Went to Ueno Park back when it was still sunny in Japan. It's been raining for days--today it even snowed! But yes, Ueno Park is a wonderful park that, come spring, will be filled with sakura cherry blossom trees and hundreds of people gathering around to take pictures of them. A few lone tress have started to blossom, and already people are swarming around to take photos.
There are signs around that say not to feed the cats but... I didn't see any. There are a fair amount of homeless in Ueno park though. I read a pretty interesting documentation about this here. The homelessness situation in Japan is quite different from in America; for instance, you'd be hard-pressed to find a homeless person begging or pan-handling in Japan. I've been trying to put my finger on what's different about it, and I think that's one of the big things. Ueno Park is a really interesting place when you think about it. It's huge, larger than most parks I've been to. It's interesting to think that there are hundreds of homeless people in a place that has shrines, museums, a concert hall and a zoo.
Speaking of which... There are three museums in Ueno Park as well, all of which of course closed when I arrived. The art museum has one of Rodanthe's Gates of Hell works which is an identical replica of... the one in Philadelphia! And also very scary. It's located outside the museum to technically you can see it for free.
At the main temple, you can buy these beautiful boards and write your hopes on them and then hang them up. They'll eventually be burned by the temple. Some people bring their own boards with them, and a lot are elaborately decorated. I saw boards written in Japanese, Korean, French, English, and even Russian.
Then, right beside the place for the boards, the are rows and rows of beautiful stone lanterns:
This little monument is dedicated to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As it goes, a man returned to his family's house after the bombing and found it on fire caused by the bomb. He took a flame from the house and kept it lit as a show of defiance and remembrance. The flame in the center of this monument is the same flame. It's a bit like the eternal flame in Arlington Cemetary, if you've ever seen that; it never goes out.
Some shots of the temple:
The park is also home to a beautiful pagoda:
Outside of the temple:
One of several huge 'monster lanterns' in existence, built centuries ago. It must look awesome when lit:
There wasn't any sign that I could make out explaining this section of the park, but I'm guessing it to be Buddhist in nature?
There's a large pond (where you can rent paddle boats, yay!) with shrines on an island in the center:
Sometimes people perform in the park; there were acrobats there when I went. I was impressed by the guy's pants more than anything else:
So far only one lone cherry tree has bloomed:
A Shinto temple. I believe you should ring the gong before entering? Then inside there are good luck charms--kind like a four leaf clover, hm?--and incense for sale.
A small memorial to samurai who died in the area I believe during the warring states era? Wow, I need to start taking better notes when I visit these places.
And then this guy is Saigo Takamori, a man who opposed the government back during the early 1900s. After the disgrace of defeat, he killed himself. And while technically an enemy of the government, so many people admired Takamori for his bravery that the government really had to do something to commemorate him years later. However, you'll notice that he's in casual garb and not a military outfit...
By the statue you can look off a cliff down to the road and see the train station.
Just a small note... At big touristy attractions like this, there are folks who speak English and approach people who look like they speak English and ask for donations to various causes. They show you a little print out laminated and a basket and expect a small donation. At Ueno Park, it was a man with an information sheet about a recent earthquake in Taiwan. Now, since I'm a giant dork, I get The Geologist newsletter and it's been rather quiet about this 'earthquake' soooo...
Long story short, I started speaking Spanish and he left me alone.
Mmmmhm. Right. It always struck me as a little suspicious that they only approached people who spoke English or looked like tourists, and now I have a good idea why.
There are signs around that say not to feed the cats but... I didn't see any. There are a fair amount of homeless in Ueno park though. I read a pretty interesting documentation about this here. The homelessness situation in Japan is quite different from in America; for instance, you'd be hard-pressed to find a homeless person begging or pan-handling in Japan. I've been trying to put my finger on what's different about it, and I think that's one of the big things. Ueno Park is a really interesting place when you think about it. It's huge, larger than most parks I've been to. It's interesting to think that there are hundreds of homeless people in a place that has shrines, museums, a concert hall and a zoo.
Speaking of which... There are three museums in Ueno Park as well, all of which of course closed when I arrived. The art museum has one of Rodanthe's Gates of Hell works which is an identical replica of... the one in Philadelphia! And also very scary. It's located outside the museum to technically you can see it for free.
At the main temple, you can buy these beautiful boards and write your hopes on them and then hang them up. They'll eventually be burned by the temple. Some people bring their own boards with them, and a lot are elaborately decorated. I saw boards written in Japanese, Korean, French, English, and even Russian.
Then, right beside the place for the boards, the are rows and rows of beautiful stone lanterns:
This little monument is dedicated to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As it goes, a man returned to his family's house after the bombing and found it on fire caused by the bomb. He took a flame from the house and kept it lit as a show of defiance and remembrance. The flame in the center of this monument is the same flame. It's a bit like the eternal flame in Arlington Cemetary, if you've ever seen that; it never goes out.
Some shots of the temple:
The park is also home to a beautiful pagoda:
Outside of the temple:
One of several huge 'monster lanterns' in existence, built centuries ago. It must look awesome when lit:
There wasn't any sign that I could make out explaining this section of the park, but I'm guessing it to be Buddhist in nature?
There's a large pond (where you can rent paddle boats, yay!) with shrines on an island in the center:
Sometimes people perform in the park; there were acrobats there when I went. I was impressed by the guy's pants more than anything else:
So far only one lone cherry tree has bloomed:
A Shinto temple. I believe you should ring the gong before entering? Then inside there are good luck charms--kind like a four leaf clover, hm?--and incense for sale.
A small memorial to samurai who died in the area I believe during the warring states era? Wow, I need to start taking better notes when I visit these places.
And then this guy is Saigo Takamori, a man who opposed the government back during the early 1900s. After the disgrace of defeat, he killed himself. And while technically an enemy of the government, so many people admired Takamori for his bravery that the government really had to do something to commemorate him years later. However, you'll notice that he's in casual garb and not a military outfit...
By the statue you can look off a cliff down to the road and see the train station.
Just a small note... At big touristy attractions like this, there are folks who speak English and approach people who look like they speak English and ask for donations to various causes. They show you a little print out laminated and a basket and expect a small donation. At Ueno Park, it was a man with an information sheet about a recent earthquake in Taiwan. Now, since I'm a giant dork, I get The Geologist newsletter and it's been rather quiet about this 'earthquake' soooo...
Long story short, I started speaking Spanish and he left me alone.
Mmmmhm. Right. It always struck me as a little suspicious that they only approached people who spoke English or looked like tourists, and now I have a good idea why.
