animals with the design of enclosure giving visitors very close proximity to the animal. Of course penguins were the main attraction but don’t missed out on other exhibitions as well. If you walk up the hill toward the back of zoo you get a good view of the surrounding area. Which was beautiful during the winter. Zoo keepers are very helpful and will guide you to the exhibition that you enquired.

Visited the zoo with the kids and they really enjoyed seeing the animals (some of them up close). A pity that the penguin parade season hasn't started but there are plenty of other animals to see. You need at least half a day to explore the entire zoo.

Came via JR train to Asahikawa, a trip of more or less two hours (our mistake was we left late). We took a taxi from the train station to the zoo (would have been cheaper to take the bus, only about 490 yen each). Zoo closed early that day, 330pm. Temperature at the zoo was about 0.4 degrees C so be dressed for the cold of visiting in winter. There were penguins, deer, wolves, polar bear, brown bear, monkeys, the crane (symbol of Japan). Would have enjoyed more if we had come earlier. Last bus was at 4pm, good that we caught it as there were no other means of transport out after (as.we understood it). They had good ramen at the cafe.

We went solely for the penguin parade. It was the highlight of this little zoo. However, everything else was downhill from there. Big animals in small enclosures. Deers next to wolves. Rabbits in direct line of sight from the eagle. Facilities dated and in need of maintenance. Met some rude locals, I guess there will be some in any country. If you are not into penguins don’t bother visiting.

Love the close encounters with the animals. It is not a big place but it does have some interesting displays and also good place to rest and eat. The curry rice there is good and milk ice cream is highly recommended. Nice to know that children 15 and under gets free entry and we particularly loved the close encounters with the polar bears and wolves. After that, go to the Ramen village or lots of nice neighbourhood restaurants close by. If you are not in a hurry, there are nice places around the zoo for some photo sessions. We stayed in the heart of town (Heiwa Street) and the zoo is just a short drive away.

The zoo is located about 40 mins from Asahikawa station by bus. It is rather large and has many animals from Lion to polar bears. Entrance is cheap, and the place is popular with kids. It was impressive at first but then I noticed that the place was looking rather old and tired. The polar bears and chimpanzee looked really sad and not in a great condition. I wished they increased the ticket price and make some improvement to the place.