August 25, 2007 - Ueno

We awoke early to check out of our room today, and head to Ueno, a very different area of Tokyo on the northeast end. The journey over was rough, with all of our luggage, but the air conditioning of the train saved us, and we made it to Ueno. This time, I was certain that I knew how to get to the hotel. However, we got lost again, and I asked a policeman for help and he said we were very far away. He hailed us a taxi, and I sank into the seat feeling I had failed again. The driver, though, was very confused at the map, and kept insisting that we could walk. After driving in what can’t be described as anything but a circle, we arrived at our hotel. I was not wrong! We were about one block away. The policeman was obviously not from Ueno.

After dropping off our luggage, we headed to a nearby café to wait until we could actually check into our room. I ate some surprisingly delicious spaghetti carbonara, and we watched some sort of track event in Osaka, while being stared at by chain-smoking old Japanese men. We walked back to the hotel, and, realizing that we still had several hours to kill, sat in the lobby’s excellent massage chair for a bit, and then headed to Ueno park, a huge park full of lots of entertaining places.

I knew there was a large zoo in the park, but other than that, everything was a surprise. I was very delighted to learn that there were numerous shrines and temples, as well as a huge 5 storied pagoda, and a shrine containing a former emperor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who lived in the 17^th century and played a very important role in Japanese history. I was excited to finally share with Dan the part of Japan I love so much, not just the crowded streets that I am sure only overwhelmed him.

The weather was hot, but the trees of the park offered a bit of shady relief, although the deafening cicadas were relentless. We eventually reached the zoo, and saw a giant panda, giant Japanese salamanders, and other interesting yet sad and confined animals.

After the zoo, we rented a paddle boat that was shaped like a huge swan, and made circles in a large pond surrounded by trees and lotus flowers that looked out over the tall buildings of Ueno. It was lovely and the breeze was cool and refreshing.

Though we were both tired, we grabbed a drink from one of the 500 vending machines in the park (literally around every corner) and walked towards the large fountain.

Various street musicians and vendors lined the walkways, as well as a few women dressed in kimono with photographers following behind. The fountain made a great backdrop for pictures of them, and of us (shown).

A brief stop back at the hotel and a quick nap later, I took Dan to Akihabara, the famous electronic district, to look for a camera. Everyone says electronics in Japan are much cheaper, but I think it’s untrue. IPODs were more expensive, and the cameras seemed a bit marked up as well. We made no large purchases, but just strolled around, and ate dinner at a nice tempura restaurant. Dinner was delicious. Dan is getting better at using chopsticks with each meal, and he is venturing to try new things, although he made me eat the tiny tempura’d sardine-looking fish, which wasn’t bad! He still refuses to try to say anything in Japanese, but I am working on it!