In early October, my wife and I went to Japan for two weeks. For the first few days, we stayed in APA Ueno Ekimae, just a half-block south of the Ueno Station's south exit in the Tokyo metro area. We were exhausted and sweaty when we arrived at the hotel, but after cleaning up and resting a bit, we were able to go out and explore a bit. What an amazing area! There is so much happening and so much to see just within a few blocks--we could have stayed there for the whole trip and still had more to see and do.
We spent much of our first full day walking to Ueno Park, through Ueno Zoo, and back through the Ameyoko Market area. The weather was great. The park was beautiful (I was surprised that we even saw a tree in bloom in October). Looking at my photos, I can see that Ueno Zoo needs some maintenance, but having a zoo right there in the middle of Tokyo's sprawl at all is amazing.
The next day, we took the Yamanote train line to Shibuya, where we saw the Hachiko statue, the Shibuya Scramble intersection, and Miyashita Park (which brilliantly sits on the 4th floor of a set of buildings). We wanted to go to the top of the Shibuya Sky building, but that was a last-minute whim, and the tickets were sold out. Still, the lower levels had some beautiful shopping to see.
I was able to spend a little more time in the Ameyoko Market, taking pictures and looking into various shops. We were even able to find some small gifts for family members there. There were so many amazing looking restaurants, it was sad we were only there for a few days.
On the fourth day, we headed to Yokohama to cruise on the Diamond Princess. I took so many photos during the trip (several thousand), that I'm still not done working through them. I will document the rest of the trip as I work through those photos.
We spent much of our first full day walking to Ueno Park, through Ueno Zoo, and back through the Ameyoko Market area. The weather was great. The park was beautiful (I was surprised that we even saw a tree in bloom in October). Looking at my photos, I can see that Ueno Zoo needs some maintenance, but having a zoo right there in the middle of Tokyo's sprawl at all is amazing.
The next day, we took the Yamanote train line to Shibuya, where we saw the Hachiko statue, the Shibuya Scramble intersection, and Miyashita Park (which brilliantly sits on the 4th floor of a set of buildings). We wanted to go to the top of the Shibuya Sky building, but that was a last-minute whim, and the tickets were sold out. Still, the lower levels had some beautiful shopping to see.
I was able to spend a little more time in the Ameyoko Market, taking pictures and looking into various shops. We were even able to find some small gifts for family members there. There were so many amazing looking restaurants, it was sad we were only there for a few days.
On the fourth day, we headed to Yokohama to cruise on the Diamond Princess. I took so many photos during the trip (several thousand), that I'm still not done working through them. I will document the rest of the trip as I work through those photos.
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