Ueno Park
So, yesterday I visited Ueno Park. I had wanted to hit it last time I was here but didn't get the chance so I jumped on it on a beautiful Saturday morning this time. Getting there wasn't bad, though I discovered on the way back there was a rail station literally right next to the hotel that would have gotten me there... I actually walked to Shinjuku Eki and got on the train and it took me back to the stop next to my hotel to transfer onto the correct train to get there *lol*
It took me a minute to orient myself once I got to the other end, but without too much trouble I found the park. I have to say it was the dirtiest place in Tokyo I've been so far... much closer to what you might expect in a city in America, though still cleaner overall. It also was less parklike and more amusement parklike - lots of pavement and people and not so many trees. Still there were nice bits. I walked out into Shinobazu Pond and there were some lunch carts and a nice little shrine, but the Pond was still kind of dead from winter and there were lots of homeless sleeping on benches so I moved on.
I bumped into the zoo and thought that might be nice. It was very cool, though I really didn't take any pictures - nobody really wants to see zoo slides, if you do National Geographic has much better shots. I did take a pic of the Flamingo's though... those suckers are just unearthly. They honk weird, their beaks are weird, their color is weird, they prop themselves up on one leg and fold their wobbly head onto their back to sleep... I WANT ONE ;)
I also loved the big spider monkey's... we really got the short end of the evolutionary stick when we lost a prehensile tail. It mesmerized me watching them use it as easily as their hands and feet to grab things and climb and such. Overall though the place made me think. As much as I enjoyed seeing animals I would NEVER have had a chance to see otherwise, there was a palpable sadness coming from so many of the critters and a few were seriously going crazy trying to get out - the polar bears simply paced back and forth past each other in the exact same pattern over and over and over and over, so did one seal and the foxes. I think the only things happy to be there was the otter, and they're always just happy to be alive as long as they have a pool to swim in.
On the way out an old man approached me and in a very thick accent asked in English where I was from. I said America and he asked if I had seen his birds, pointing to the Japanese bird exhibit near the exit. I really had had enough of the zoo, and wanted to see a museum, so I said I hadn't and tried to move past. He stopped me and said they were very nice. I smiled and said I was sure they were. He then said so earnestly, "Please, go see my birds" that I simply could not resist - so I went to see the birds. They were all small unimpressive chickadee like birds, though there was an owl handler there which I watched for a bit. I then tried to leave and a woman stopped me and pointed to an upper corner of a cage. I kind of looked and smiled and tried to leave and she, realizing I had not seen what she was pointing at, blocked my path and pointed again and said, "See Purpurue Jay... very smaru left". I looked again and saw a purple bird that looked kind of like a Blue Jay. I smiled and thanked her, but she kept trying to talk about how beautiful it was and how few there were left on the one island in the world where they are native, Okinawa. Finally she let me leave, but I've never encountered such aggressive ornithologists, though they honestly were likely trying to drum up support for an important but truthfully unimpressive exhibit at the zoo.
I actually have to head out now, so I'll write more about the next bit of the trip later. Till then, here's the pics:
http://web.mac.com/jeremyhammer/iWeb/Tokyo/ueno.html
It took me a minute to orient myself once I got to the other end, but without too much trouble I found the park. I have to say it was the dirtiest place in Tokyo I've been so far... much closer to what you might expect in a city in America, though still cleaner overall. It also was less parklike and more amusement parklike - lots of pavement and people and not so many trees. Still there were nice bits. I walked out into Shinobazu Pond and there were some lunch carts and a nice little shrine, but the Pond was still kind of dead from winter and there were lots of homeless sleeping on benches so I moved on.
I bumped into the zoo and thought that might be nice. It was very cool, though I really didn't take any pictures - nobody really wants to see zoo slides, if you do National Geographic has much better shots. I did take a pic of the Flamingo's though... those suckers are just unearthly. They honk weird, their beaks are weird, their color is weird, they prop themselves up on one leg and fold their wobbly head onto their back to sleep... I WANT ONE ;)
I also loved the big spider monkey's... we really got the short end of the evolutionary stick when we lost a prehensile tail. It mesmerized me watching them use it as easily as their hands and feet to grab things and climb and such. Overall though the place made me think. As much as I enjoyed seeing animals I would NEVER have had a chance to see otherwise, there was a palpable sadness coming from so many of the critters and a few were seriously going crazy trying to get out - the polar bears simply paced back and forth past each other in the exact same pattern over and over and over and over, so did one seal and the foxes. I think the only things happy to be there was the otter, and they're always just happy to be alive as long as they have a pool to swim in.
On the way out an old man approached me and in a very thick accent asked in English where I was from. I said America and he asked if I had seen his birds, pointing to the Japanese bird exhibit near the exit. I really had had enough of the zoo, and wanted to see a museum, so I said I hadn't and tried to move past. He stopped me and said they were very nice. I smiled and said I was sure they were. He then said so earnestly, "Please, go see my birds" that I simply could not resist - so I went to see the birds. They were all small unimpressive chickadee like birds, though there was an owl handler there which I watched for a bit. I then tried to leave and a woman stopped me and pointed to an upper corner of a cage. I kind of looked and smiled and tried to leave and she, realizing I had not seen what she was pointing at, blocked my path and pointed again and said, "See Purpurue Jay... very smaru left". I looked again and saw a purple bird that looked kind of like a Blue Jay. I smiled and thanked her, but she kept trying to talk about how beautiful it was and how few there were left on the one island in the world where they are native, Okinawa. Finally she let me leave, but I've never encountered such aggressive ornithologists, though they honestly were likely trying to drum up support for an important but truthfully unimpressive exhibit at the zoo.
I actually have to head out now, so I'll write more about the next bit of the trip later. Till then, here's the pics:
http://web.mac.com/jeremyhammer/iWeb/Tokyo/ueno.html