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Ueno Park

Ueno Park is a large public park in Tokyo's Ueno district, established in 1873 on the grounds of the former Kan'ei-ji temple. It holds an exceptional concentration of cultural institutions: the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Nature and Science, the National Museum of Western Art, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and the Shitamachi Museum, among others. It also includes Ueno Zoo, Japan's first zoo, and the Sōgakudō Concert Hall, the country's first Western-style concert hall. In spring, its roughly 800 cherry trees (up to 1,200 counting the surrounding area) make it one of Tokyo's leading hanami spots. Shinobazu Pond, with 16 hectares of lotus beds and marsh, is an important urban wetland for wintering birds such as the tufted duck, the Eurasian wigeon and the grey heron. The park preserves historic buildings such as the five-storey pagoda from 1639 and the Kiyomizu Kannondō from 1631, both Important Cultural Properties, as well as Tōshō-gū Shrine, Gojōten Jinja Shrine and Hanazono Inari Jinja Shrine. The park is free to enter and has multiple entrances from nearby train and metro stations.

Things to do at Ueno Park: 9 missions

• Visit Ueno Park's baseball groundTake in the park's baseball ground, named after the poet Masaoka Shiki, a fan of the sport.
• Visit the shrine to BenzaitenDiscover the shrine to Benzaiten on the central island.
• Observe Ueno Park's stone lanternObserve one of the park's stone lanterns, carved in 1651 to commemorate Tokugawa Iemitsu.
• Take in the five-storey pagodaObserve the five-storey pagoda from 1639 on Ueno Hill.
• Take in the statue of Saigō Takamori in Ueno ParkTake in the statue of Saigō Takamori, which after the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 was used to post notices of missing people.
• Observe the Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki MemorialTake in the grey stone memorial with a permanently burning flame.
• Visit the Benzaiten shrineDiscover the Benzaiten shrine, located on Shinobazu Pond.
• Explore the Yayoi-period burial moundDiscover the Yayoi-period burial mound on a small hill near the centre of the park.
• Observe Shinobazu PondTake in Shinobazu Pond, part of the Ueno Park area.

Near Ueno Park

Source: kensetsu.metro.tokyo.jp