Flat Stanley Visits a Tokyo Park

Today we went to Ueno (OOH-EH-NO) Park. The park is famous for its cherry trees, many interesting museums, and Japan's first zoo.

Tokyo subway map

We rode the subway from our hotel to the park. Ueno Park is the green area in the upper right corner of this subway map (above). The large green area in the center of the map is the Imperial Palace where the Emperor of Japan and his family live.

The International Library of Children's Literature is in Ueno Park. There is a statue of Dr. Seuss in front of that library.

Little children like to visit the amusement park in the center of Ueno Park. They can ride on their favorite storybook characters like Anpanman, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Hello Kitty!

Kodomo (KOE-DOE-MOE) is the Japanese word for "children".

I was surprised to see a totem pole in Ueno Park!

You can see all the museums on this park map.

Ueno Park Zoo

Ueno Zoo is the oldest zoo in Japan. It opened 130 years ago!

Two new Giant pandas arrived from China last year.  The male panda is called Lili and the female panda is called Shinshin.

We had a hard time deciding which museum to visit.  There is a science museum, a museum of Western art, and a museum that shows what it was like to live in this neighborhood a hundred years ago.  All of those museums sounded fun to me but we decided to visit the Tokyo National Museum instead to learn more about the history of Japan.

Honkan (Japanese Gallery) at Tokyo National Museum

The samurai armor from 300 years ago reminded me of Ewoks

Ancient metal helmets worn by Japanese warriors (samurai)

These girls attend Nankyo High School. They are proud of their school and are wearing their uniforms during Golden Week when school is not in session.

The girl on the far left has decorated her backpack with cell phone charms. Almost everyone in Japan decorates their cell phone and backpack with charms like this.

The girl on the far right is wearing a mask over her nose and mouth. Many people in Japan wear masks like this when they are suffering from colds or allergies. They want to protect other people from their germs. In Japan it is not polite to blow your nose in public.

We found a Peony Garden in a corner of Ueno Park. The Peony Garden is only open for two weeks every year so I picked a good time to visit Japan. This is one of the biggest flowers I have ever seen!

We spotted an ice cream cart as we were leaving the park.  Some of the flavors surprised me!

From left to right:  chocolate/vanilla, mango, melon, sweet potato, green tea, and vanilla.  Which flavor do you think I picked?