We reached Ueno Zoo an hour before it opened.

It felt like we were already late.

A line of mostly women stretched from the entrance and wrapped through a maze of green safety cones.

Staff members kept extending the switchbacks as more people arrived.

I looked past them, toward the gates.

“Are they here for the pandas?”

No one answered.

The women simply waited.

~

We came back just after the gates opened.

The line had dissolved almost at once, moving at a brisk walk that somehow wasn’t running.

Hundreds of people flowed through the zoo with quiet purpose and disappeared.

Inside, we found a map.

Dani stooped beneath its frame to meet the kids at their level.

“Where do you want to go first?”

Corbin pointed to the giraffes.

Avery wanted the palace cats.

“The pandas are on the way. Wanna stop?”

I did.

Dani did.

The kids didn’t.

So we went.

~

We followed the green cones and the movement of people.

The path ended at another queue.

Lines on the ground marked the expected wait time.

Three hours, two hours, one.

We strolled past in seconds.

“Do people actually wait this long?”

Dani shrugged as we walked.

“You saw the turnstiles outside too.”

The path split. One for each Panda. In the early morning, we chose the more popular.

Five minutes later the line ended, and the path opened.

“There!”

Dani was pointing into the distance.

She’d found the panda.

~

A railing and moat separated us from the enclosure.

On this side, a hundred people pressed in.

On that side, a bear. It seemed like a juvenile.

“Lei Lei, Lei Lei.”

The panda’s name floated through the air on repeat. As if it hadn’t been said before—as if the animal might respond.

Telephoto lenses hovered overhead.

The panda wandered to the left.

The crowd drifted left.

It climbed onto a log.

Hundreds of lenses tilted upward together.

The panda disappeared behind a rock.

A murmur rippled through the line as everyone leaned, searching for another glimpse.

I followed and watched.

Then Dani tapped my shoulder.

“The kids are done.”

It had only been a minute.

“You can stay if you want, but we’ll be at the giraffes.”

The panda scratched itself, a wave moved through the audience.

I raised my camera to frame the bear.

Then I lowered it.

Turned. Framed the crowd.

Click.

“Naw. I’m good. Let’s go.”