Ueno

Ueno Park is located on the top of a very broad hill in one of the Kan'eiji Temple presincts. It was turned into one of Japans first public parks in 1873. It reminds me of Central Park in New York, except nowhere near as big. I really like it here. There are 1,000 cherry blossom trees. This seems to be the ideal location for families to spend time together. There are children and mothers and fathers everywhere. There are also homeless people. Their makeshift houses line the sides of the park and their clothes hang on lines between the cherry blossoms. Near the south entrance of the park, there is a huge golden statue of Takamori Saigo. He was a great samurai who led an attempted revolt against the government in the 1800s. Since the revolt failed, he soon after commit ritual suicide. I get the feeling he isn't liked much by the people here. His statue isn't in as good condition as the rest of the historical sites here. Not far away from Saigo, there are the tombs of the Shogitai Soldiers. They resisted Imperial forces on Ueno Hill in 1868. Their memorial is shown by paintings, depicting the battle. The rest of the park is lined with more shrines and a few museums, but I really want to go check out the zoo. I love animals, and I hear there is a giant panda who lives there.

I took some pictures of the animals who live there...