I think probably the best word to describe Nihondaira Dobutsuen is functional. As far as zoos go, it would be on the small side of average. The displays tend to be very simple and not an awful lot of effort has been made to recreate the animals' natural habitats. It's not quite as bad as being stuck in a small cage with a concrete floor and nothing else, but if you're used to zoos that go all out for their animals, this one will come as a bit of a surprise. As an example, the black leopard had one long plank of wood propped at about a 30 degree angle to pace up and down on, but an otherwise bare concrete enclosure. Most of the animals got a bit luckier and at least had dirt or grass floors. The polar bear had a reasonable amount of water to swim in.
It has an interesting and generous collection of monkeys and apes which sets it apart from any other zoo I've been to. I realised that I must have never actually seen an adult orangutan in real life before because I was blown away by how huge the one they've got is. It also has several of the usual African suspects - a lion (which roared at us a couple of times), elephants, giraffes and rhinos. No zebras, though. One of the most interesting displays which greets you as you enter the zoo is the flamingo area. Did you 
know there is more than one type of flamingo and that they come from Africa and South and Central America? Neither did I, but this place has three species in various amazing shades of pink. I was amused in an indignant sort of way to see that one of the species is named the Lesser Flamingo. How would you introduce yourself at parties with that moniker, I wonder? Don't mind me, I'm just a Lesser Flamingo...Anyway, the zoo also hosts a small children's park with dinky little train rides, a merry-go-round, go-karts and the like, all of which cost extra. I'm sure this is how the zoo makes its money, because the entrance fee is a measly 500 yen. We didn't hang around in the kids' area for long, but we did shell out the extra 100 yen each to ride the chairlift to the top of the hill at one end of the zoo. The brochure boasted a reptile house on the hill, so we figured it was probably worth it. Well... maybe it would have been if we didn't have to fork out another 100 yen each to take the chairlift back down the hill. (You can actually walk down too, presumably for free although we didn't bother to find out.) There was a big jumping pillow on the hill too, which had an awful lot more people on it than the reptile house had in it so it wasn't a total loss.
It's not a bad place to visit if you're looking for something to do with your kids for a day. The cheap entrance fee is certainly a drawcard. If you're hoping to immerse yourself in a wonderful zoo experience, however, you'll probably be disappointed.
***** ***** *****
How to get to Nihondaira Dobutsuen from Numazu: Take the train to Shizuoka station, then the north exit to bus stop number 13 (go down the underpass and take the second left exit). You can take bus number 40, 41 or 42; they all go to the zoo -- and you can't miss the stop because the bus actually goes up the zoo's driveway and drops you off right outside the gate. The sneaky alternative which saves you a small amount in bus fare and negotiating the Shizuoka interchange (worth considering, especially if you're in a hurry) is to get off the train at Higami-Shizuoka, which is one station before. The bus also stops there but I'm not sure which stop number it is. Just look for bus number 40, 41 or 42 I guess.
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