History of Yokohama City Zoo

"Africa Savannah" at Yokohama Zoo

The Nogeyama Park, built after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, opened on September 18, 1926 as a park featuring a migratory garden (current zoo area), a Western garden (current reservoir area), a Japanese-Western eclectic garden (current walking area), and three wards.
The Nogeyama Park was selected for three months from March 15, 1949 as the first venue of the Japan Trade Expo hosted by Yokohama City (the second venue was Sorimachi Park (Kanagawa venue). The park was opened on April 1, 1951 as the Noge Mountain Amusement Park, triggered by the delight of many animals such as bears, foxes and Raccoon Dog exhibited at a part of the second venue.
Then, in June 1964, the zoo was made free on the occasion that the amusement park was closed to build a reservoir underground in the amusement park area.
In 2001, the park celebrated its 50th anniversary, and in November 2002, a large-scale renovation project that took about four years was completed and reopened.
In April 1979, the Makigahara Little Kids Zoo, which mainly consists of livestock such as cattle, pigs and goats, was opened in Nogeyama Zoo's Children's Nature Park in Asahi Ward. (Currently only small animals such as pheasant rats (guinea pigs) and Japanese chickens)
In March 1982, Kanazawa Zoo opened as a branch of Nogeyama Zoo. Initially, 10 items of 3 species, including Otsunohitsuji, were exhibited in the United States Ward, and the park was opened for the first time.
In April 1988, we became independent from Nogeyama Zoo, and in March 1989, the African area was fully opened to the public through the public exhibition of Amimekirin, and the zoo was fully completed.
In April 1999, the Yokohama Zoo was opened for the first time, incorporating a “habitation environment exhibition” that creates the environment of animal habitats throughout the park. The open area was gradually expanded, and in April 2015, the last area, "Africa Savannah," opened and fully opened. As a public facility called ZOORASIA, it has a novel nickname and is known as one of the most famous places in Yokohama.
In addition, in one corner of the site of the Yokohama Zoo, there is a private Preservation and Research Center that serves as a research center at three zoos in the city to preserve the species of rare wildlife.