The park is large and offers pleasant walks with peony gardens and a number of beautiful temples and shrines. It's a popular place for Tokyoites to walk and picnic and was very busy when I was there.

You'll find lots of stalls selling octopus balls, green-tea ice-cream and similar delicacies. You an have a cheap and delicious lunch just by buying a few things from these stalls, then sit down on the grass and enjoy it.

There's a concert area beside Shinobazu pond where for a small fee you might get to see some local pop groups play. There are also stalls around the pond selling antiques. I bought some second-hand kimonos as presents.

The park contains the Tokyo National Museum which has fantastic exhibitions of Japanese art, ceramics, textiles and generally beautiful stuff. There's also an archaeology exhibition but I didn't make it that far.

There are some other museums here too, it took me the best part of a day to see the National Museum and another to wander around the park. I didn't even make it to any of the other museums. Plan on spending some time here!

The zoo is famous for its three giant pandas and a five-storied pagoda, one of the few surviving structures from Kan‘eiji. The spacious grounds are split into two sections linked by a short monorail ride and, though cramped and dingy in a few corners, have impressive new facilities such as the Reptile House, Gorilla Forest, and a domestic petting zoo. Definitely Ueno‘s most family-friendly attraction, the zoo gets very crowded on holidays and weekends, especially around the panda enclosure.

Near the entrance to the zoo, don’t miss the approach to Toshogu Shrine, a long path lined with 50 copper lanterns, trees almost obscuring the top of the pagoda to the right, the copper, green, and deep red hall of worship straight ahead just as it was 300 years ago. Along with the tunnel of red torii gates leading down to the modest Gojo Shrine, it’s far and away my favourite place in the park.

Less positively, there’s a disappointing lack of places to sit and relax unless you pay to get into the zoo or the grounds of the National Museum. Shinobazu Pond is indicative of this problem, a few scruffy benches and some food stalls on the ma-made island next to Benzaiten Temple the only places to break your walk. The park’s not even an especially nice place to walk around: the main paths are overcrowded and the trees are strung with blue tarpaulin sheets for the hundreds of homeless people who live here. Outside of cherry blossom season or the summer ice sculpture festival, the only picnickers you're likely to see are old men with cans of beer and cigarettes. Ueno is Tokyo’s best park for culture, but it's well down the list for an afternoon in the sun.

One may get different opinions from different people, but the Ueno Zoo probably comes to mind first when one thinks of Ueno Park. There are always kids walking around with colorful balloons and snacks around the various animal areas. There is the sizeable Shinobazu Pond, which features lotus flowers, ducks, and an island with the Benzaiten Temple. Other old temple structures, all dating from 1631 to 1651, are the Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple (based on the famous Kyoto complex), the Toshogu Shrine, and the Five-story Pagoda of the Kaneiji Temple, with a height of 120 feet.

Ueno Park is also a museum campus in itself. The Tokyo National Museum displays not only Japanese artifacts, but also Iranian, Egyptian and more standard Asian items as well. The great LeCorbusier designed the National Museum of Western Art, although this project is not generally regarded as one of his more significant efforts. The Tokyo Metropolitan National Hall, the place to go to for classical music in Tokyo, is also located here.

The park features an unusual statue of Saigo Takamori, whose image is captured walking his dog. Across from the west side of Ueno Park is an unusual tower that looks like a weird stacked wedding cake. This is the Sofitel, a deluxe hotel with only 83 rooms within its 26 floors, designed by architect Kiyonori Kikutake as a cross between a multi-leveled temple and a tree.

Ueno Park is a perennial favorite of Tokyoites due to its sheer size, central location and abundance of attractions. It draws the crowds for all kinds of reasons from just hanging out with friends to visiting serious museums and galleries.

As a major transportation hub in Tokyo, Ueno makes it easy and convenient for friends from different parts of the city and even further apart to get together and thus became famous as a meeting spot for class reunions. Ueno is always busy over weekends but never more so than during sakura season when the park is simply taken over by hanami.

Ueno Park is one of the areas in Tokyo where the homeless has set up home and built tent cities, mostly out of blue plastic sheeting. During cherry blossom viewing season they are joined by ordinary people sleeping over night to ensure the best party spot the next day. The only way to guarantee a spot is to stake your claim by placing your plastic sheet - almost always blue - on the ground and sit on it until other members of your party arrive. Reservations and other ways of keeping space are not accepted! This important task is usually delegated to juniors in the company or the youngest members of a social group.

The cherry trees in Ueno are visible in most parts of the park but are especially concentrated in the half closest to the JR and Keisei stations. In addition cherry trees also encircle the adjacent huge Shibazunoike Pond so there is usually space for all comers. Karaoke is usually set up at various spots in the park and many parties will bring their own equipment.

Ueno has many other attractions for people not able or willing to spend too much time on a plastic sheet eating and drinking and talking. There are several major museums in and next to the park, it has a zoo, several shrines and the Ueno area is famous for shopping at more reasonable prices than downtown Tokyo. (For more information see a separate journal on Ueno Park.)

Ueno is a major rail station with several JR commuter, main line and shinkansen (bullet train) connections. In addition it is the terminus of the Keisei Line to Narita Airport. It is also served by the Ginza and Hibiya subway lines.

In 1867-8 the Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled Japan from Edo (current Tokyo) came to a fall. The Emperor Meiji moved from the ancient capital in Kyoto to Tokyo and set up an enlightened government that hastened Japan’s integration into the modern world after two and a half centuries of self-imposed isolationism.

Ueno Hill was the scene of the last stand between the Imperial forces and the Shogun’s supporters at the end of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Although Edo Castle fell peacefully, 3,000 Shogun loyalists held out at Ueno. What is the modern park of today used to be temple grounds of the huge Kan’eiji Temple, one of the family temples of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Outnumbered and outgunned by the Imperial forces the loyalist decided to destroy the Kan’eji Temple and set fire to many structures. The Imperial forces destroyed most of what remained after the final battle.

What remained of the original temple and the Tokugawa Shogunate graveyard can be seen behind the Tokyo National Museum. It is long walk to this area and it can easier be reached from the Uguisudani Station, one stop from Ueno on the JR Yamanote line) Don’t make this part a priority if pressed for time.

The Toshogu Shrines, built in honor of the first shogun Ieyasu Toskugawa, was part of the Kan’eiji complex. It is the only shrine in Tokyo designated a National Treasure and somehow remained intact despite the calamities that befell other structures in this area. It is an excellent example of the rich decorations that the early Tokugawas favored. It was built in the early 17th century and one of several Tokugawa shrines that were erected all over Japan following the post-mortem deification of Ieyasu as Sun God of the East. The approach is lined with 200 stone lanterns donated by nobles vying for favor as well as numerous bronze lanterns. These lanterns are not used for lighting but rather to burn incense at certain religious ceremonies. During festivals and cherry blossom season the approach to the shrine is lined with food stalls and temporary restaurants.

The photogenic five-story pagoda (1639) inside Ueno Zoo and the rebuild Benten Do on an island in Shinobazu Pond are also remains of the original Kan’eiji complex. The small Kiyomizudo Temple also survived the calamities of 1868 and 1945. It often visited by couples wishing for children. Directly opposite this temple, a narrow avenue lined with orange-red torii and several pairs of stairs lead to a small shrine complex, Gojo Shrine. No signs are in English here but it is a more interesting way to reach the pond than the main route.