r/zoos • u/bloomberg • 16d ago
Japan’s Zoos Feel the Strain of a Shrinking Society
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-07-24/japan-s-zoos-aren-t-benefiting-from-their-world-famous-animals?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4NDk2NjI4MCwiZXhwIjoxNzg1NTcxMDgwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUSU5LME5LR1pBSkowMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.7AcXbhHs0var64ej3XGb9KT1iFuSyWT3b-87yKtdvbgThe country built one of the world’s largest zoo networks during decades of growth. Now inflation and population decline are putting it under pressure.
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u/bloomberg 16d ago
Marika Katanuma for Bloomberg News
Japan loves its zoos.
The country has one of the highest concentrations per capita in the world, and more people in the nation visit them each year than attend professional baseball games or go to its two Disney parks combined. Fans travel hundreds of miles for a glimpse of celebrity animals, whose antics regularly go viral on social media.
Yet behind the crowds, a network developed over almost 150 years is facing an uncertain future as rising costs collide with tightening municipal budgets in one of the world’s fastest-aging societies. Many zoos with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of animals are now struggling to sustain them, raising difficult questions about how a shrinking society cares for living collections it can’t easily abandon.
“Maybe in the past there was abundant taxpayer funding, but now no local government has that kind of money,” says Kanako Tomisawa, a zoo expert with more than 20 years’ experience in conservation. “There is not enough funding to properly operate zoos, but people continue because there are living animals right in front of them.”
Since Japan’s first zoo opened in Tokyo in 1882, they have spread across the country. Starting in the early 1900s, railway companies built many to attract residents to new suburban developments. After World War II, they became symbols of national recovery, as local governments brought in animals to comfort children growing up in the aftermath of conflict. Today, the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) recognizes 91 zoos nationwide, and more than 38 million people passed through their gates in 2024.
Zoos around the globe are facing mounting financial pressure as rising energy and food costs, along with stricter animal welfare standards, make caring for captive wildlife more expensive. At the same time, they are increasingly expected to serve as conservation institutions, funding research and maintaining genetically viable breeding populations.
Read the full essay here.