Day two was quite a busy day, we only were planning to spend 1.5 days in Tokyo and had a number of places to cross of our list, so we started early… here goes.
Our first stop of the day was the nearby Ueno Park, famous for its zoo and cherry blossom trees. The somei yoshino variety of cherry blossom were in full bloom. This type of blossom is the most famous and the one by which the “cherry blossom front” is measured on. Thanks to a cold snap in March we hadn’t missed the full bloom and so were able to enjoy a bustling Ueno park under a blanket of blossom. As it was early the hanami matsuri stalls were just setting up, but we were able to get some delicious sakura dango freshly grilled.
Ueno park is a great bustling place at any time of the year, after walking around we even met a man that came every day to feed the sparrows, and had got them to be quite tame.
After enjoying Ueno we headed for Shibuya to visit the famous Genki Sushi, conveyer belt sushi restaurant. Unfortunately I didn’t think that sushi would contain wheat… it did! So I didn’t feel too well afterwards.
We forged on and walked from Shibuya to Yoyogi park. Here the cherry trees weren’t as far along as Ueno and so it wasn’t as bustling. A few people were already getting their blue tarps down in order to properly enjoy hanami later on. .
Walking on we went down Takeshita-dori in Harajuku to do some light shopping and take purikura before heading to Meiji Jingu, one of Tokyo’s most famous shrines. We had visited on our last trip but the walk up to the main shrine is always enjoyable, entering the shrine grounds you can notice the brand new torii gates!
On our way back to Ueno we decided to take a detour on the Yamanote line to Meguro. Meguro is famous for their river lined by over a mile of cherry trees. Here the trees were almost at full bloom and were beautiful!
Following Meguro we popped back to the hotel before heading out for an evening of yozakura – cherry blossom viewing at night. We chose the beautiful Senso-ji in nearby Asakusa for this. Less crowded at night and lit in stunning clarity this temple complex is a great place to see after dark.
Where else can you get a view of a temple, the skytree, and cherry blossom all at once?
My Nihon 