Ueno and Overnight train to Sapporo

Day 14 – Ueno and Overnight train to Sapporo

Sapporo, Hokkaido

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Today is our last day for sightseeing in Tokyo before leaving on the Hokutosei, our overnight train to Sapporro, at 7.05pm.

We slept in before a leisurely breakfast and final packing. We have been very comfortable in the apartment – it’s been great to have the additional space and the homeliness of cooking our own meals, having pots of tea and those lovely long soaks in the bath.

We bought a single ticket to Ueno. Conveniently the station has lockers available from 8am-8pm daily and the Hokutosei leaves from here. We put our suitcases into 2 large storage lockers for 600 yen each and were set for a day of sightseeing in the Ueno park area.

Within Ueno Park are a number of museums, art galleries, Ueno zoo, the Shinobazu pond, a baseball diamond, and public spaces for walking, sitting or performing. We saw a number buskers – singers and jugglers. It reminded me of a movie I saw earlier this year on SBS Called “Cherry Blossoms” – it looked like the dancer could have been performing in Ueno park in the spring! The gardens are lovely with many cherry trees still in blossom.

We bought tickets for the Tokyo national museum at 600 yen each and saw an exhibition of significant Japanese art including works of national importance. Outside afterwards, we bought a can of lemon drink and sat under a huge tree contemplating all the visitors coming and going.

Then a walk along the Shinobazu pond – it looks different now without the huge lillipads – to the Taito-ku Shitamachi History Museum. It’s a small but excellent museum that takes you back in time to the early 20th century Ueno Park and Asakusa, also known as the Shitamachi or entertainment district of Tokyo. Downstairs is a recreation of a Shitamachi street with a sweet shop and merchant house. Upstairs are various examples of daily life including children’s games, a bar with bar games, a bathhouse, a typical house of the 1950’s, and many photographs, postcards and realia from the period. Well worth the 300 yen admission!

Then back to Ueno station and the shopping district and market. Last time we were here I remember buying roasted tea (hojicha). Lots of noise as stall holders vie for the attention of passers-by. Late lunch at a sushi train restaurant – excellent value from 120 yen per plate – mostly sashimi dishes and delicious green tea that you make yourself from powered red green tea and hot water on tap at each place around the bar.

Finished lunch off with a green tea ice-cream cone from a tea shop. Whilst not as sweet as the Korean version, you could definitely taste the green tea and it only cost 350 yen!

Getting tired and Anthony still not 100% so made our way back to the station and looked around the shops there. Fortuitously we came across the Afternoon Tea shop so we tried Japanese version of a pot of afternoon tea and a pot of English milk tea. Both were deliciously refreshing but one pot is never enough. At 700 yen each we didn’t think we should get another pot each and, as there weren’t tea leaves or even a tea bag in the pot, we couldn’t ask for more hot water!

Still a bit of a wait for the train but we gathered our bags from the lockers and headed down to the platform “waiting corner” and read.

The train was on time. Our twin deluxe berth was small with bunk beds, one up and one down, a small locker, a chair and desk, and an overhead shelf for our luggage. The lower bunk converted to a bench seat big enough for 3 people. Washing and toilet facilities were outside the berth – two toilets and two washbasins at the end of the carriage and only two showers for the whole train. The next car was a dining car but you needed to book for the 7.30pm dinner slot or wait until 9.30pm for the open slot.

Deciding that we didn’t need dinner or a shower, we got into pjamas and retired for the night, me in the upper bunk and Anthony in the lower bunk, hoping to be lulled to sleep by the rocking motion of the train.

	Entrance to Ueno park [Map]		Tokyo national museum [Map]
	Inside the Tokyo national museum [Map]		There’s the Sky Tree again [Map]
	Sitting under that large tree [Map]		Beautiful trees in Ueno park [Map]
	Cherry tree blossoms in Ueno Park [Map]		Another cherry tree in flower along the Shinobazu [Map]
	Shitamachi History Museum [Map]		Sushi train cafe in Ueno market area [Map]
	Green tea ice-cream – delicious! [Map]		Afternoon tea and English milk tea at Ueno station [Map]
	Inside our deluxe twin berth on Hokutosei [Map]		Outside our room on Hokutosei [Map]
	The Hokutosei [Map]