One of Japan's largest and oldest zoos, set on a wooded hillside in the eastern suburbs and combined with a substantial botanical garden. The animal collection includes about 500 species — koalas (the zoo participates in an exchange with Sydney), Asian elephants, giraffes, polar bears, and the resident gorilla family that brought the place a brief burst of internet fame a decade ago. The Sumatran tiger enclosure is unusually generous.
The botanical garden on the same site has a notable Shokubutsuen greenhouse — a 1936 art deco glass-and-steel structure that is itself a registered Important Cultural Property. A small skytower at the top of the hill offers a wide-angle view across eastern Nagoya. Higashiyama Koen Station (Higashiyama subway line), 50 minutes from Nagoya Station with one change.