Sakura-lined avenue to the hanami section in Ueno Koen

Day Two in Tokyo began with a trip to Ueno Koen (Park), obviously in the Ueno section of Tokyo. It was an easy ride up the Hibiya Line to Ueno Station, but then it's always a gamble for me as to which exit will leave me the closest to the actual park. I think I still didn't get it right. And forget about getting back to the station... dis-as-ter.

Anyway, the sakura (cherry blossoms) in Tokyo are just about finished, so it wasn't the most spectacular site. Last time I was there at this time I was too early. Anyhoo, folks were still doing hanami (cherry blossom "viewing") under the trees, drinking and eating or just strolling about. I merely did the latter.

Torii leading to a shrine in Ueno Koen

From there I headed over to the flea market near the pond/lake, whatever they're calling it, but there wasn't much there that I hadn't seen before, and omiyage were not to be had at that juncture.

Departing from the flea market and hence Ueno Koen, I embarked on the ill-fated journey to find the easy route to the station from which I planned to train it to the Edo-Tokyo museum. Not cool.

Life-size Kabuki model at the Edo-Tokyo Museum

Anyhoo, I eventually did make it to Edo-Tokyo Museum in the Ryogoku section of Tokyo, just west of Akihabara. You've got to love Tokyo trains. They run about one every 2.6 seconds*, so if you miss one, there's another on the way. The station for Ryogoku is right outside the museum, so it's about a 5 minute walk. (*Disclaimer: slight exaggeration)

Under the Nihombashi replica at the Edo-Tokyo Museum

Six hundred yen gets you into the museum which is a pretty cool experience. Unfortunately for me, I was already pooped from footing it around Ueno and its environs, so my body wasn't particularly excited about museuming. However, the museum is really very interesting, with lots of interesting artifacts and life-size as well as miniature replicas of buildings, street scenes and a kabuki theater. Some have intermittent "shows" with moving parts and changing lighting. Omoshirokatta.

Restaurant Modern-Tei at the Edo-Tokyo Museum

For lunch I treated myself to the steak (Japanese beef) at the Modern-Tei restaurant, purportedly in the Western-influenced style of 1930s Japan. It was delicious and worth every yen.

My very delicious lunch

And that was my morning and afternoon. Dinner was... MEXICAN!!! At the popular and fun Fonda de la Madrugada in Harajuku. (Careful, the site has music!!) I had been fiending for some mole, spiciness, guacamole and frijolitos lately, and my fix was... well, just about met. The food was delicious, but the Enchiladas Tricolor that I had was a little lacking in the mole department. However, all was delicious.

One thing that was learned about said restaurant was that you need a reservation, at least on a Saturday night. We did not have one, but as we were making one for the next night, a table opened up and we were in. Sweet!

Period advertisements through a window at Restaurant Modern-Tei

For more pictures see my Flickr page.