• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

  • Photowalks
  • Book and Prints
  • Newsletter
  • Portfolio
  • About/Contact
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • RSS

Feb 23 2006 13 Comments

Gorilla grapple

Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo held a training exercise this week, the aim being to practice capturing animals that may escape during a major earthquake; an Elephant near the Emperor’s Palace or a Giraffe in Ginza probably being the last thing that rescue teams would want to deal with.

Presumably being disorientated and afraid, any roaming beasts would be both dangerous and unpredictable, so this year’s exercise was made as authentic as possible — the latest advancements in make-up and synthetic material allowing officials to effortlessly achieve this. A tactic that proved hugely successful, as despite knowing that underneath the ultra-realistic gorilla suit was Suzuki-san from sales, the fear amongst the staff is practically palpable.

gorilla suit

Categorized: General

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Iris says

    2/23/2006 at 5:29 pm

    Out of all the great entries here, this is my current all time favorite! 😀

    Reply
  2. Bunny says

    2/23/2006 at 11:39 pm

    OOOOOOH! ABUNAI!

    Reply
  3. beez says

    2/24/2006 at 7:54 am

    haha, wicked…

    Reply
  4. Nic says

    2/24/2006 at 8:25 am

    I watched this on the news and the big furry snake with a large, black stick protruding from its back was definitely my favourite. Totally fearsom.

    Reply
  5. Eric at Paris Daily Photo says

    2/24/2006 at 2:27 pm

    I’m stil laughing as I write this! I can just imagine these people standing there when the REAL gorilla comes running after them. Excellent!

    Reply
  6. Kraytilius says

    2/25/2006 at 4:10 am

    The Japanese just keep proving themselves crazier and crazier.

    Reply
  7. Robert says

    2/25/2006 at 9:34 pm

    Wacky, nothing here surprises me anymore!

    Reply
  8. Daniel says

    2/26/2006 at 8:33 am

    …Feel free to delete…

    Watch out using Getty Images where you have removed their mark but you also provide a link. I’m all for fair use but they are chasing people down and the link leads them to you.

    Reply
  9. Spirit Fingers says

    2/27/2006 at 2:17 am

    I love that pic, I’ve been wanting to blog about it too.

    Reply
  10. boss sauce says

    2/28/2006 at 1:32 am

    can anybody say “caption contest”?!

    Reply
  11. james says

    10/8/2008 at 8:31 pm

    hahahahahaha thats funny

    i went to ueno zoo two weeks ago.

    Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Copyright © 2025 · Tokyo Times