We spent a day exploring Ueno Park one afternoon, separating from our Hong Kong friends so they could finish up some shopping. We knew that the park was home to some of the finest museums on Tokyo, as well as some good people watching in the vein of Central Park in New York. We were pleased to find it also a treasure trove of historical spots.

At one point, we found a little buddhist temple dedicated to children. Apparently, people wanting to have children bring dolls to the temple on a specific day and then the dolls are offered up as a kind of offering with the hopes that Buddha will then give them children.

In this photo, we discovered a historical battleground in the park. Ueno hill was the site of the last defence of the Tokugawa shogunate by about 2000 loyalists in 1868. The imperial army defeated them, causing the end of the shogun era and the beginning of the Meiji period. The spot of the final samurai battle is available for walking around, learning about the battle, and seeing some grave markers. The idea that we were standing at the spot of a famous samurai battle was pretty amazing, especially for little Toph, who was samurai-centric during our entire trip. We enjoyed a nice trip to the Tokyo museum afterwards, which hosted samurai swords for display, as well as amazing examples of laquerware, temple art, and other Japanese arts and crafts. They also have a fine archaology wing. I was impressed to see Christopher really enjoy that section -- he likes seeing real life stuff (fish hooks, baskets, utensils) used by real people thousands of years ago. Cate started to peter out in the afternoon, resting with her mom on the comfy chairs in the lobby of the museum. This was our 4th day in Tokyo and she hadn't yet gotten used to the time change and had still been waking up quite early.

More to come later...trying to get through the laundry and shopping needed to get back to real life.