Next stop is Ueno Park, with eight hundred cherry trees.
Shinobazu Pond is a small lake with an area of 16 ha, extensive lotus beds, and marshland. It provides an important wintering ground for birds.
The central island houses a shrine to Benzaiten, goddess of fortune. The area was once full of "rendezvous teahouses", equivalent of the modern love hotel. After the Pacific War the pond was drained and used for the cultivation of cereals and subsequently there were plans to turn the site into a baseball stadium or multi-storey carpark. The lotus pond was restored in 1949, although much of it was again accidentally drained in 1968 during work on a new subway line.
Let's go to back to crowded and noisy areas, starting with Shibuya, its famous crossroad, and its statue dedicated to Hachiko (the dog from the movie with Richard Gere):
Too noisy for me, next visit will be the Meiji-jingu shrine, which is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken and located in a forest that covers an area of 70 hectares, containing 120,000 trees of 365 different species, which were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established.
(These sake barrels are offered every year to the enshrined deities by members of the Nationwide Sake Brewers Association.
"In addition to stating our humble gratitude to all of th brewers who have so graciously donated their sake, we also pray for the continuous prosperity of the sake brewing industry.")
Wherever you are in Tokyo, it seems that you are always close to a peaceful and quiet place, and also to an incredibly vibrant area, such as Takeshita-dori and its shops for teenagers:
A few kilometers away, the last visit of the day is for Shimo-kitazawa:
A few more pictures, and then I am done for today, looking forward to another long night:
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