Day 4: Ueno Shinjuku

Our last day in Tokyo! We had breakfast at the bakery at Ueno Station. Delicious pastries! ~¥1500 (SGD10)

Top: Farmers' produce fair. Bottom: In cherry blossom season, Ueno Park is Tokyo's most popular spot for outdoor hanami parties as there are more than 1,000 trees along the street leading towards the National Museum and around Shinobazu Pond. The sight of cherry blossom trees along the street will be really beautiful (use your imagination here since I went in Autumn and not in Spring, hahaha)

Toshogu Shrine, built in the 17th century, is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Edo Shogunate. Myojin Torii (shrine gate) made of stone stands at the entrance while 200 stone lanterns and 50 bronze lanterns line both sides of the approach that leads to it. Templei is closed for renovation until 2014 and we cannot enter the premise, such a pity.

Eternal Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with thousand origami cranes (a symbol of world peace). This is a flame lit from flames burning in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and is an appeal to stop nuclear warfare.

Five-story pagoda, located inside Ueno Zoological Garden, was once part of the Kaneiji Temple, built by the Tokugawa Shogunate to protect the Edo Castle against evil spirits. I wasn't able to get very close to it and had to take the photo from Toshogu Shrine.

We saw an artist painting an autumn scene in Ueno Park. His painting is as good as the photo taken, wow... Photo vs Painting; both are beautiful!

We did a leisurely stroll through the folksy streets of Tokyo around 'YA-NE-SEN', the word comes from the first letters of each neighborhood; Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi. The area escaped damage from the bombing in World War II, so a sense of early 20th century culture still lingers there. The area is also characterized by many uniquely named hills and narrow alleyways.

International Library of Children's Literature - a unique blend of architectures from three different eras, the original 1906 Renaissance-style architecture - expanded on in 1929 - not only beautifully preserved, but expertly unified into a spacious, inspiring modern whole.

Walk right to the end of the street and you can find Tsunayoshi Tokugawa's mausoleum and its gate decorated with the plaque written by the Emperor of the time (important cultural asset of the nation).

Next turn left after the Children's Library will take you to the Main Hall of the Kaneiji Temple. Here, you can see large bibbed jizo bodhisattva statues in the grounds and ...

... a memorial to the soul of dead insects. Its purpose was to console the spirits of the flies, cricket, grasshoppers and insects that had been sacrificed for science. *insert unbelievable look

Turn right out of the main gate of Kaneiji Temple and walk to the T-junction. Just across the road is Jomyoin Temple which boasts over 84,000 jizo, i.e. statues of the bodhisattva guardian of children, arrange in neat rows.

Old Yoshida Sake Store - a sake store during the Edo period, with long eaves and wide entrance. The first floor has the counter and the office, while the second floor was an employee’s room.

We spotted wood house here and there, small shops and small beautiful shrines with garden in this quiet and peaceful residential area. Very quaint, nice!

We walked for another 20mins to Nezu Shrine - a small shrine notable for surviving three centuries of fires, earthquakes and war with its buildings dated from 1705, is one of the oldest original constructions remaining in Tokyo. The Main Hall was designed in red lacquer called 'Gongenzukuri' and the Gate is clearly influenced by Buddhist style.

Otome Inari lays just beside Nezu Jinja. Like most shrines dedicated to Inari, the goddess of rice, it is doted with red torii gates and fox ('kitsune') statues.

Last stop: Shinjuku is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the busiest train station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration center for the government of Tokyo. The whole place is just enormous!! After lunch and some shopping , we went up to the North observatory (just follow the long travelator to the building) for a spectacular, breathtaking, panoramic view of metropolitan Tokyo in the evening.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildings has an observatory on the 45th floor (202-m high). Admission : Free. Open: 9:30-23:00 (North observatory), 9:30-17:30 (South observatory). PS: See the black mass in the second photo? That area is Meiji Jingu Shrine.

We chanced upon a cleaning device that uses ultrasound to clean Andrew's spectacles... for free! Place your spectacles into the tin which is filled with water, push the button, bubbles start to appear and the cleaning process is completed within 3min. According to Andrew, his glasses become much cleaner, hahaha...

Dinner at one of the restuarants on the top floor of one of the shopping complex (oops, we went to so many shopping malls that I cannot remember their names). I ordered the seasonal autumn set meal (~¥1300) which is really good! You get to taste 3 different type of soba with different sauces, nice.

Boarded a packed train back home. The office folks love to dress in black! See for yourself, haha