Ueno

Today I visited 上野 Ueno. My first visit to Japan was a 2 week tour and Ueno was where I started and ended it. So it's a reminder of some great times. Ueno has a park, a zoo and several museums. There are also many Buddhist temples in the area, including one on an island in Shinobazu Pond. Ueno is also the home to many homeless in Tokyo, who gather in groups around the pond and station area.

I waved goodbye to the busy streets of Ueno and headed into the park.

First stop was a Buddhist temple.

Then a guy with a balloon hat. Nice!

I'm not sure the kid likes it though.

I couldn't help but giggle to myself when I saw this pan flute band. Reminded me of a certain South Park episode. They were pretty good.

This lady certainly thought so. She threw her bag on the floor and danced around it.

Further into the park the different colors began to show.

I left the park area and returned to the busy streets...

Finally I leave you with a photo of 12 guys clearing leaves off of one set of stairs...

and a cat wearing two t-shirts...

k said on Fri 2008/12/12 22:42 JST:

we really need a robot to sweep those streets. ^^

yonasu said on Fri 2008/12/12 22:55 JST:

Haha, the cat wearing two t-shirts is so great :D You're a great photographer Chris, what camera do you use?

Alfie Goodrich said on Fri 2008/12/12 23:31 JST:

Yes, with all this robot technology in Japan one thing you can count on is that the Japanese government will still be massaging the unemployment figures by having 12 guys clean the steps or a million old guys all over the country waving a light-sabre to help me step over a crack in the pavement. :-)

Nice set of pics. Nice story you tell here. Ueno is great. I have some fave walks around there. Quite a few pics of Ueno on my blog if you have time to take a look.

Chris said on Fri 2008/12/12 23:41 JST:

@k: Then you'd need 12 guys to direct people to avoid the robot ^^

@yonasu: Thanks! I use a Canon EOS 400D. I've had the camera a while, but only just started to learn the basics of photography.

@Alfie: Thanks. I've been looking at your photos on Flickr, they are brilliant!

Alfie Goodrich said on Fri 2008/12/12 23:45 JST:

Cheers man. Much appreciated.

Mike said on Sat 2008/12/13 00:14 JST:

I thought only dogs wore clothes in Japan! Boy was I mistaken.

Shane said on Sat 2008/12/13 05:48 JST:

I do like Ueno Park. Can you still buy food and feed the pigeons there? I have fond memories of doing that in the late 90's and even have a shot of my MIL looking horrified as one landed on her head but unfortunately it's not digital.

Chris said on Sat 2008/12/13 08:44 JST:

@Shane: I haven't seen any places to buy food for the pigeons or people feeding them so far. You should scan that photo some time :)

Adan said on Sun 2008/12/14 15:43 JST:

HAHA! The expression on that kid with the balloon hat! PRICELESS! XD

Michael John Grist said on Mon 2008/12/15 10:09 JST:

Alfie- Old fellas on light-saber duty, as well as leaf-sweepers and toll-road attendants, are as good as volunteers- if they get paid at all it's a very small sum. Let them hang out in squads and do something productive, I think it's a great idea.

Balloon hat shot I agree- great capture of before and after.

Ramses said on Tue 2008/12/16 04:36 JST:

Oh my gosh, you see those Peruvian artists everywhere!

Are you a buddist by the way?

Chris said on Tue 2008/12/16 09:11 JST:

@Ramses: Nope, I'm not a Buddhist.