From generation to generation, that park has long been loved by people.


We look for the charm of Ueno Park.

Just after we walk out of JR Ueno Station, we are already in the Park. The area of the park is 530,000 square meters. 

Speaking of Ueno Park, various kinds of things come to mind. It depends on the person. For example, Panda in the Zoo, art exhibitions, cherry blossom viewing, fossils of dinosaurs, Shinobazu Pond, listening to classical music, French restaurant and so on. As we can list so many things, in Ueno Park there are a wide choice of entertainment. I think it has the features of culture, religions and nature. The entire area and the surroundings used to be a large Buddhist Temple. After Japan started modernization, westernization and industrialization in 1868, Ueno Park was constructed and opened to the public as one of the first western-style park in Japan.
 In the photo of the title in the central part of walkways, we see Tokyo National Museum a little faraway. 

Ueno Zoo is the oldest one in Japan established in 1882. The first pair of pandas came to the zoo from China in 1972. Since then, the zoo has been more popular. Now three year old twin pandas(male one and female one) are living. There are more than 3,000 animals. 

The Grand Fountains and the main building of Tokyo National Museum
That scene has never been changed since my childhood. I have an old photo taken by my late father in that I posed and had a shy smile.The large-scale museum has 5 buildings for exhibition.
National Museum of Nature and Science
It exhibits some precious real specimens of dinosaurs, not living ones.

Other than two museums above, there are two art galleries:The National Museum of Western Art and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. 
There are some Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the park.

That Shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Tokugawa Shoguns:Ieyasu, Yoshimune and Yoshinobu.
Along with big bronze lanterns in the precincts, we feel magnificent atmosphere.
Kiyomizu Kannondo was modeled after Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.
Shinobazu Pond seen from the stage of the temple might have been compared with Biwa Lake in Shiga Prefecture. 

We see some other temples and shrines in the park.
As we are getting hungry, we will get around in the park to find old-established restaurants. 

That is well known for grilled eel dishes.
The restaurant has long been in business since the Edo Period(1603-1867).
The name of the restaurant, Inshotei was given by the first director of Tokyo National Museum.
We can enjoy authentic Japanese multi-course meal.
That is one of the first French restaurants in Japan established in 1872.
When I was a company's employee 20 years ago, the company held the party for the employees in the early April. It is the best season to view cherry blossoms in full bloom through the windows at the restaurant. 

We have been satisfied with nice meal.
How about listening to classical music ?

The entrance hall of the concert hall named Tokyo Bunka Kaikan or Tokyo Metropolitan Festival Hall consists of a large hall and a small one. The large hall accommodates 2,300 people. When I was an elementary school student in 1969, I went to the hall on extracurricular activities of the school to listen to orchestra performance for the first time. I remember one of pieces it performed: William Tell Overture.
Finally, two photos will be shown.

That five story pagoda survived natural disasters(earthquakes and typhoons hit it many times), the civil war in 1868 and the air raid in 1945.
That was built in 1639 originally in the precincts of Ueno Toshogu Shrine but now it is located in the grounds of Ueno Zoo. 
The bronze statue is a kind of icon in the park.
The person is a great man in Japan's history named Takamori Saigo(1828-1877). It is said that the statue is one of three major ones in Tokyo.

As I mentioned, until 1868 the whole area in the present park used to be the Temple grounds. The war between the army of the new government led by Takamori Saigo and the armed supporters of the Shogun broke out in the area in May, 1868. As a result almost all temple and shrine buildings were destroyed by fire in the war. The area of splendid religious complex was burnt to the ground. Anthonius Franciscus Bauduin from the Netherlands, employed by Japanese government as a professor of medical school, made proposals about the development of the area that the ground should be a public park to preserve the nature. A bust of Dr. A. F. Bauduin was erected in 1972 in the park. Thank you for reading to the end. Welcome to Ueno Park.