Ueno zoo open in January?

im visiting ueno zoo on the 2nd of January, but i'm not sure if i'll be able to see animals like Lions, due to low temperature during winter. Are all the animal avaible during winter, or only animals like penguins? How is it possible for ueno zoo to leave africans animals out?

I believe that most zoos have indoor and outdoor cages for large African animals, enabling zoo visitors to see the animals at anytime of the year. I think Ueno Zoo is no exception.

Tokyo is not so cold that only penguins will be comfortable in winter ;-) There are far colder cities in the world than Tokyo which also have African animals in their zoos (think Chicago, northern Europe, cities in Canada), so there are obviously measures in place to keep the animals comfortable.

I think it is actually more of a problem for the cold-weather animals in summer here (polar bears etc) as they often show keepers giving them iceblocks on TV in summer.

Yeah I was there last Jan - Its not closed