Today was another sunny, but still slightly chilly day in Tokyo, Japan. After my cousin and I grabbed some free breakfast at our hostel, we took a train to the busy Ueno Park. One of the country’s first public parks, Ueno Park is home to a number of major museums and cherry blossoms. It attracts over ten million visitors a year. We both agreed that being surrounded by the hundreds of cherry trees was surreal. They lined two sides of a wide pathway that stretched on for quite a while. Although crowded, we were still able to get some photos of each other and enjoyed seeing the excitement of other people as they stepped further into the canopy of cherry blossoms. Along our way through the park, we stopped at several temples and shrines.
At one point, we stumbled upon a jazz band playing in front of one of the temples. It was a pleasant surprise and we stopped to listen for a few minutes before continuing on and grabbing some ice cream from a cute food truck. I picked up a cherry blossom flavor out of curiosity and actually liked the consistency and sweet, cream-cheesey taste. Joey got mango. We then found a small flea market and browsed through some old rings and pins. One of the tents was selling some interesting objects such as a dried pig’s head, creepy antique prosthetic limbs, and masks that looked like horror movie props. After that, we got a bit snackish and carried on towards a pier that was lined with tents and snack vendors. We both got skewers of juicy chunks of beef and bell pepper. Joey also grabbed some candied fruit. We continued our walk through the park and took plenty more photos.
After a quick browse through Ameyoko Shopping Street and a coffee break, we headed back through the park and cherry blossoms for the Tokyo National Museum. Taking advantage of the student discount, we bought our tickets and started exploring the many exhibits. There were quite a lot of specific artwork and pieces that did not allow photography as they were important cultural items. We were glad to be inside, escaping the nippy weather for a bit. After touring the museum, we headed back through the cherry blossoms, stopped to take some photos as the sun was setting, and grabbed a quick sushi dinner at a local place. We walked about 8 miles in total.
ABC in HK 