Ueno Park is probably one of Tokyo’s largest public parks. Every major metropolitan city has its large park. With each park, it’s filled with locals relaxing and wasting the day.
New York has Central Park. Sydney & Melbourne both have Royal Botanic Gardens. Chicago has Millennium Park. San Francisco has Golden Gate Park. Portland has Mills End. Seoul has Olympic Park. Kyoto has Maruyama. Paris has Champ de Mars. Tokyo is no different.
However, with a few exceptions, Tokyo is probably one of the larger of the mentioned cities. It’s an interesting park and a tourist attraction. It has a lot of attractions you wouldn’t expect from a typical park in any city. There’s a number of different attractions and the park is a pretty good stroll on the weekend. It’s pretty packed and across from the Ueno station.
There’s a pond, a number of shrines/temples, street performers, a baseball field, a museum, and an freaking zoo. With my brief time there, I visited a farmer’s market, saw a hula hop dancer, a snake tamer, and a singers. There was a shrine ceremony with grown men chanting away and wearing short shorts. I spoke to my Japanese co-worker who used to live in Tokyo and she said she never goes here because it’s full of weirdos. Well, that explains the diverse group of people here.
There are the following attractions:
- Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
- Benten-do Temple
Benten-do Temple - Gojoten Shrine
Gojoten Shrine - Toshogu Shrine
Toshogu Shrine - Kiyomizu Kannon-Do Temple
Kiyomizu Kannon-Do Temple - Farmer’s Market
Farmer’s Market - Ueno Zoo
- Shinobazu Pond
Shinobazu Pond
Overall, I would totally recommend Ueno Park. It reminds me of NYC’s Central Park with a touch of California’s Venice Beach. The park is really pretty and you could see the different colors in the leaves changed because it was the beginning of Spring. It’s definitely a 2-3 hour stop.
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