Imperial Palace and Ueno

I wrote these posts at the end of each day of my trip, but didn't want to post them until I had pictures to coincided with the posts!

Saturday, August 15th


It's 10 p.m. and I'm ready for bed. Surprisingly, I was able to wake up before 6 a.m. this morning with no difficulty! With my best friends-- Lonely Planet's Tokyo and its Tokyo Subway Route Map-- I was exploring the city by 7:30 a.m.. It was an extremely beautiful day, and to take advantage of the cooler weather, I walked around one of the city's municipal parks-- Ueno Park. Located about an eight minute walk from my hotel/hostel, it is also the Tokyo's oldest park. The park contains several shrines, which I managed to visit two of them, a zoo, ponds and a statue of Saigo Takamori. Though every park and/or shrine I visited has observable development behind it, seeing historic meet modern is fascinating! I also noticed a significant amount of homeless people. People were sleeping near the entrances, within the park, and on benches. I do not ever remember seeing this many, if any, homeless people sleeping in NYC's Central Park. They did not bother me or anyone else that I noticed.

From Ueno Park I went to Tokyo Station, which was a challenge in itself just to make sure I headed in the right direction. A Subway attendant was able to speak and understand enough English to assist me. On a side note, the language barrier is more challenging than I ever expect, but anyone I have asked for help has always been willing to help me. Continuing, I took the JR Line, which is one of the faster and nicer trains. Traveling on Tokyo's Subway reminds me of New York City in the fact that buildings are built up against the tracks. Otherwise, it operates quite similar to D.C's Metro. The only, but significant, difference is that Tokyo has quite a bit more track and lines in a more compact area. Luckily, I have experience using a mass transit system! Oh, and all the cars have anime advertising. When I say everywhere in the car, it is everywhere!


From Tokyo Station I walked to the Imperial Palace and stopped to sit on a bench. Wishing I had my reading book, I read more of my Tokyo by Lonely Planet. Sitting in the shade was bearable, but the sun was beating down by this time, which was around 10 a.m.. The park was consistently busy with people running or biking, tour groups and tourists. While on the bench, I noticed that a majority of the women carried umbrellas. It did not look like it was going to rain. Aha! They use them keep from being sunburned! The umbrellas are adorable. They come in different colors, prints and styles. I wanted one....no, needed one! I could already feel myself burning. Hmmmmm. The park also had quite a bit of homeless people as well, who were cat napping in the grass. After the break, I headed towards the palace, which is closed to the public but you are able to get a snapshot of the palace from one area. Afterwards, I walked around until lunch. Lonely Planet suggested Hump, which the original restaurant is located in Los Angeles, CA. Walking along, I noticed I was on Tokyo's "5th Avenue." Armani, Burberry, Tiffany and Co., etc. lined the street, which I must say that Tokyo is--in general-- extremely clean for its massive size!! For a Saturday, it was not busy either. Once I arrived to Hump's location, I spent about 10 min. just trying to find the restaurant within the skyscraper it is located in. The floors in Tokyo are labeled different. For instance, the lowest floor could be B1, followed by B2, then 1, 2, 3, etc.

The restaurant had a scenic view of a portion of the moat that surrounds the Imperial Palace, and it was beautiful! Kudos to LP's suggestion! The spicy tuna dish was amazing, and I ate the entire meal with chopsticks. Can I be considered a natural? Haha.

I left Tokyo Station and went back to Ueno. The station was packed! When I came in last night, I did not realize there was a mini shopping mall within the station. I set foot, and once again, browsed through boutiques. I could not find a decent priced store, which made it difficult for me to want to buy anything. Though the clothes are expensive, stores will oftentimes have a section, or two, or three, where clothing is 50-70 percent off. I tried on a few items, which LP was not lying when it stated that clothes are made smaller here. With no such luck in the clothing department, I did find a few purses I fell in love with. For 30,000 yen, I could have bought a beautiful, soft, carmel-colored, leather purse. Any idea how much 30,000 yen is? Approximately $316.00!!! I can live without it; I'm searching for gifts for family and friends. I walked out of the mini-shopping mall and into the alleys behind that particular station. Back-up, I need to tell you that though there is a "station," each station has multiple exits, sometimes across the street. Back to where I left off. The alleys were packed with vendors and people, and this was around 6 p.m. I walked in and out of the store, browsing through merchandise again...thinking.....

If I permanently lived in Japan, the most difficult challenge wouldn't be the communication barrier, but the lack of hearing and speaking English....

After taking a much needed rest at my hotel, I ventured back to the shopping area and into a department store. Tokyo's department stores, "malls," can consist of many, many floors. The one in Ueno has nine. Also, there aren't really "stores." Each floor is open, and no wall divides one boutique from the other, but the clothing styles of each boutique are observably different from one another. I left at 9 p.m., the time the department closed, and the streets were practically empty. Where did everyone go? I don't know, but there are countless amounts of bikes surrounding station entry points.