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Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky

Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Recommendations

Status

Released

Release Date

Feb 7, 2009

Runtime

1h 52m

Genres

Drama

User Score

80%

Original Title

旭山動物園物語 ペンギンが空をとぶ

Production Companies

Japan Film Fund, KADOKAWA

Director

Masahiko Tsugawa

Description

Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, is the northernmost zoo in Japan. The unpopular zoo welcomes a new zoo keeper, young Yoshida (Yasuhi Nakamura), who has more affection for insects than people after years of being bullied at school when he was young. Yoshida soon realizes that Asahiyama Zoo is facing a financial crisis and the zoo director Takizawa (Toshiyuki Nishida) has been doing everything in his power to save the zoo from closing down. Moved by Takizawa's passion, Yoshida and other zoo keepers came to share the zoo director's belief that one's dreams can come true, and together they tackle this seemingly impossible task of revitalizing Asahiyama. A breakthrough arrives in the form of “Behavioral Exhibition,†a method that is pioneered by Ashiyama's zoo keepers and which eventually makes the zoo renowned throughout the world.