Today's plan was to go for second trip to Ueno. Had been there once before but didn't see much(was more of meeting with another person there). As Jidai Matsuri had been cancelled I also decided that I would go and see Asakusa a bit afterwards assuming I have time. They are nearby so good way to kill 2 birds with one stone.
My breakfast was this + melon bread. Little bit of this and that. Bottom left stuff are rice covered with "something". Not sure what but makes you very thirsty.
Now Ueno has right next to its station huge area of greenery that includes bunch of temples and other buildings. So with some idea what to look I headed for nearest temple on the map.
Temple was called "Kaneji Temple, Kiyomizu Kannondo"
Now on the map there was supposed to be these huge ponds and I think I saw those last year but this year...
Okay there is water below but what happened? Why these have come here?
Amidst that sea of plants was yet another temple.
And climbing forward...Yet another temple! Yes I did visit something OTHER than temples today as well ;)
That would be seen from closer later.
Lanterns mentioned in above text I presume?
Now based on another text there's supposed to be flame that's been kept going from flame found at the Hiroshima after A-bomb and merged with flame from Nagasaki's bomb. Didn't find it though. Maybe it's not visible for public eyes except on certain days? Or I just missed it.
But next. Ueno zoo! I'm sure I have been to zoo but that's long time ago when I was little kid so this would be something I haven't done much yet. Arrived there and noticed that place was positively filled up with kids. There were several groups of kindergarden kids(or maybe elementary school kids), each group having different coloured hats so there's the red group, blue group, yellow group, green group...Rainbow of kids! Add to this huge number of junior high school/high school students and day was exercise in "keep your eyes on below least you run over one of those kids". There was one everywhere!
Had portable version of this to go around with. Good thing too as it would have been easy to miss something. So first up I went to see big panda.
Sleepyhead today wasn't he? Took me a while before I noticed he was up on platform. Just seemed to be lying there happily. Kids were excited.
Then I went to see pheasants&pigeons section. Birds are tough one to take pictures as they keep moving!
This photo at least succeeded somewhat better :D
Think above and below are from "Japanese birds 1" section.
Here was the 5 storied pagoda I had seen earlier. There was also supposed to be deer area there but deer was shy one it seems. Heard it, didn't see it.
Then to see squirrels and prairie dogs.
And then for some monkey fun. Various types of monkeys available here as well.
Monkeys were also quite tricky to capture to photograph as they were quite lively as well. That or they kept sitting with faces AWAY from you and no matter many times you ask they aren't turning head just for you :D More like "go away!"
Two big elephants were around. These caused quite a stir among the kids as well.
Think this is some sort of Tapir. This was area where animal visible would be different on certain times of the day. Didn't wait here long enough to see the others.
Then came this swimmer:
Polar bear! Didn't see it do anything but swim. Not surprising. It was quite a warm day(again) and it's a polar bear :D
Quite a swimmer too!
Next to polar bears were seals.
Going around I found out pathway to inside area where you could see the water from the inside. Gave quite a view to the swimming polar bear.
As can be seen kids were loving this :D Bear put claw on the glass and kids instantly put hand against the glass.
And back to chase the food zoo staff were throwing to the bear. It was swallowing them under water.
Red crowned crane.
Another camera-shy aninal. Bear!
Wasn't able to get ONE good shot of the bear :(
And moving on to next beast. And another sleepy head in form of lion. Waited quite a bit but lion just kept sleeping.
But tiger next to it was much more lively fellow.
Also some gorillas!
Not much movement from these guys either but at least they showed their faces :D
There was also nocturnal house(bats!) but my camera ain't task for taking photos in that dark area. So with east done I headed to west and before exploring anything ate quick lunch of yakisoba(fried noodles with some meat inside it) and beer.
Next area I visited had penquins. And lots of them.
Looks like group of butlers :D
Next to them more colour in a form of flamingos.
And then some kangaroos.
Red river hog. Whatever that means.
Next was small mammal house so lots of mices and other animals of that type.
There was one in particularly funny spot from which I took following video:
Poor little group of "naked mole-rats" were trying to get up but pathway seemed bit too steep for them. Poor little things!
There was area of base which had been labelled as "bedroom" and indeed lots of rats were there sleeping. Rats too make dedicated sleeping rooms it seems...
Dwarf mongooses.
This cat was nightmare to take photograph. Boy he/she moved fast! Almost every shot was useless blur.
For a long time there was rock and shaking rock and then shaking rock showed his head. Southern tree-banded armadillo.
Ryukyu flying fox.
Zebra!
And...something? Barbary sheep maybe based on the map.
Above 2 animals are hippopotamuses and pygmy hippotamuses. The big one is BIG. Scale not well visible from the photo but that's one big animal.
Rhinocerose. Wouldn't want one trying to stick those things to you would you?
And giraffe. Long long neck.
Okapis based on my map. No bloody idea what it is though!
With this came time for final stop for Vivarium. Crocodiles, turtles, snakes and frogs. Unfortunately lots of these too were bit of tough ones to capture to camera. Water is good way to hide and they were also hard to make out from surroundings. And glasses add reflections and blurs things.
I ended up going through this about same pace as young girl(maybe like 5-6 years old) with what looked like his grandfather. Girl was having clearly fun pointing out animals and asking what they were.
Crocodile refused to come properly visible.
Big turtle!
And at least got good face shot of that one!
Some sort of a lizard.
I started to wonder if that's a statue as it did not move at all. Not one bit. Not even when another kid was jumping up and down on his/her front. Not an inch of movement.
That's angry looking crocodile.
And another turtle.
Then I started to see enough snakes to give major freak out to the Indiana Jones.
"This one's even bigger than the last one!" the girl commented excitedly.
Also some frogs.
That's REALLY tiny frog!
I have no bloody idea what that is supposed to be!
Turtle looking quite angry. "Point that camera at yourself!" :D
And yet another type of frog.
With this zoo tour came to an end and I headed toward next target which was Tokyo Metropolitan museum of art. BIG mistake. Expensive and didn't realize before I had paid already that it was collection of 1400-century italian art with subject being mainly Jesus and Magdalena. Blah. Boring! Also no photograph allowed so all I have to show from that trip is below(forgot to turn it correctly. Sorry).
There was yet another small temple I ran into but overall Ueno was done for now. Was getting tired, was running low on cash and wanted to do bit of souvenir shopping. Still have couple museums to visit here if I feel like later.
With this I headed next to Asakusa which is like 3 stations or so away by Ginza line. Didn't explore much of the area(got the idea in Ueno actually so didn't have much idea what there would be) but goal was mainly to get souvenirs for family anyway. And Asakusa is good place for that as you hit into entire network of japan-related goodies right off the bat. Also tons of places to eat quick snacks. So whether you want yukatas, souvenir swords, statues, plates, flower vases, here you can find them. Just hope you are short one if you want clothing. Japanese sizes are bit short one. One place selling yukata/kimono for women had tallest at 164cm...
Got myself one of these for quick snack. Peanut interior.
With wallet considerably lighter I headed back toward home(and actually managed to run into the station on my own. I was preparing to ask for directions having lost my directions when I walked around the corner straight to station I had arrived from). As Ginza line would take to Omote-sandou street which is near Harajuku I stopped there and went for bit more souvenir hunting until heading to the takeshita doori for quick snack I had heard is popular in Harajuku. Forgot the name but it's sort of like wafer with ice cream and something else inside. I chose strawberry one.
Good but I have suspicion these aren't too healthy to eat in quantities :D
And getting back to home bought another donburi for evening.
There. Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow. Have couple ideas but now I just want to rest my feet for the rest of the evening!
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