{"id":524020,"date":"2026-03-09T06:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/524020\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T06:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:30:22","slug":"she-visited-punch-the-viral-baby-monkey-in-a-japanese-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/524020\/","title":{"rendered":"She Visited Punch, the Viral Baby Monkey, in a Japanese Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since moving to Tokyo<\/a> last year, my friends back in New York have made a habit of sending me viral posts about Japan. That’s how I first learned about Punch, the baby monkey abandoned by his mother and now cared for by zookeepers at Ichikawa City Zoo, east of Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Videos of Punch \u2014 a 7-month-old Japanese macaque \u2014 clinging to an Ikea orangutan<\/a> have racked up millions of views on TikTok. The hashtag #HangInTherePunch has gone viral.<\/p>\n

Javier Qui\u00f1ones, commercial manager at Ingka Group, which operates Ikea stores worldwide, told Business Insider that Ikea has seen sales of the Djungelskog orangutan toy increase.<\/p>\n

“The toy has long been one of our most sought-after across markets, and the story from Japan is now giving it a little extra love,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

It took Hashimoto 2 hours to get there: three trains and a 30-minute walk.<\/p>\n

Provided by Reeno Hashimoto<\/p>\n

On a recent Friday afternoon, I visited the zoo<\/p>\n

I expected other fans to be making the trek, but I didn’t spot a single rider headed for the zoo<\/a>. The trains were packed at first \u2014 commuters with suitcases bound for Narita Airport<\/a>, salarymen, uniformed schoolkids \u2014 but by the time we reached sleepy Ichikawa Station, most had cleared out.<\/p>\n

Getting there took just under 2 hours: three trains and a 30-minute walk. The zoo-bound bus doesn’t run on weekdays.<\/p>\n

Near the entrance, I began spotting both foreign and Japanese visitors climbing out of taxis, clutching monkey stuffed animals. It was obvious who they were there to see.<\/p>\n

\"Entrance<\/p>\n

Admission fee to the zoo was $2.80.<\/p>\n

Provided by Reeno Hashimoto<\/p>\n

Heading into the zoo<\/p>\n

I paid the 440-yen, or $2.80, admission fee and made my way to Monkey Mountain, passing a mosaic mural of animals along the path.<\/p>\n

There were rows of people lined up around a blue iron fence, phones raised, waiting to capture Punch in action. Spectators oohed as other monkeys climbed the rocky structure to play with a silver chain affixed to the top.<\/p>\n

The air smelled of manure. The enclosure itself was stark \u2014 rocky, with little vegetation, more concrete jungle than mountainside.<\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/p>\n

Both foreign and Japanese visitors were at the zoo.<\/p>\n

Provided by Reeno Hashimoto<\/p>\n

Some of the monkeys appeared thin, even balding<\/p>\n

Punch, by contrast, looked healthy, his fur darker and thicker than the others’. Visitors laughed when he leapt from a rock to the monkey bars.<\/p>\n

He isn’t the only baby in the exhibit, but he appears to be the smallest. Mostly, he keeps to himself, occasionally playing with a slightly larger one.<\/p>\n

A woman from Canada, wearing a Yankees hat and visiting with her family, told me she’d seen Punch playing with his Ikea toy earlier and interacting with the others.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t see any monkey fights,” she said. “We don’t love zoos and were a little concerned about supporting one if it doesn’t have the best enclosures. They could use some improvements, but it was better than I thought.”<\/p>\n

\"Monkey<\/p>\n

A troop of macaques at Monkey Mountain.<\/p>\n

Provided by Reeno Hashimoto<\/p>\n

After about 10 minutes, the troop grew restless.<\/p>\n

“Lunchtime,” someone nearby said in Japanese.<\/p>\n

The monkeys scrambled upward. Punch returned to the monkey bars. A slightly larger monkey barreled into him, knocking him off balance, but he quickly recovered.<\/p>\n

A group of heavily made-up girls in Japanese high school uniforms arrived, giggling. “Yabai,” they whispered. “Kawaii.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Visitors at the zoo were holding their own stuffed toys.<\/p>\n

Provided by Reeno Hashimoto<\/p>\n

Notably, Punch wasn’t clutching his orangutan.<\/p>\n

The toy sat abandoned on the other side of the enclosure.<\/p>\n

At 2:50 p.m., the monkeys began clamoring for food, climbing the door and hanging from the rails. Then a young man in a blue uniform entered.<\/p>\n

Punch immediately climbed onto the zookeeper’s leg as he circled the enclosure, scattering orange and yellow pellets. Within minutes, the food was gone.<\/p>\n

The zookeeper returned with what looked like grass. This time, Punch perched on his shoulder as they made another lap before disappearing into a back room together.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Another zookeeper at the Ichikawa City Zoo.<\/p>\n

Provided by Reeno Hashimoto<\/p>\n

Around me, spectators wondered whether Punch would reappear before closing. Most were young adults \u2014 students and couples, some in coordinated outfits \u2014 clearly here for a photo.<\/p>\n

I asked a zookeeper if he had time to answer a few questions, but he said the staff was overwhelmed by Punch’s popularity and too busy to respond, even to email inquiries.<\/p>\n

Then an announcement crackled over the loudspeaker: Monkey Mountain was getting crowded. Visitors were asked to limit their stay to 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Punch’s fame was being rationed in 10-minute increments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since moving to Tokyo last year, my friends back in New York have made a habit of sending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-524020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}