Adventure World in Wakayama (There Were Pandas)

Off To See The Pandas

While this was my first time visiting Japan, my friend has been there several times before. He’s a huge lover of pandas (even more than the average person, to be clear), and he had made sure to visit the pandas that live in Japan, on loan from China to spread awareness of them throughout the world. They’re also at the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo (the place he’d already been to previously), and we even have them down here in Australia if you’re willing to get down to the Adelaide Zoo – even if you’ve been there already, they’ve actually received two new pandas in the last several months. But since he had not yet seen the pandas at Adventure World in Wakayama – and since I had never seen a damn panda in my life – this was a non-negotiable destination for our trip. He was focused so much on the pandas that I, having not researched the place, didn’t realise just how large the place would be or many more animals were going to be there. There’s a lot to get into on this one.

Even The Travel Is Panda-Themed

I’ll say this for Adventure World – they REALLY want you to know they have pandas. They want you to know they have pandas so damn much that they’ve decked out the train you take to the location in full panda regalia, both inside and out. The shell of the locomotives is given a cartoonish panda face design, and the locomotives and train carriages are all covered in panda-focused advertising for Adventure World itself. Once you get inside, the doors are similarly covered in panda photography, and the seats sport panda-themed fabric draped over the headrests. It’s all profoundly blatant and extremely cute – really gets you in the mood to see the real thing, unlikely as it is that you’ll actually need that. 

Train Stations Are Really Just For Merch

Arriving at Adventure World’s nearby train station is a panda-based assault on the senses, even after the train has allowed you to build up a resistance. While Adventure World of course has a gift shop (we’ll get to that later), the train station makes a bold push for your money, stocked with a great many panda plushies (even one dressed as a train conductor!), additional plushies of other animals, panda-themed designs on walls and doors, and even panda-themed seating. You might think that Adventure World has only one drum and insists on hitting that drum really hard, but the pandas aren’t the only thing here… even if we did go straight to them once we arrived.

Entering Adventure World

The initial entrance to Adventure World is very nice – go past the ticket gates and you end up in a beautiful open space with shops, eateries, vending machines and a giant “Thank You All” sign you can see in the above photo. It’s nice to be appreciated, and it adds to the sense of joy in the place. A great start to the… well, adventure.

Pandas At Last!

Ahh, the main event. Let’s be clear here – you do NOT get to touch the pandas, which honestly seems wise. I don’t know precisely how dangerous they would be to humans in practice, but they are still bears. Slow, sometimes silly bears who require a trained staff to even reproduce properly, but bears nevertheless. You simply get to stand back and love them from afar – and as you can see, they’re very easy to love. Adorable animals that have a very calm and peaceful vibe – expected when they clearly live very easy and healthy lives – and I found that they give me that vibe as well. They largely eat, sleep and roam around – living the dream, if you ask me – but it was interesting to view their eating habits. Given how much bamboo I know pandas need to eat, I was surprised at how much can get strewn all over them – it gives them the impression of a giant baby with a dirty bib. They are absolutely worth seeing and appreciating, if only for their unfortunate rarity. 

Panda For Lunch (Not Like That)

Next, my friend and I stopped by one of the food areas for lunch. This gives me an opportunity to discuss one the coolest parts of Japan, or at least of Japanese restaurant culture – the fake food! Or, to use a more positive name, the physical, visual menus they offer – practically every restaurant features windowed cabinets out the front with impeccably realistic copies of each menu item. According to this writeup by ByFood, they’re made from resin and plastics, sometimes other materials like vinyl, and were originally made with wax for some time following their initial creation in the 1930s. They’re shockingly realistic in person – some glisten to the point that they look overly delicious. You can even purchase them at souvenir shops to take back home – here’s one that I was strongly considering getting, but couldn’t swing the 24,200 yen (roughly $240):

But back to Adventure World – as you can see from the above photos, the fake version of my panda-themed curry rice dish is not utterly flawless, and a close side-by-side inspection could reveal the differences, but come on. They’re all really impressive works of craftsmanship and something to appreciate visually, but beyond that they’re actually genuinely useful. How many times have you ordered a dish in a restaurant only for it not to come out how you expected? Even menus with photographs won’t often cover the whole lineup, but in these places, basically everything is shown to you straight-up in 1:1 scale. Even having realistic 3D models of every dish to examine on your phone wouldn’t be quite as good as this (though I would still really like to see that, and I hope some enterprising restaurant owner takes the idea on).

