Another day, another five miles. Maybe it wasn't five miles but it seemed that way. Despite the subways Tokyo can wear out a pair of shoes pretty quickly. My first stop on July 6th was Ueno Park. The park is located in the Taito section of Tokyo. My real goal was the Tokyo National Museum which is located in Ueno Park. What struck me about Ueno Park was the homeless. I hadn't seen any homeless in Japan before--you never see people sleeping in the street unless, of course, they are drunk which sometimes happens (and they are actually pretty safe there, too). But people without homes is not something I saw in my previous visit to Japan. Ueno Park is where the homeless go in Tokyo. They put up tents in the wooded areas of the park and live there. They are mostly men and they sometimes even have jobs like hauling cardboard around in carts. But Tokyo is an expensive place and hauling cardboard around is not going to pay for a place to stay. I asked someone if the homeless are allowed to camp in the park and I was told that it is technically illegal but it isn't enforced very well. I suppose they would just go somewhere else if they were kicked out of Ueno Park.
The Tokyo National Museum is not a large museum, but it does have many treasures from Japan's past. From nihonto (swords), to pottery, to paintings, the Tokyo National Museum has some of the best. I especially liked the Ukiyoe collection. Ukiyoe is a form of Japanese painting that developed during the Edo period in Japan. The subjects for the paintings come almost invariably from the courtesan subculture. These are the original "geisha girls" who entertained men for a living (although not always sleeping with them). Some courtesans were excellent musicians and dancers and could also tell jokes if the situation called for it. Ukiyoe captures the lifestyle of the courtesan: courtesans doing their hair, playing with their children, bathing, taking boat rides--in fact everything about their lives but entertaining men. I suppose that was private. The other paintings I enjoyed were the nature paintings--the paintings of Fuji-san and the many stages of the Tokaido road which show the extreme beauty of the Japanese countryside.
After visiting the museum, and because it was so close, I decided to talk a walk down ? street. This street is noted for the commerce that is transacted there as well as for the numerous articles for sale. I was especially interested in dried fruit and peanuts, which I kept in my room for snacking. As it turned out, ? was the perfect place to go to get these things. Also for save was meat and fish. In fact, some men were cutting up a large fish on order. That's one way to get fresh fish but I wasn't sure how long it would be fresh in the 95 degree heat. Sure, the packages of meat and fish were placed on top of crushed ice, but out in the sun? No thanks. Anyway, it was an interesting experience to walk down that street although I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like crowds, it was like entering a sea of people. After purchasing my peanuts and dried apricots I decided to call it a day. I'd only been in Tokyo for two days and my feet were already sore!