faces

Today I visited an area of Tokyo called Ueno. This area is popular for its gardens, museums, ponds, and temples. It also features Japan's oldest zoo. However, I was sort of blown away by the area when I exited the subway station, and I pretty much neglected even looking for the zoo. (Plus, there are some things that are just more fun with the hubby.)

So you exit this massive subway station, which is filled with high end clothes and shoe stores (e.g., I saw a necklace I really wanted - it was approximately $150, and really not much to write home about), into what I would call Mexico-Tokyo.

So far I've seen one homeless person in Tokyo. I supposed that the town is just too pristine and proper to allow for it (there isn't even gum on the ground folks). But Ueno was a different story. Just outside the station, you turn down this long alley of sorts, stuffed with shops, vendors hawking their too expensive imitation purses, fish and meat for sale, and hundreds of people just crowding the shops. It appeared that the locals did some bartering (especially on the meat products), but the few tourists (and there were a few, which is a few more than I usually see when I'm out and about) didn't have that option with the language barrier.

I also wandered through parts of the gardens. They were pretty, and some statues and temples, but they were also filled with people who were literally making the park their home, some inebriated. I wasn't entirely comfortable, but still completely wowed by the difference. The Tokyo I've known so far is proper, polite, and beautiful. It was such a clash of culture, in such a small amount of space.

I think my favorite moment was when I bought my favorite ice cream treat, sat on the corner of a huge intersection and just watched the masses. I'm learning that Tokyo has many faces, and not just the millions of literal faces. And even with all the free time I'll have here, I imagine I won't see even a fraction of them.