The sight you are greeted with when you get off at Ueno Station: elephant butt.
But now I have a little time before work to catch up on some Japan Trip Days. Up today is a trip to Ueno Park. Enjoy!
Never got tired of seeing big gates in Japan.
Now the main goal on going to Ueno Park was to visit Tōshō-gū shrine. Of course the park is home to a lot of different attractions. I would say someone could spend an entire day here and not get bored. But beware of the outdoor potties. Ladies you might want to eat inside a restaurant and then use the potties there.
This kitty was SO cute. XD Also don't feed the cats or pigeons.
When is the last time I even rode a bike? X__x
Owning a car is very expensive in Japan. You need to pay for parking everywhere, gas is more expensive, always having to yield to pedestrians, and getting your car out of a parking lot can take forever. So most people either use the trains or ride their bikes. It was weird spending so long not driving.
Something....important. XD
I am not really sure what this was but a lot of school children were hanging around it and buying charms from the smallest shop ever.
I really do love all the entrances to shrines and temples.
Tōshō-gū shrine had several entrances. Something different about this shrine area is that many people were visiting it but not to worship. No they were all along the outside sketching and painting. I think there was an art university nearby. I just thought it was interesting that out of all the places we have been in Japan so far this is the first time I have seen artists.
Pay no attention to us foreigners.
One of the many old structures around the temple.
Oh hi old structures that I must take 12548 pictures of.
There were many, many pillars around the temple. Most of them looked exactly the same. But time had not been kind to some and okay to others so there were still slightly differences that made them all unique.
The zoo is right around the corner. We could hear some of the animals XD
And this is my temple. :(
That's right folks. Under construction. SIGH. I guess when a country actually has old stuff it is because they take care of it. Also one must be ready for a lot of construction when they go to Japan. So...yeah. There is Tōshō-gū shrine. A lovely tarp.
At least there was a lot to still look at so it wasn't a complete loss.
Museum time!
Since much time was not spent at the shrine we decided to head on over to the Tokyo National Museum. Big building was big and there were plenty of people waiting in line for tickets. But I think many of those people went to the special exhibit instead because it was not crowded in the regular museum.
MOG?! Pictures.....INSIDE something?!
That's right folks. We were allowed to take pictures INSIDE a building. Shocking I know. If you were not allowed to take a picture of a specific item because it was donated from a special collection there was a little sign near it. But as long as you were not a crazy person about it you were allowed to take pictures. Yay for us!
XO I want to go see that!!!
Death sticks.
A lot of the exhibits had English explanations for the artifacts which I thought was really cool. Also this museum had tons of swords so come out and see the history boys!
This armor looks like cow. XD
Experience the culture!
I think my friend would have died if she saw these.
Some of the items in the museum were a bit lame. Like broken pieces of pottery. Like TINY pieces that looked like trash. Or maps of fishing routes. But then the museum had some really interesting pieces like these that more than made up for the boring. I really love how most of these kimonos were intact and not moth eaten.
XO Panda time?
Since we had some time left (as my shrine was just a sheet of plastic) we decided to go to the Ueno Zoo. I had originally left it off my list as my guide book said it wasn't worth it and it was more for the kids. Also I heard they did not have any pandas. But one should not always listen to guide books. That and as we traveled around Ueno Park we realized with all the panda stuff being sold...maybe there were pandas.
First time seeing a panda in real life!
And pandas they had. Two slightly fat little creatures nomming and sleeping. The Japanese apparently love these pandas as the line to see them was pretty long. Not all day long mind you but pretty substantial. But most of the line was under a tarp so it was all good.
The wait was well worth it. Wish we had more time to spend taking pictures of the little guys but the guards were trying to keep us moving so everyone could see them. Besides if you stayed in there all day how could you buy all the panda stuff around the zoo. The other animals got no love at all. XD
This panda really had the hungers.
This panda was lazy and did not wake up.
The eating panda got way more love than the sleeping panda. XD But I thought sleeping panda was cute too.
Giraffes do not belong inside!! XO
Half zebra half donkey 100 percent cute!
Don't drop me mommy!
I love walking by just at the right moment. How cute is this picture?!
Um...why are the penguins not inside? Also the Japanese do not call them penguins. XD
Running around the zoo taking in the scenery.
Snap and run.
We got to the zoo rather late so we didn't get to see a few animals before they announced it was time to go. My husband barely had time to take a picture of this pagoda before the guards were like RARW. Later we found out this was not some recent replica pagoda but the REAL THING. A very old pagoda the zoo was built around. Boo that we didn't have anytime to really look at it!
That was our Day 14. Even though our shrine was closed we still had tons to do today. There were two more museums in the area and a kiddy park for kids that we didn't take pictures of. But if you love pandas or buying stuff with pandas on it the Ueno Park is for you. XD
Up next....DISNEY! XD
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