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.The Chinese state created a zoo for the imperial family very early, perhaps 2,000 years ago. Six hundred years ago, the Zheng He expeditions helped to stock the imperial zoo. Zoos, of course, are collections. What does their history tell us about the people who did the collecting and the people who visited? Below is information about two new sources of information about Japan's most famous zoo.
Frederick Litten, "Starving the Elephants: The Slaughter of Animals in Wartime Tokyo's Ueno Zoo," Japan Focus, September 2009.
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Frederick_S_-Litten/3225
The public's fascination with elephants, especially, was readily apparent. The first elephant was brought to Japan from Vietnam in 1728. Litten's article discusses how Japanese officials dealt with animals as the war drew closer and hardships increased in Japan. In general, the zookeepers proposed poisoning the animals, but it the Ueno curator seems to have elected to starve the elephants to death. Versions of the story, meant to illustrate the harsh conditions endured and the desire of the officials to protect people in the event the zoo came under attack, thus setting the animals loose. A memorial service marked the martyrdom of the animals. Children's books and a television drama have perpetuated the story. A Nagoya zoo shot its bears and lions, though it was resisted by the zoo staff for as long as possible. That zoo managed to save its elephants.
Litten notes that the animals were sorely missed after the war. A wood cutout was an attempt to satiate the desire of kids to see the elephants. In 1949 a special train took kids from Tokyo to Nagoya to see their surviving elephants. Other "elephant trains" took kids to the zoo from other corners of Japan. Indian PM Nehru sent an elephant to Japan as a much appreciated friendship gesture. 2,000 people waited at the zoo for the new arrival.
Ian Jared Miller, Nature of the Beasts: Empire and Exhibition at the Tokyo Imperial Zoo, University of California Press, 2013.
This history of the Ueno Zoo traces the zoo's beginning during the rapid modernization of Japan during the Meiji era. It was Asia's first modern, public zoo, opened in 1882. The zoo was held up as a marker of "civilization" and its growth followed the imperial expansion that Japan embarked upon. Miller follows the story through the Pacific War (and the creation of memorials at the zoo for lost animals) and panda diplomacy, when Beijing gave the zoo two pandas as the two countries restored diplomatic ties.
In 1937, Wanri bows before a memorial to animals killed serving the army. Wanri was buried beneath the memorial when he died in 1943. Photo from Ueno Zoo and included in Miller's book.
Early in the war, the Japanese home front fared well, but by the last years, there were bombing attacks and great deprivation. Many Japanese museums emphasize this. The story of the zoos, of course, resonates with children who are drawn, especially to the larger animals.
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Students might benefit from discussions about what zoos represent, what interests they serve, and what needs they meet. They may also appreciate that the issues of war and zoos haven't passed. In 2003, US soldiers had to kill lions which had escaped from the Baghdad zoo. Here's a link to a conversation about a graphic novel about that incident: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6068585. And here's a link to an article about the Kabul zoo, which lost many animals to hungry people during Afghanistan's long civil war. The lion Marjan survived and died of old age in 2001. A bronze statue of him is a popular feature of the zoo today.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2080818,00.html
*Thanks to Freddy Litten for a note amplifying that it was a conscious decision on the part of the Ueno curator to starve the elephants.
edited by Clay Dube on 4/6/2014
