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Ueno Travel Guide

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Ueno is an area located in Tokyo's Taito Ward. Adjacent to Ueno station is Ueno Park, a popular tourist destination with a zoo, science museum, art museum, and historic relics. Ueno Park is also famous as a cherry blossom viewing site, which becomes crowded with people during the spring season. Along (and under) the railway line, "Ameya Yokocho" shopping mall runs south from Ueno station to Okachimachi station. From confectionery, fresh food, apparel, shoes, bags, jewelry, medicine to cosmetics, you'll find virtually everything here, and luckily with a discount price that the shop staff may offer after bargaining.

Access

By Train

Ueno Station

JR Yamanote Line, Keihin-Tohoku Line, Tohoku/Joetsu Shinkansen
Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Hibiya Line
Keisei Main Line

UENO TRAVEL SPOT GUIDE

National Museum of Nature and Science
The National Museum of Nature and Science is one of the longest standing museums in Japan, and is the only national museum dedicated to integrated sciences. The museum boasts a collection of an estimated 3.8 million items. ...
The National Museum of Western Art
The National Museum of Western Art was inaugurated in 1959 to familiarize Japanese public with Western arts. The museum houses the famous Matsukata Collection--artworks collected by eminent 20th-century entrepreneur Matsukata Kojiro. ...
Tokyo National Museum
This is the first built museum in Japan and it preserves 110 thousand or more various art and archaeological works collected in Japan and the East. Precious cultural properties are permanently opened to the public in six exhibition halls. ...
Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Teien (Garden)
Kyu-Iwasaki-tei was built in 1896 as the main residence of Iwasaki family, the founder of Mitsubishi group. Designed by eminent British architect Josiah Condor, parts of the residence have been designated as Important Cultural Properties. ...
Ueno Onshi Park
There are lots of cultural facilities such as museum, zoo and so on in the park, and this park is known by the fact that there is the statue of Takamori Saigo made by engraver, Kouun Takamura. Cherry blossoms bloom on Shinobugaoka in spring, lotus on Shinobazu Pond in summer, and various kind of wat ...
Ameyoko
Ameyoko is one of the liveliest open-air markets in Tokyo．Its name roots from America-Yokochou (America sideways), because the merchandise traded at this black-market were mostly US military surplus goods in the immediate postwar years. This 400-meter bargain-shopping alley, crammed with over 500 stores and stalls selling daily commodities and foodstuffs, becomes extremely busy in late December when shoppers flock the area for its year-end sales.
The Ueno Zoo
Opened in 1882 and occupying over 36 acres of land, Ueno Zoo is Japan’s oldest zoo where the country's largest variety of animals are bred and exhibited. Among over 470 different animal species, the zoo's most beloved residents include unusual mammals like giant pandas, okapis and pygmy hippopotamuses.
The Shinobazu Pond
Known as a waterfowl sanctuary, Shinobazu Pond is a natural body of fresh water within Ueno Park. The pond is divided into three areas where you can paddle or row in the west boating area, see the southern pond entirely covered by lotus in summer, and watch great cormorants breed in the north-east area. The location also appears in novels written by Ogai Mori and Yasunari Kawabata.
Yushima Tenjin
Yushima Tenjin is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, a politician and poet of the 9th century who is revered as the deity of learning. At the shrine there is a steady stream of visitors year round who write their academically inclined wishes on wooden tablets called ema. From January to March, prospective students preparing for their school entrance exams flock to this shrine to wish for success.
University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo is regarded as the most prestigious university in Japan. Besides its many research facilities and libraries, the Hongo Campus offers tourist attractions like the Aka-mon (Red Gate) at the university's entrance, Yasuda Lecture Hall, a beautiful Ginkgo tree avenue, and historic buildings that survived the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The campus is located in an area filled with inexpensive eateries and second-hand bookstores.
The Ueno Royal Museum
Founded in 1972 on the grounds of Ueno Park, Ueno Royal Museum provides its spacious halls for temporary and special exhibitions, to showcase the works of Japan's foremost painters and sculptors as well as extraordinary artworks from overseas. To help promote Japanese contemporary artists, the museum hosts The Annual Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition which began in 1983, and VOCA (Vision of Contemporary Art) exhibitions each year since 1994. There is also an art school where lectures are given periodically.
Shitamachi Museum
Shitamachi Museum represents an attempt to preserve the traditional culture of Tokyo's Shitamachi that has all but been wiped out in the wake of the 1923 Tokyo Earthquake and the bombing raids during World War II. On display is a replica of an old tenement house and narrow back alleyways, enlivened with kitchen utensils and other items that were actually used by the original owners around the turn of the 20th century. A free English brochure is available.
Kanei-ji
Founded in 1625 as a Tokugawa family temple, the unpretentious Kanei-ji is all that remains of what was once an extensive temple complex, consisting of over 30 buildings, which covered the entire area presently occupied by Ueno Park. Many temple structures were destroyed in the great fire in 1657 and during World War II, and were never restored. The Kanei-ji cemetery is known to hold the mausoleum enshrining six shoguns of the Tokugawa family.
Takamori Saigo's Statue
At the main entrance to Ueno Park, in a large open space with no grass, stands the modest bronze statue of the Meiji Restoration Army general Takamori Saigo and his dog Tsun. Often dubbed the last true samurai, Saigo played a pivotal role in the 1868 civil war where he led the imperial troops to Edo and successfully negotiated a peaceful surrender of the city and the Edo Castle.