Aquarium World Underwater

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Sea Lion

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Penguins Underwater

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Many Penguins Underwater

_{^{I was shocked to see how fast they are here.}}

Following lunch it was time to see the other fauna on offer at Adventure World, and the first stop was the aquarium. This was a massive tank complex circling around the walkway area, containing both underwater and above-water sections for the wildlife to roam freely. First we saw the main underwater parts – I’ve included videos above showing the sea lions and penguins swimming around, and it was wonderful to watch them gracefully move through one of their natural habitats. It’s fun to get a good look at just how flawlessly evolved they are for that underwater environment, and how easily they can jet around compared to humans who undergo rigorous training.

Aquarium World Above Water

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Penguins Above Water

@Adventure World Wakayama Japan Penguins Swimming Up Close

@Adventure World Wakayama Japan Friendly Penguin

^{The above-water section was a little more intimate.}

After making our way up a pathway, complete with lighting that made some of my friend’s clothes glow in the dark, we reached the upper part of the aquarium where the penguins could be seen congregating on rocks and swimming on the surface of the water. They were somewhat less graceful and mobile here, but very calm and friendly, happy to come up to the glass and seemingly interact with people like me. It’s a special experience to see penguins this close up, even if you can’t indulge your intrusive thoughts about hugging them. 

Avian Attractions

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Bald Eagle

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Flamingos

_{^{I went to Japan, but I found America.}}

Adventure World’s avian offerings were somewhat limited when we visited – I believe they were experiencing a spate of bird flu at the time that resulted in a lot of the birds being locked away for theirs and others’ safety. That said, we still got to see a couple of examples. First was the last thing I expected to see in Japan given its famous association with a certain other country – a lovely bald eagle, apparently one of 4 that was on its own during the bird flu problems. There was also a huge flock of flamingos locked away at a distance from Adventure World’s guests, but they were still close enough for me to capture a decent video of them. I honestly regret not being able to see the flamingos up close – though I’ve obviously known what a flamingo is my whole life, actually seeing them in person had a real effect on me. I had never really clocked just how bizarre they can look, almost alien-like in the way that they manipulate their heads and necks around. Strange, beautiful birds.

Other Animals

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Red Panda

@Adventure World Wakayama Japan Otter

@Adventure World Wakayama Japan Monkey Exhibit

^{The variety shown here isn’t even close to what you’ll see at the full park.}

Adventure World has a wide variety of animals you can roam around and interact with on different levels. Some, like the monkeys, are kept from the public via glass, which you can see in the above video. Then there’s the ones that aren’t fully contained like the monkeys, but are still fenced off or otherwise contained somehow in their own little spots, like the otters, the red panda you can see above (known in China as the “lesser panda”, which is frankly rude), a capybara that wasn’t as fenced off which you could reach over and pet, and even a hippo kept controlled by handlers that I was able to feed (by throwing the food, I prefer to keep my arms). Then, in a particular surprise to me, there were the much more freely-roaming Patagonian Maras, a species I had never heard of before that looks a bit like a kind of odd deer-rabbit but is actually a rodent like the capybara (there was also one of those at Adventure World). The maras were actually hopping around in major areas where anyone could go up and pet them, though there were also designated areas for them covered in No Entry signs, so they were able to retreat for safety if they felt uncomfortable). I found this a very smart system, and I was glad to see the maras continuously venturing out. These animals were wonderful, and I appreciated the different species on offer and the different levels of interaction tailored to each one.

The Safari Experience

@Adventure World Wakayama Japan Safari Baboons

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Safari Tiger

Adventure World Wakayama Japan Safari Siberian Tiger and Cub

^{I do wish I’d been able to get a closer look at the cub, but hey, at least I can respect their privacy.}

The Adventure World safari experience was one of the coolest parts of the park experience and a great way to experience some of the more exotic and dangerous animals from a safe distance, protected by large fences and a heavy and fast-moving bus. There were plenty of fascinating creatures here, from giraffes and cheetahs to the baboons and tigers seen above. However, one of my favourite moments was seeing and managing to capture a video of a rare, white Siberian tiger, along with the briefest view of her new cub. These sorts of safaris always leave you wanting a little – seeing such exotic animals up close would be an electrifying experience – but the bus is the smart move, not only for your safety, but out of respect for these amazing wild beasts. 

The Gift Shop and Conclusions

@

Patagonian Maras, close up!

I unfortunately have no photos of the gift shop itself, but I can show you what I ended up buying – an adorable model panda train! Feel free to compare it to the above video. There was plenty of other merch available, from plushies to panda-themed ties, I can’t imagine anyone not finding something for them. I cannot recommend Adventure World Wakayama enough, for basically anybody who loves animals. Panda fans are of course a major target here – you’ll experience the hard sell right from the start via the panda train – but there’s spectacular variety beyond just them, with fauna of all kinds and from all kinds of countries. The food is delicious, and the overall vibe is joyous. It’s a bit of a trek from the major locations, but damned if it ain’t worth it.