Ueno Park & Tokyo National Museum

Riding the JR Yamanote Line, which circles the entire city in one loop.  I've heard so much about this rail line and was very excited to ride it.  It runs mostly above ground, so you can really get a feel for the city and the different make-up of each distinct area.  It connects to almost every subway line, but is considered a train rail line.  I rode it almost halfway around, just to get an idea of where things were.  This was a lot of fun for me, because I could look out at the landscape as we rode along. 

My destination, Ueno Park, which holds a large majority of Tokyo's art museums.

The park was very nice, clean and orderly.

So orderly, I had to take a picture of this walkway leading up to the museum.  Notice how everyone walks to the left (which is also the side they drive on) and no one crosses the line.

Tokyo National Museum, which holds an extensive collection of Japanese and Chinese art and artifacts.

One of my reasons for coming to Japan was to see the artwork of one of my recent heros, Ando Hiroshige.  A Japanese woodblock printmaker, Hiroshige created thousand of prints throughout his life.  None more famous and well known than his 100 Famous Views of Edo (Tokyo).  The print pictured is from his series 53 Stages of Tokaido Highway.  I love how the work has such a distinct movement going from bottom right corner to the middle left and back to the top right corner.

I also discovered this travel book by Japanese artist, Tani Buncho.  I love the line quality of the ink and the view overlooking the city.  

I had a great lunch, from a small restaurant.  There was a fairly large block of restaurants, all listed in Japanese.  After much trepidation about going in and not knowing what I would get, I stood outside trying to prepare myself to order something and was looking up words to say in my Japanese language book.  A nice waitress from one of the restaurants saw me looking at my book and walked out to invite me in.  I looked up the words for "table for one" and said this to her.  In response she smiled and led me inside.  Had she not come outside, welcoming me in, I probably would not have gone in.  

She sat me down at a small bar.  She, along with the cook, tried to explain what they had to offer; as they did not have an english menu.  They both said to me some words in Japanese that I did not understand and I started thinking that this wasn't going to work.  Then the cook said "pork".  I nodded my head, in response they said "spicy?".  I answered with an indecisive "hai", the Japanese for yes.  In response the cook showed me a sampling of the pork on a plate.  It looked good and I nodded my head and said "hai".  This picture is what they brought out.  One of the best meals I've had yet and it only cost 700 Japanese yen, about 6 US Dollars.  Not bad for steamed pork, (with spices and onions) rice, miso soup, potato cake, pickles and tea.  Not totally sure what the black stuff in the center bottom is, but I ate it anyway.