Frommer's Review
Ueno Park -- on the northeast edge of the Yamanote Line -- is one of the largest parks in Tokyo and one of the most popular places in the city for Japanese families on a day's outing. It's a cultural mecca with a number of attractions, including the prestigious Tokyo National Museum; the National Museum of Western Art; the delightful Shitamachi Museum with its displays of old Tokyo; Ueno Zoo; and Shinobazu Pond (a bird sanctuary). The busiest time of the year at Ueno Park is April, during the cherry-blossom season.
Other well-known landmarks in Ueno Park are Toshogu Shrine, erected in 1651 and dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate; and Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple, completed in 1631 as a copy of the famous Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple in Kyoto. Ueno Park is also a popular refuge for Tokyo's homeless.
Cherry-Blossom Viewing in Ueno Park -- If you happen to come to Ueno Park during that brief single week in April when the cherry blossoms burst forth in glorious pink, consider yourself lucky. Cherry blossoms have always been dear to the Japanese heart as a symbol of beauty, fragility, and the transitory nature of life. Ueno Park, with its 1,000 cherry trees, has been popular as a viewing spot since the Edo Period. Today, Tokyoites throng here en masse to celebrate the birth of the new season. It's not, however, the spiritual communion with nature you might think. In the daytime on a weekday, Ueno Park may be peaceful and sane enough, but on the weekends and in the evenings during cherry-blossom season, havoc prevails as office workers break out of their winter shells.
Sending underlings to stake out territory early in the day, whole companies of workers later converge on Ueno Park to sit under the cherry trees on plastic or cardboard, their shoes neatly lined up along the perimeter. They eat obento box lunches and drink sake and beer; many get drunk and can be quite rowdy. The worst offenders are those singing karaoke. Still, visiting Ueno Park during cherry-blossom season is a cultural experience no one should miss. More than likely, you'll be invited to join one of the large groups -- and by all means do so. You'll all sit there drinking and making merry, seemingly oblivious to the fragile pink blossoms shimmering above.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
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