14 May, 2009 Thursday
Ueno Park is a spacious public park in Tokyo. We ended up coming here several times since its the place for a number of museums and a zoo. There are three major museums (The Tokyo National Museum, The National Science Museum and The National Museum of Western Art) a concert hall and several shrines.
The park itself is pretty big, but it is peppered throughout with venues that draw in enough visitors to make the place seem busy. It makes a pleasant enough wander however when either going to or from one of its attractions.
Alternatively, there seemed to be the odd entertainer such as this balloon guy, that you could stop and watch for a bit.
Despite the busyness of the park, I did find this little scene of a man and his bike with a cat feeding to express the sentiment of the place.
The first time we went, there happened to be a small market selling some traditional gear such as ceramics and alcohol as well as these savoury salad and bacon parcels.
A temporary market, it was gone in a few days. It reminded me of the European markets that pop up in London places such as Croydon and the City, and which only stay for a weekend.
A short video clip of the park at a junction near the zoo:
In February 2009, Mark and Linh moved from the UK to the Far East to spend 16 months living in Hong Kong and traveling around East Asia. This website documents their journey.