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.