This is my other travel story from the winter of 2007. There was a private zoo in Akiruno, Tokyo. Its name was Mutsugoro’s Animal Kingdom. The founder of this kingdom, Mr. Masanori Hata, whose pen name is Mutsugoro which means “mudskipper,” is a famous zoologist, essayist and TV personality. The zoo was moved to Tokyo in 2004 from Akkeshi, Hokkaido; but their business situation declined and their cash flow became tighter and tighter in 2007. Finally, he decided to close this kingdom in December, 2007, so I visited there just before returning to Hokkaido.
The entrance fee was 1700 yen per person! It was really expensive for a private animal zoo in which the main attractions were cats and dogs. I could understand why this company lost their management and pulled the plug on the project in Tokyo. More precisely, Mr. Hata wasn’t directly involved with management at first, but when the company couldn’t pay the rent for Tokyo Summer Land in 2006, he helped the executives of the kingdom. However, the zoo went belly up in 2007 with its huge debt.
In the zoo, there were no special animals like a panda or an elephant, but we could enjoy the petting zones with cats, dogs, and ponies. When I was taking several photos of cats and dogs with my 300mm telescope lens, I heard the visitors start to murmur. The founder came up near me. Many people took souvenir pictures with him, so I realized that the best rare living thing is him, Mutsugoro-san! Now, you can enjoy this kingdom in Hokkaido, their motherland.
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