上野公園 - Ueno Park

yo~

first post since arriving in Japan/getting over my jetlag. woo.
for now I'm just gonna blog about things that happen day to day until I come up with a certain theme or someone asks for a specific post!

Yesterday began at the lovely hour of 5.51a.m. when I was awoken by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake, which was a new experience. I 100% thought I was dying. The whole room was shaking and the pictures and various trinkets on my shelves were rattling, which is probably what woke me up in the first place as I remember hearing that in my half-asleep state before I registered the shaking. Then after a couple of minutes, it stopped, and I was pretty sure I had dreamt the whole thing.

Anywhooo, after that, I got up and made breakfast and showered and stuff because I ventured into Tokyo city for the first time that morning; a group of exchange students all went to Ueno Park!

i refuse to be shamed for my selfie stick.

First, we went to a temple in Ueno Park, wherein I was in my element, as during my last trip to Japan I had visited many shrines and temples.

washing my hands before i entered the temple.

We prayed at the temple and received おみくじ, which are fortunes, and then we sat and watched an old man feed the birds outside the temple.

After we stopped to eat our 弁当 (takeaway lunch) we made our way to the Tokyo National Museum in the park, but to get there we had to pass through a pet festival.

for some reason we could play with turtles, i'm sure the turtles weren't pleased.

So after we took many photos with the mascots and played with small animals, we made it to the museum, which was full of ancient Japanese items such as swords, suits of armour, statues and folding screens. We learned a lot about Japanese history and at the end we all went full tourist and raided the gift shop (Wave off Kanagawa t-shirt, holla.)

The next part of our day was my favourite - we went to Ueno Park Zoo! I got to see giant pandas for the first time ever, as well as baby Japanese Macaques and pygmy hippos. The sun was beating down on us all day but it was worth it.

It was dark by the time we got home, but it was a wonderful day, and a perfect introduction to Tokyo. Today I'm going to explore Shiki, the city I live in, and do some shopping.

じゃあね!
Benji
xoxo gossip goat