iZoo | A Reptile-Only Zoo in Izu, Shizuoka — Giant Crocodiles and Tortoises Everywhere

What is iZoo

Before you even enter iZoo, there are two posters on the wall near the entrance. Each shows photos of lions, giraffes, penguins, and dolphins — each one crossed out in red with the word いません (not here). Below, in large text: 爬虫類しかいません — only reptiles.

iZoo is Japan's first reptile-only immersive zoo, located in Kawazu-cho on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture. It keeps over 300 species of reptiles — snakes, lizards, iguanas, turtles, tortoises, and crocodiles — with no mammals. There's nothing else like it in Japan.

The giant crocodile

iZoo has several crocodile enclosures. Outside, a fenced area holds a very large crocodile lying directly facing you. At that distance, its head is about the size of a carry-on suitcase. The teeth are visible. The skin is thick, raised scales. It doesn't move — and because it doesn't move, you can't quite tell if it's watching you.

Inside, a separate pool area holds two large crocodiles at the water's edge. The artificial lighting lets you take in the full length of each animal — in here the scale registers more directly than it does outdoors.

The tortoise room

This is the most striking part of iZoo. A large indoor room with giant tortoises spread across the entire floor — densely enough that you watch your step to avoid them. These are Aldabra giant tortoises, and iZoo reportedly holds the largest collection in Japan. Each shell is over 50 centimeters across. Standing among them, the scale is hard to process.

Further in is a corridor where tortoises also roam freely alongside visitors. The boundary between visitor path and tortoise path is intentionally unclear — the animals move through the same space. A sign warns they can bite. It's not a formality.

Snakes and iguanas

Most snakes are in indoor glass enclosures. One that stands out is a bright green tree snake — slender, coiled around branches, easy to mistake for part of the plant. The color is very saturated against the wooden background.

Iguanas have several areas. Some are in sand-floored enclosures; others are draped over a wooden door frame in a semi-outdoor structure with no visible barrier, completely indifferent to people walking past.

The long-necked turtle

Among the aquatic exhibits, there's a snake-necked turtle with a head and neck disproportionately large relative to its shell. It extends its neck out to swim, and up close the face has an almost pig-like quality. It's one of the most visually unusual animals in the whole zoo — the kind of thing that takes a moment to mentally place.

The unexpected emus

iZoo has a section with emus. Emus are not reptiles, so their presence is slightly at odds with the whole concept — but there they are, two of them stretching their necks over the fence toward you, orange-red eyes very prominent. Whatever the reason they're there, their expressions are worth the look.

The Story of This Place

The hands-on reptile park you're standing in — iZoo — is younger than it looks: it only opened on December 15, 2012, yet it claims the title of Japan's first and largest zoo devoted entirely to reptiles. It wasn't built from scratch. The site was previously \"Izu Andy Land,\" a turtle-centered attraction that opened back in 1986. In the spring of 2012, director Tsuyoshi Shirawa bought it, closed it temporarily on August 20 that year, and after only about four months of renovation, reopened it at year's end as iZoo. Shirawa had been immersed in keeping and breeding reptiles since his days at Shizuoka Prefectural Agricultural High School, and in 1995 he founded Rep Japan, going on to build a career around breeding and trading rare reptiles. At opening the park spanned roughly 20,000 square meters, with about 1,500 animals across some 300 species — and the \"sea of giant tortoises\" you see here is Japan's largest such herd, more than seventy Aldabra giant tortoises. The zoo also holds genuine world firsts: the first-ever live display of the earless monitor lizard in April 2013, and in 2014 the world's first captive breeding of the species, from egg-laying to hatching.

The town wrapped around this zoo, Kawazu, carries a fame all its own: it is the birthplace of the Kawazu cherry blossom. In 1955, a local man named Katsumi Iida spotted a roughly one-meter cherry sapling growing among the weeds along the Kawazu River and transplanted it into his garden; it first bloomed in 1966, was named \"Kawazu-zakura\" in 1974, and the original tree still stands today. Head upstream and you reach the Kawazu Seven Falls (Kawazu Nanadaru), seven waterfalls strung along the river as it tumbles down from Amagi, the tallest — Odaru — dropping around 30 meters. As for how they came to be, legend has it that the tengu Manzaburo once slew a seven-headed serpent that his wife had glimpsed at Amagi's Hatcho Pond: he set out seven casks of strong sake by the water, and when the beast had drunk itself into a stupor, he struck off all seven heads with his sword. The serpent's body is said to have become the river, and its seven severed necks became the seven falls. Standing here among the tortoises and the great snakes of iZoo, it's worth remembering that you're deep in a valley where the water itself is wrapped in that old story.

Before You Go

・Address: 406-2 Hama, Kawazu-cho, Kamo-gun, Shizuoka
・Access: Shinkansen to Atami → Izu Kyuko Line to Kawazu Station, then 5-min taxi; or JR Limited Express "Odoriko" from Tokyo direct to Kawazu, approx. 2.5 hours
・Admission: Adults ¥2,500 / Elementary school ¥1,500 / Preschool free
・Hours: 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), open year-round
・Nearby: Kawazu Seven Waterfalls trail, Izu Kogen, Shimoda
・Check Klook or KKday for Izu day trip options