TOKYO, JAPAN - APRIL 3 : Ueno Park in spring season with Cherry Blossom taken on April 3, 2007 243536872 activity, asia, beauty, blossom, cherry, city, day, flower, hanami, japan, land, landscape, leisure, outdoor, pale, park, path, people, pink, plant, relax, sakura, season, spring, tokyo, tourism, travel, tree, walk, way, white

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Ueno-kōen

Ueno & Yanesen

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Best known for its profusion of cherry trees that burst into blossom in spring (making this one of Tokyo's top hanami – blossom-viewing – spots), sprawling Ueno-kōen is also the location of the city's highest concentration of museums. At the southern tip is the large scenic pond, Shinobazu-ike, choked with lotus flowers in summer.

Navigating the park is easy, thanks to large maps in English. The wooded pathways also wind past centuries-old temples and shrines; the entire site was the domain of the temple Kanei-ji during the Edo era.

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Nearby Ueno & Yanesen attractions

1. Gojōten-jinja

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This Inari shrine inside Ueno-kōen is most noteworthy for its photogenic succession of torii gates, which form a vermilion tunnel. This feature is typical…

2. Ueno Zoo

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3. Ueno Tōshō-gū

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4. Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art

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5. Kiyōmizu Kannon-dō

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6. National Museum of Western Art

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7. National Museum of Nature & Science

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8. Kuro-mon

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West of the main gate to Tokyo National Museum is the Kuro-mon (Black Gate), transported from the Edo-era mansion of a feudal lord. You can view the…