Ueno Park

Yesterday, I went to Ueno Park in Tokyo. It's a very big park, just outside Ueno Station. The first time I was there was in 2007. The area that is Ueno Park was originally Kan'eiji Temple. That was destroyed during the Meiji Restoration. The land for the park was granted in 1924. The National Museum, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and several other museums are there. There is also a Zoo.

I went there to see an exhibit at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum called "Morris to Mingei". I'm a big fan of arts and crafts style, and art nouveau, as well as Japanese art. William Morris was part of the beginning of the English arts and crafts movement.

When I got to Tokyo, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. The little thermometer I have hanging on my purse indicated 80 degrees at one point during the day.

First, I went to Tokyo station. Maruzen bookstore is one of the few places that open at 9:00 in the morning, and they have a large English book section. Maruzen is on the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. That's the side that looks like the original station.

En route, I saw this on the side of an ice cream vending machine.













Maruzen had a display of cat art. While it was all very cute stuff, it was priced out of my range.

















On the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station, is the Yaesu Book Center. I had never been there before, although the bookstore in Utsunomiya station is a branch. This one is eight stories high.

Here is a statue outside the store. Japan is like this -- old Japan and bleeding-edge technology blend seamlessly.

The foreign language (books in foreign languages, mostly English) section is small, but they had a neat series of bilingual business books.

Back at Ueno station, I found a very long escalator.














Here is the Panda Bridge between Ueno Station and Ueno Park. There is a very large Panda statue just outside the station exit there. It's a good landmark if you use the coin lockers, like I did.

There are homeless people living in Ueno park, and I couln't always distinguish between the men who were retired and enjoying the weather, the ones who were recovering from the night before, and the ones who lived there.

In Ueno Park, here is the National Museum. I visited here in 2007. It's a very nice museum, especially if you like Japanese art and history.













There are all kinds of performing artists in the park. This guy was pretty good.













Here is the TokyoMetropolitan Art Museum.












Of course, I couldn't take pictures of the exhibit. Morris' things are more neo-gothic, in my opinion. He worked with textiles and furniture and anyone who wanted to decorate a house for D&D would enjoy his stuff. I wouldn't mind a room of it, but I like the later craftsman style.
After I left the exhibit, I saw and exhibit of bonsai trees. Most bonsai are not as small as the ones you can buy at Target.

Here is a cute umbrella sculpture.








There are signs in the park warning not to feed the birds or cats. There are also people in the park who do just that. I found a statue, and before I could take a picture of it, I saw a cute black and white cat. It was shy, but a man (who the cat obviously knew) held the cat for me to take its picture. I had some cat treats in my purse and was able to buy some photo ops. But there was another man who knew what this kitty really liked -- cheese. He even gave me some to feed the cat.

Note: not only is it legal to drink in the park, but you can buy beer there as well. It was warm enough to enjoy a nice cool one.











A crow.




































Here is the statue.










Here is another kitty.












Here are several torii gates.









Some trees were blooming already. I think they are plum blossoms.


































There is a little island in a lake in the park with a Benzaiten shrine. Benzaiten is the Japanese version of the Hindu goddess Sarasvati. She is the goddess of music and eloquence, and also one of the Seven Lucky Gods.













Ducks!












Here is the marshy lake in the middle of the city.












All in all, it was a very nice day. I even got home at a reasonable hour!

Edo-Tokyo Museum (江戸東京博物館)

I went back to Tokyo again on Sunday. I had arranged to meet my friend Kazumi and go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum.　　She brought her friend Mitsuko.

Mitsuko has a kiln at her home and she gave me a beautiful vase she'd made herself!!

This picture was taken using auto-everything.










This picture was taken with manual focus using Live View on the the Canon. I also used the aperture priority setting. Either way, it's a beautiful vase, don't you think?

This is the second time I've met Kazumi in person. The first time was, we figured out, three years ago when I came to Yamasa for the second time. That time, she gave me detailed instructions on how to get to a station near her house in Chiba prefecture, including how to get to the right platform at Tokyo Station. This time, we just agreed to meet at the west gate of Ryogoku Station (両国駅）. I feel so accomplished! For those of you who want to go to the Museum, it's right outside the west gate of the station.

Tokyo has been a big city for a long time. It was previously called Edo, and the Edo period of Japanese history started when the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved there in 1603. By the mid 18th century, Tokyo had a population of more than a million. By 1965, it was the first city to have population of over 20 million.

Back to the museum. It has several large models of the Edo-era city. It also has a good overview of the Tokugawa shoguns.

Currently, there is a taiga drama on NHK called "Atsuhime". It's about a princess in the time leading up to and during the Meiji restoration (1868). The museum has some pieces actually owned by the real Atsuhime. Sadly, photography is not allowed in that exhibit.

