Maruyama Park
Sprawling city-edge park of virgin forest, a shrine, a zoo and Sapporo's favorite cherry-blossom grounds.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Maruyama Park in Sapporo centers on the sun bear enclosure at its zoo, and an afternoon in July 2015 when keepers introduced an elderly female bear named Uchii to a younger male named Umekichi hoping they would breed. You'll hear how witnesses described what followed, how the video spread across Japan overnight, and how Sapporo's city government responded with an unusually harsh formal order against the zoo. Stand at the bear yard and you're looking at the aftermath of that single pairing.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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