The Asahiyama Zoo (旭山動物園 Asahiyama dōbutsuen) is a municipal zoo in Asahikawa, Hokkaidō, Japan. In August 2004, over 320,000 people visited the zoo, the most visitors among all the zoos in Japan. Located in Higashi Asahikawa, in the outskirts of Asahikawa City, the Asahiyama Zoo is the northernmost zoo in the country.
Prior to the construction of the Asahiyama Zoo, the Maruyama Zoo was built in Sapporo, and the Obihiro Zoo was also constructed in Obihiro. Since 1964, the mayor at the time, Kōzō Igarashi, has budgeted for the Asahiyama Zoo project, and chosen Asahiyama (旭山, Mount Asahi) as the building site due to its geology and traffic convenience. Construction of the Asahiyama Zoo began in April 1966, and completed in June 1967, with total expense of 250,000,000 yen. The zoo was inaugurated on July 1, 1967, with 75 species of animals including 200 common carp.
As the population of Asahikawa City has increased, the number of visitors rose to a peak of 597,000 in 1983. In 1994, when a Western Lowland Gorilla and a Ring-tailed Lemur in the zoo died of Echinococcus, the zoo was closed before the regular season to prevent contagion, which resulted in a decline in the number of visitors.
Since 1997, the zoo has undertaken the construction of unique interactive animal viewing facilities to break the impasse, initiated by chief manager Masao Kosuge. After "Totori no Mura" (Totori's Village), which enables visitors to see birds flying freely in a huge cage, the zoo continued to install new facilities including Polar Bear Aquatic Park, a "Walking Through" Penguin Aquarium, an Orangutan Trapeze, and a Seal Aquarium which is famous for the seal's characteristic of swimming vertically through its cylindrical water tank.
In August 2004, the monthly number of visitors exceeded 320,000, which surpassed Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. In 2006, the annual number of visitors reached 2 million, and the following year, the number was 3 million, which was surpassed only by the Ueno Zoo (about 3.5 million people in the same year). Over the years, the Asahiyama Zoo has drawn a number of media attractions, and some TV programmes and publications featuring the zoo's success have also been created.