Here are some pics.

This is a picture of a 1/30 model of the area where the townspeople lived.













This is a model of the Nihonbashi area.












This is a model of buldings in Edo Castle.












I can't go to Tokyo Station without going to Maruzen bookstore. Here are some lights outside the Oazu building where Maruzen is. Just go out the Marunouchi North exit and there you are.

Hachiko

Last weekend I went to Shibuya. Shibuya is another shopping district in Tokyo, but I came for something else.

There is a famous statue of a dog named "Hachiko" right outside the Hachiko exit of Shibuya station. Hachiko's story is famous in Japan.

In the early 1900's a professor at Tokyo University had a dog named Hachiko. Every morning, the dog would walk with the professor to Shibuya station. The professor took the train to work, and the dog would go home. The dog would then meet the professor at the station in the evening.

At one point, the professor suffered a stroke at work, and died. Hachiko kept showing up in the evening when the professor's train came. This continued for years afterwards.

When Hatchiko's story was published, he became famous. Loyalty is an important virtue in Japn, so a story about such a loyal dog was a hit with the public.

Here is the statue of Hachiko.































Here is a photo of Hachiko.

Nekobukuro

On Saturday, I visited a part of Tokyo that I had only passed through previously -- Ikebukuro　(池袋）. It's north of Shunjuku, and on the Yamanote Line.

Tokyu Hands is a chain of stores I first found in Nagoya. I love these stores! They have a really neat collection of stuff -- DIY, decor, health gadgets, travel goods, craft supplies, and what not. There is one in Ikebukuro, which has a unique section on the top floor: Nekobukuro.

Neko (猫）is Japanese for cat. This is a place where you can pay money to go and hang out with 20 or so cats, along with other people, for as long as you like (within their business hours). It's only 600 yen, and a nice lady was handing out 100 yen off coupons on the street outside, so I HAD to go!! Before you say, "Who'd spend money for that?", remember that most people in Tokyo live in apartments and can't have cats or dogs.

They have several different breeds of cat. Plus, they have all kinds of walkways and steps for the cats. Being cats, many of the cats were sleeping. Or trying to. Not all the cats were out among the people. Some were in their living quarters -- visible but not pettable. And it was a small area, so only so many people could get in at once. Overall, it was pretty fun for me.

Here are some pics. You can see all the kitty pics here.

Here are some of the walkways for the cats. The one with the steps goes through a hole in the wall.
























This one is a "mike" (mee-kay). That refers to the three colors, white, black and brown.

This weekend's trip

This weekend's trip was to Shinjuku -- another section of Tokyo.

I had been to the Maruzen store by Tokyo station, which has a large foreign language (English and other languages) section. The Kinokuniya store in Shinjuku also has a large foreign language section. There is also a Tokyu Hands store -- it has all kinds of household things.

Unfortunately, it was very cloudy, so the pictures aren't the best. But it didn't rain, so that's OK.

The first place I went was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. There is a tourist information office there. I found one sheet guides to the different sections of Tokyo. They appear to have better maps for free than the guidebooks that I spent good money for.

The main reason to go here, though, was the view. You can go to the 45th floor for a view of the city. It's a very fast elevator. I think it went up to the 45th floor faster than the elevator where I used to work went to the third! Had the weather been better, the view would be better as well. But the price is right, so I'll try to go there again before my year is up. Meanwhile, here are some pics for you!

Here are some pictures of the building from the ground. There are two towers, connected at the bottom.




























Here are people in the other tower looking out.







You can see I don't have a filter to eliminate window reflections, but here is the view.




Here is the other tower.

















Here's another view. You can see that there is some greenery here...















This was taken from the ground. I don't know what building this is, but I think it looks cool.














After that, I went to find Tokyu Hands and Kinokuniya. The first thing I found out about Shinjuku station is that you can't get from the east and west exits directly to the south exit. The west exit took me to the Tokyo Metropolitan building, but I wanted the new south exit to get to the Takashimaya Times Square, where the stores are.

At one point, I found a McDonald's and thought that would be a good place for lunch and trying to find out where I was in relationship to where I wanted to be. It was noon, so it was very crowded. But a bacon lettuce burger is very good! I figured I was on the north west side of the station -- and I wanted to be on the southeast station. I did finally find Takashimaya Times Square.

The Krispy Kreme in Appleton may have closed, but here's one in Shinjuku!





















Here is a promenade outside Takashimaya Times Square, where Tokyu Hands and Kinokuniya (and Takashimaya department store) are located.

There was a slight earthquake while I wrote this. A little rattling, but not much.