Our stay in Tokyo - Ueno park

Although we fell asleep quite quickly, staying asleep proved to be more difficult. The years of thick mattresses had made us soft and around 5am we were both awake and trying to find a comfortable position to get back to sleep. In the end I got up, dressed and went downstairs to the foyer and typed up my first blog report which is unfortunately now defunct. The combination of the Apple and Japanese keyboard made it a long slow process.

View from the Asakusa hotel

The view from our window showed us just how close the Sensoji temple was to our hotel. There in the early morning sunlight was the top storeys of the pagoda. We still had over 90 minutes before our breakfast would be served so we got out the maps and guidebooks and started to plan where we would go. One thing we did decide was to avoid using the subway and walk as much as possible. So after a Japanese style breakfast of grilled fish, soup, rice and pickles we set off due west to Ueno Park

A local shrine

At 8:30 in the morning the streets were quite quiet, certainly far less crowded than the previous day. The thing that struck both of us as we walked along was how clean the streets and houses were. We saw many shop keepers sweeping the pavement in front of their shop, and not just into the road, they brushed the road as well and then picked up the dust and dirt they collected. We even saw one women cleaning out the cracks between the paving stones.

Small wooden plates with wishes.

About half way between Asakusa and Ueno we came across a small shrine up some quite steep steps. A short lesson on Japanese religion - Temples are the places of Buddhist worship, and Shrines are the places of Shinto worship. There were many businessmen in the main building attending a service possible to close a new deal, officiated by monks in colourful outfits.The stalls were selling Omikuji , a form of paper fortune, wooden tablets on which to write wishes and other talismans.

Cherry blossom in Ueno Park.

Ueno is one of the main railway junctions in Tokyo but also has a large park, famous for Hanami parties, and a zoo.

After traversing the railway the first thing we came across was a canopy of cherry blossom and lanterns along the main path. It was also very obvious that the previous day, Sunday, there had been a large Hanami party.

Can collection in Ueno Park

One of the indications were the large number of cans that had been collected by the down-and-outs that had tarpaulin homes in the park. They were busy picking them up and then crushing them flat ready for recycling.

But the parties had not stopped. As we progressed through the park we came across carpets of blue tarpaulin with a single person sitting in the middle of it. Was this the advanced party reserving the place for later in the day when his or her work colleagues arrive?

Heron fishes in the Shinobazunoike

Ueno Park has a large pond called Shinobazunoike , it is divided by paths and bridges and has a temple on an island in the middle of the pond. There was a great deal of wild life - geese, ducks, cormorants, turtles and carp. As I walked along a fence I noticed a heron standing completely still. In fact it took a few minutes before I know it was real and not a statue. The whole scene was beautiful.

Typical Japanese photo pose

It was in the park where we started to get cherry blossom overload. The trees were endless and in some guides the term forest is used for the park. The park also houses the Tokyo Festival Hall, the Tokyo National Museum, the National Science Museum and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum along with the Kaneiji Pagoda and Toshogu shrine, and yet there was plenty of open space.

Rita is escorted across the path

While in the park we discovered an interesting phenomenon - safety staff. Part of the path in the park had been dug up for work to be done and there was one uniformed person whose sole responsibility was to wave the pedestrians across the narrow walkway. This was not just an isolated occurrence and every building site had at least one person who looked after the safety of passers-by.

The weather was getting warmer and the park was filling up with people arriving for the party. We decided to leave and make our way to the next place on our itinerary.