Ueno Park and Shibuya!

First off I cannot even tell you the jubilation I experienced in sending that last blog post. I had to go find a wi fi hotspot and the Internet connection did the trick. Because of the problems I had I am going to post more entries in smaller amounts.

My second full day was awesome here in Tokyo. I actually slept a lot better and later. I woke up and spent 2-3 hours on my last blog post. At about 9:00am I got up and headed to Ueno to go to Ueno Park. I went there because it is supposedly one of the best places to see cherry blossom trees. When I planned my trip to Japan I had no idea I would be here for the cherry blossom season. Cherry blossom season is 2 weeks out of the year. The first week is when they are blooming and second week is when they are in full bloom and petals start to fall off. It is a big deal here! They have festivals and people take time to watch them bloom. The practice of Hanami is centuries old and it is where Japanese come and view the trees and picnic under them. Before I left I checked the cherry blossom report and it said cherry blossoms here in Tokyo have reached full bloom a day or two ago. Seriously, what incredible timing to come to Japan! And I had no idea! Here are a bunch of pictures and videos of Ueno Park and the Cherry Blossom trees. They are beautiful!!!

Ueno station



2 really cool trees at the entrance of the park.






The cherry blossom trees! This was way crowded and chaotic, but you can see why people come.

Naoko taught me if you catch a cherry blossom leaf as it falls to the ground people believe it will give you a fortune. I caught one, fortune and happiness here I come.





This is lined with lamps, would be cool to see at night.

These are boats behind me. Shaped like big ducks. Look how pretty all those cherry blossom trees are!








People set tarps out and eat. These guys have a nice assortment of local food.











A shrine inside the park. People walk up and throw money in the box and then bow for a little bit.





One part of the park had street vendors selling literally ALL types of food. It was cool, but one guy got mad I stopped to try to ask questions. Shewed me along so he could talk to serious customers.





Ueno park was definitely one of the highlights so far. Loved it!

After Ueno park I ran back to the capsule to change because it was too hot. Yesterday was rainy and chilly, today clear, sunny and warm.

After changing I commenced to Shibuya! Ever since I decided to come to Japan the one thing I wanted I do was go to that huge cross walk I have seen so many times on tv. That is Shibuya crossing right outside Shibuya train station.

Here are some pictures on my travels from Ueno to Shibuya, then I'll get to Shibuya.

Train ride to Shibuya, very busy!


Cutest kid ever. I had to snap a picture lol.


Ok, this was bizarre. Shibuya was the end of the subway line on this particular line. Right when everyone jumped out tons of people turned their cameras on to start recording the subway. I had no idea what was going on but I turned mine on too of course. $10 if you can tell me why everyone so dramatically recorded all of this.

Shibuya!

This is an interesting part of Shibuya. This is where all the young people come to shop and hang out. Down this alley is hundreds of shops. This is where you see some of the crazy Japanese hipster styles.

Hmm... Interesting.


Shibuya was not my favorite but interesting none the less. I sent my family and sister Jen and my roommate a post card from here. Took 30 minutes to find the post office. 25 minutes to find some postcards and 10 minutes to mail them. Everything takes longer here. Having a blast though. After this is when I met up with my friend Naoko who lives in Tokyo. Will post that soon.

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