2026-06-29 A Stroll in Ueno, Tokyo: Half-Day Tour of Shinobazu Pond and Ueno Park#

As mentioned earlier, we no longer had much interest in Tokyo. Since we were only staying for two nights, leaving us with practically only one day for sightseeing, and my wife had arranged to catch up with an old friend, we decided not to venture far after getting up early. The first thing we did was to go to JR Ueno Station to exchange and activate our JR Passes, and at the same time, reserve our train tickets to Karuizawa for the next day.

My wife had already planned that we would only move around within walking distance of the hotel and the train station that day. Right next to the hotel we stayed at is “Shinobazu Pond”, a magnificent garden featuring a vast lotus pond as its main attraction. Lotuses usually bloom in July and August. We arrived a bit early, so we only saw a large expanse of green lotus leaves and a few buds in the pond. However, just looking at this sea of emerald green leaves was spectacular enough.

We walked through Shinobazu Pond to the train station. After sorting out the tickets, we headed to “Ueno Onshi Park”. In addition to its vast area, the park houses several shrines worth visiting. We first went to “Ueno Toshogu Shrine”, which is one of the few early Edo period buildings in Tokyo that survived the Great Kanto Earthquake and the fires of World War II, keeping its structure completely intact to this day, making it highly valuable historically. Next, we visited “Hanazono Inari Shrine”, which features continuous rows of red torii gates. Although we have seen similar sights elsewhere, it is still very much worth seeing.

Before we knew it, we had strolled around the park for over three hours. Feeling tired, we walked to the nearby Matsuzakaya Department Store and enjoyed lunch at the food court inside.

In the afternoon, my wife went to catch up with her friend, while I took a leisurely stroll around the nearby electronics stores.