Dino-Panda in Ueno Station

My family and I stumbled across this monstrosity on our way through Ueno station a couple of weeks back. From the back, I wasn't sure what to make of it.


Chicken? Dinosaur? Lizard? Axolotl? None of the above, it turns out.

    
    That's right! A panda in a dino suit, celebrating this year's Dinosaur Expo at the National Science Museum from July 13th through October 14th. Why a panda? Because Ueno Zoo is known to have giant pandas, so the Ueno area sometimes uses the panda as a mascot, and the museum is in that area.

    Unfortunately we didn't have time to go then and won't be able to afford to head back to Tokyo for another visit to try, but we did get cool dinosaur trading cards at The Hard Rock Cafe in Ueno Station before we headed back, and that was also really cool.

    If you're interested in tracking down the reason for the Dino-Panda, check out the National Science Museum at Ueno Park 7-20, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8718.