Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky

Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky

112 mins | Drama | Feb. 7, 2009

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.

Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky

112 mins | Drama | Feb. 7, 2009

Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky
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.
Producers Kadokawa Pictures, Japan Film Fund
Original title 旭山動物園物語 ペンギンが空をとぶ
Directors Masahiko Tsugawa
Writers Yasuhiro Koshimizu

Cast

Toshiyuki Nishida

as Kanji Takizawa

Yasuhi Nakamura

as Tsuyoshi Yoshida

Ai Maeda

as Makoto Ogawa

Keiko Horiuchi

as Sanae Ikeuchi

Naomasa Musaka

as Teruo Mitani

Sansei Shiomi

as Genta Tobe

Ittoku Kishibe

as Seinosuke Yanagihara

Akira Emoto

as Itsuro Usui

Hiroyuki Nagato

as Keisuke Nirasaki