Ueno Park

Thursday, April 2nd--Today, we thought we would go and check out the cherry blossoms at Ueno Park.
There were a lot of people here too, just like at the sakura matsuri in Chiyoda the other day.  We walked down this street along with the throngs of people and took in the beautiful views and the sweet aroma.  While we were walking along, a breeze came up and blew some of the petals off of the trees.  There was a collective in-take of breath and a squeal of delight from the crowd as we enjoyed the pleasure of the blossom rain that fell on our heads.

The lanterns that light up the blossoms in this park at night are orange instead of pink like at the Meguro River and the park we went to on Sunday night.

The man-hole covers here are always pretty...the ones in America just say "SEWER" on them.  Because this is a popular sakura sight, the man-hole covers in this park have cherry blossoms on them!

There were a lot of hanami parties going on, we had a hard time finding a spot to sit and enjoy the lunch that we packed.

We weren't able to find a place under all of the blossoms this time, but it was still a nice spot.

We brought plenty of food with us today, but there was another matsuri going on.  Because it is pretty fun to try out new things in a new country, the kids wanted me to buy something to eat.  I didn't want to spend any money, but did find these cute little bears made with a bear mold.  It was only 500 yen for forty of these cute little guys, so I bought that amount for the kids to share.  They loved them--as I knew they would!

Our view as we had our hanami party.

After lunch, we walked around Ueno Park.  This park is huge and has many attractions such as museums, the zoo, shrines, a playground, and several statues.  Other than seeing the blossoms, we had no specific plan today. We just wanted to wander along looking at things that interested us. 
As we were wandering around, we came upon this man who was performing all kinds of daredevil feats.  As he performed, he ended up balancing on top of a couple of thin boards and pieces of pipe that were stacked in a haphazard tower.  He juggled some knives while up there and then jumped down and landed safely on the ground as the crowd went wild with applause.  The kids thought his tricks were great! 

More blossoms and crowds...

Even though I wanted to avoid it, we ended up going into the matsuri area after all.

We found a lady making cotton candy.  I bought a bag for the kids to share.  We pretty much never buy this stuff--it's straight sugar--and they couldn't believe that I actually got some for them.  They were so excited!

Whole fish on a stick...

Don't know what these are.  Some kind of bread with egg and bacon cooked in the middle....don't know what's in the pans in front of them....

These guys are frying squid, which they will later slice up and serve as calamari.  Seeing it cooked like this turns our stomachs, but it actually is pretty tasty.

Really big hot dogs.  The kids wanted these too, but I had spent enough for the day.

At the end of the matsuri, we came to a very pretty shrine area.  We found this pagoda, which is actually in the zoo but we could see it very easily from where we were.

Kimono alert!

The shrine was very ornate and had a lot of gold on it. 

Look at all of that carving.

As we were walking back out of the shrine area, Nathan and Audra wandered over to this place.  I called them to follow, but they were busy stepping on each and every stone on the path that led up to this monument.  I had to go and physically get them, and when I did, the plaque nearby caught my attention.  This thing is shoved in the back against a wall and doesn't warrant any attention, but it was pretty sobering.
The plaque told the story of a young man who lived in Japan during WWII.  When the atomic bomb leveled Hiroshima, this young man when to that city in search of his uncle.  He found a flame from the atomic bomb burning in the ruin of his uncle's house.  He brought the flame back to his home in Fukuoka (this is where Ray served his mission).  He kept it burning in his house as a memento of his uncle.  Years went by, and in 1988, this flame was merged with another flame lit by the friction of broken roofing tiles that were in the bombing at Nagasaki.  This flame that came from the only two cities in the world to suffer and recover from the horrible atomic bomb found a permanent home when this monument was built for it in Ueno Park in 1990.

Housed inside the bird in the center of this monument is that flame.  It has been burning continually since August 6, 1945.  This was pretty powerful to see with our own eyes.  Wow.  We sat here for a moment and gazed at this flame and thought about our recent experiences at Hiroshima.  This monument is a powerful place.  It really deserves a more prominent spot in the park than where it currently is.

We walked around some more, taking in the beautiful views of Japan that we never seem to tire of.

We ended up back at the spot where the hanami parties were going on.  People will either stay here all day or else come very early in the morning and stake down their tarps and then come back after work.  There are blue tarps all over the place.

This guy had a great hanami party and wore himself right out!  We saw several people sleeping on their tarps with their food and beer scattered all over.

Found another shrine with a series of red torii gates.  Of course, we had to walk through them.

More orange lanterns and blossoms....

Look at this tree!  Its trunk grew in a perfect circle and its now working on growing straight up again!

Audra had to go to the bathroom, so Caitlin took her.   We were waiting for a long time for them to return, and so I went to check on them to make sure everything was o.k.  There was just a really long line, so I walked back to the other kids.  When I returned to the kids, this is what I came upon.  Some random strangers posing for pictures with the gaijin kids.  This happens all.the.time.  Japanese people will just take the kids' pictures or else pose with them like they are celebrities or a tourist attraction.  It doesn't bother me because of how many times we ask people in kimonos to take pictures with us.  I think it makes it fair.  I am concerned, however, about it going to the younger ones' heads.  When we get back to America, this will not be happening any more, and I wonder if they will start to think that something is suddenly wrong with them because no one will want to take their picture all the time.

Pink blossoms!  There are not enough of these!

It was getting late in the day, so we started to make our way back to the station to catch the metro.

It's obviously after 5 p.m.--we saw several men in business suits starting to arrive at the park after work to enjoy their hanami parties.

We caught the metro back to Hiroo, where we split up.  The two older girls ran home and quickly changed into skirts so they could attend the temple at 6:30 p.m.  I took the boys and we ran to karate class.  After class, the sensei's family hosted an Easter egg hunt in the dark in the park across from the temple/church.  It was a lot of fun for the kids, and even Nathan and Audra were able to participate.  What a great idea--an Easter egg hunt in the dark!  We may have to start doing that ourselves in the future.
It was a long, but enjoyable day!