Beautiful cherry blossoms in Ueno Park

When I joined Japan tour in April 2004, the tour directly brought us to Ueno area from Narita International airport, Tokyo. The bus parked in front of the zoo, but we didn’t visit the zoo, we went through Ueno traditional market and passed by Ameyayokocho gateway. Ameya Yokocho or Ameyoko Market in Ueno is one of those active retail markets. The name Ameyoko derives from America. Its history began soon after the WWII as a yamiichi (black market). At that time, there was a huge demand to daily necessities while there was little supply. Obtained from the U.S. military, retailers started selling the limited amount of goods at this market without the government permission. It was flourished throughout the post-war period, and is still active today. Purchasing a good you have to ask and bargain, most of the traditional market was disappeared nowdays, except at tourist site.


It was so crowded, there were so many fishes sold that I could not find it in Indonesia as we know Japanese people like to eat fresh fish. They sold a big red octopus, salmon, eel, trout, stingray, snail, seaweed, etc, although it’s fresh, the market was very clean. The fish were wrapped by plastic on a styrofom such as fruit, or they put on ice or in the water for keeping it fresh. Some fruits stalls were also available, even some food stalls selling Japanese foods. The unique attraction was the ¥1000 stall. The seller put everything (various snack or toys) in a plastic bag, it’s like an auction, he shouted to the crowd who would like to buy, one full bag items only cost ¥1000. If nobody was interested in it, the seller kept adding more and more items one by one into the bag, until somebody decided to buy it. If you’re lucky, you could get many items in a bag, maybe it’s very cheaper comparing to buy pieces. I didn’t dare to buy, because it’s the first day in Japan, and I didn’t know how much the normal prize for the items. Anyway it’s fun to see an attraction like that. All of the store names and the items were in Japanese language (kanji), so we didn’t understand at all, but don’t worry, the price was still written using number 

We kept walking through the market to the Ueno Park (上野公園 Ueno Kōen?). It is the first Tokyo public park located in the Ueno section of Taito, Tokyo, Japan. I really loved the park which was opened in 1873, it’s spacious and very shady by around 1000 cherry trees or Sakura trees. I went to Japan during Sakura blossom period, which was only 2 weeks period in a year. The cherry blossom (sakura) is Japan's unofficial national flower. It has been celebrated for many centuries and holds a very prominent position in Japanese culture. There are many dozens of different cherry tree varieties in Japan, most of which bloom for just a couple of days in spring.

It was very delighted, whenever the wind was blowing, Sakura flower were falling down, as if flower raining on your body. You could see Sakura flowers everywhere, pink, white without any leaves, it was so amazing and wonderful. So many families and people with their friends or colleagues had a party in the park called hanami (cherry blossoms viewing). They brought mats for sitting and eating under the blooming beautiful Sakura flowers in the garden. Japanese people were very discipline and very responsible, they never threw away the trash anywhere, they would put it in the garbage bin, even they put the wet and dry trash in different bin. To avoid pollutions, no motor vehicle was allowed to go through the park, although the street was wide enough. Some bicycles were still appeared in some places, some people with wheelchairs, baby with strollers also enjoyed the park. My colleague and I had a chance to take a picture with 3 cute Japanese babies on the strollers, of course by asking permission from their mom.

Ueno Park is famous for its many museums, especially art museums, namely the Tokyo National Museum, the Orient Museum, the National Science Museum, the Shitamachi Museum, the National Museum for Western Art and the Tokyo Metropolitan Fine Art Gallery. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to enter the museum. At the other side of the park, there was a fountain, some tame pigeons were assembled in the middle of the open area in the park. Many children were attempted to catch the pigeon, they also tried to give foods to the pigeons. If you go to Japan on April, you must visit this park, it’s very wonderful, you won’t regret it for the whole life of your age.