Wakayama · Japan
Adventure World
For 31 years this Shirahama park bred more giant panda cubs than anywhere outside China. The last four pandas flew home in June 2025 — here is what the park is now, and why it is still worth the trip.
A 31-year program that just ended
Giant pandas are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, and every zoo outside China that holds them does so under a fixed-term loan from Chinese conservation authorities, with cubs born counted toward joint research goals rather than owned by the host zoo. Adventure World's partnership with the Chengdu base, running from 1994, was unusually successful at this: 17 cubs in all, the last born in November 2020, and for stretches of those years it held more pandas at once than any zoo outside mainland China.
That era ended in 2025. Founding male Eimei had already returned to China in 2023 and died there in January 2024. The four pandas still in Shirahama — matriarch Rauhin (b. 2000) and her daughters Yuihin (b. 2016), Saihin (b. 2018) and Fuhin (b. 2020) — were due to leave when their loan expired on August 31, 2025, but were flown back in late June instead, to avoid moving them during Japan's summer heat. The last pair left in Japan, twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, followed on January 27, 2026 — leaving Japan with no giant pandas at all for the first time since 1972. Adventure World says it hopes to continue the conservation partnership, but there is no confirmed timeline for new pandas as of this update.
Admission, 2026
Prices from the official site; the park also sells a limited-time unlimited-entry pass. Confirm against the live ticket page before you go, since prices and the exact age brackets shift periodically.
| Age group | 1-day pass | Half-day (from 14:00) |
|---|---|---|
| Adult (18+) | ¥5,300 | ¥4,000 |
| Senior (65+) | ¥4,800 | — |
| Middle/high school (12–17) | ¥4,300 | — |
| Child (4–11) | ¥3,300 | — |
Before you go
Most visitors still plan a half-day to a full day — the safari zone, aquarium and marine shows are spread across a large site, and a loop with a couple of shows takes several hours.
If you don't have a rental car, the drive-through safari runs as a guided bus tour instead, so a car isn't required to see it.
Which dolphin show is running depends on your visit date, since the park appears to be rotating in a new show around autumn 2026 — check the official attractions page shortly before you go.
The park is a short bus or taxi ride from JR Shirahama Station and from the Shirahama beach and onsen hotels covered on our main Shirahama guide.
Getting to Adventure World from Osaka
Take the JR Kuroshio limited express from Shin-Osaka or Tennoji to JR Shirahama Station — about 2.5 to 3 hours — then a Meiko Bus (明光バス) local service to the park, roughly 8–11 minutes and about ¥300.
Shirahama also has a small airport (Nanki-Shirahama Airport) with flights from Tokyo Haneda, cutting the trip from Tokyo to about an hour in the air plus transfers.