Inokashira Park Zoo

This small zoo spreads across a wooded corner of a popular western Tokyo park, combining an animal collection with a sculpture garden dedicated to a noted twentieth-century sculptor whose studio once stood nearby. Long famous as the home of an elderly Asian elephant who became a beloved local icon, it now focuses on smaller native and exotic species, a petting area, and an aquatic house beside the park's boating pond. The leafy setting and modest scale make it an easy, relaxed outing combined with a stroll around the lake.