Park widely known for its splendid cherry blossoms

The official name of Ueno Park is Ueno Onshi Park (上野恩賜公園).
The park prides itself on its size, which is as large as 530,000 square meters, and houses multiple facilities such as museum, art gallery, and zoo. It is a popular destination for a number of tourists from both inside and outside of Japan.

Over generations, the park has been widely known for its splendid cherry blossoms and has been chosen as one of the top 100 cherry blossom spots in Japan.
During the spring season, the park becomes packed with food stalls and people enjoying hanami, or flower-viewing.
Within the park is Shinobazu Pond (不忍池), which is a historically prominent Shitamachi feature often appearing in history and works of art. The pond becomes covered with beautiful pink blossoms of lotus flowers during the summer.

Bring along your family and visit the oldest zoo in Japan!

Within the Ueno Park, there are a number of acclaimed architecture and facilities, such as Tokyo National Museum, National Museum of Nature and Science, National Museum of Western Art, and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
However, out of all these facilities, Onshi Uezo Zoo (恩賜上野動物園) is definitely worth mentioning!

Ueno Zoo is Japan’s oldest zoo as well as the zoo with most number of visitors each year.
The highlight of this zoo is definitely the giant pandas. Giant pandas at this zoo serve as the symbol of Ueno and are loved by the people of Japan, so much so that there are panda-themed sweets being sold all over Ueno!

Aside from the pandas, gorillas, elephants, polar bears, and capybaras are the stars of the zoo. You can’t miss the adorable pygmy hippopotamus (because who doesn’t love small hippos?!) and okapis as well. Shoebill storks have also been gaining popularity due to its peculiar looks!

For families, we definitely recommend the “Children’s Zoo”.
Aside from sheep and goats that are roaming free, you will also be able to pet alpacas, donkeys, miniature pigs, miniature horses, and llamas! There are also sessions for petting or feeding rabbits and guinea pigs so check out the time schedule in advance so you don’t miss any of these sessions!

writer：Nozomi

Photos from
flickr
flickr
flickr
flickr
flickr
flickr
flickr