Tokyo Part II

Second part of this post got a little photograph heavy and Blogger was having a tough time coping, so Tokyo is going to turn into a three past post as well! 

We'll start with Ueno Park, located right outside of Ueno Station only a few stops away from Tokyo Station. The park is quite large and well populated during the weekend. 

Like most Japanese parks it's a lot of flat open gravel pathways leading to different corners of the interest, including shrines, monuments, torii gates, and - my personal favorite - museums. It's great fun to just walk around and explore, you never know where you'll end up. Though the shrines were not as impressive after seeing Kyoto, I'm a huge fan of the juxtaposition between the red torii gates in wooded backdrops so there were plenty of great photo opportunities during my walk.

One standout shrine was Toshugu Shrine which houses fifty copper lanterns, original pieces that were given as offerings from feudal lords. The rusting copper gave the whole area a very unique atmosphere. There was also a quiet corner with a little dove shaped memorial surrounded by paper cranes which instinctively made me think of Hiroshima. Inside of the steel dove, shielded from the elements, but clearly visible through glass, is a single candle, a flame ignited by a flame from the Hiroshima bombing that the nephew of the one of the victims brought back to Tokyo as a reminder of peace.

 

 

As mentioned Ueno Park is home to many museums, including the Museum of Nature and Science and the Museum of Western Art. I knew that I wouldn't hardly have enough time to appreciate all of them, so I decided to check out the Tokyo National Museum. Turns out the National Museum is better described not just one museum but many different themed galleries all enclosed in one gated area. The architecture of each building was different making the view in and of itself interesting. Inside the galleries were thorough, but not excessive. Unlike some other galleries, instead of showcasing thirty pieces of mediocre pottery, they chose instead to high one or two stand out pieces that were really interesting. The well-written English explanations were also really helpful. Well worth spending a few hours making your way through these buildings. 

 That's it for Part Two. Next installment soon to come.