Ueno Park, Akihabara and Ginza

I think I could spend a whole week in Ueno Park, as there's so much to do! Shame we just had a morning to fit in as much as possible, although this was partly due to Rupert getting 'museumed out' before me!

We started off at 'The Museum of Western Art' stopping first to admire the statues by Rodin outside. The museum itself has a large collection of pre 18th Century paintings from the likes of Rubens, as well as 19th and early 20th Century works in the 'new' wing including works of Monet, Van Gogh and Picasso. Every time I visit a museum I find a new painting to love and it's always the one not in the gift shop and inevitably the name is forgotten by the time I get home, I should really start taking a notebook with me!

Next Stop was the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art. After a look at the works outside, we ventured in and had a nosy around the gift shop. Now usually I would go to the shop last, but as Rupert pointed out, this museum seemed more expensive and less impressive than the last.

After deciding to cut that visit short, we went for a walk around the park, journeying through 'Tent City', the main home to Tokyo's homeless. Never before and likely never again, have I seen such a large group of homeless people and even more amzingly, most still insist on leaving their shoes outside their tents!

Also in the park, we happened upon a game on Baseball. From what I could gather it looked like a couple of Sunday league teams were playing and despite not having a clue what was going on, we sat and watched until the end.

With the morning coming to an end, we headed back to the station and onwards to Akihabara. The guidebook advised not to drink too much caffeine due to the loud jingles played from each shop and once we stepped onto the streets I understood why. This was more like the Tokyo I had imagined in my head, very bright and lively with bustling crowds. That weekend, the PS3 had been launched in Japan, so we had ideas of buying a few and selling them at home. Unfortunately one day later all the shops were sold out and some even had signs in the windows offering to buy them!

I'd heard this was the best part of the city for electronic bargains, but didn't find any for myself. Rupert however, did remember I wanted a screwdriver to undo the battery compartment to the hand held game I'd bought at Manchester airport, so we did leave with one purchase!

Back to the train station again and this time on to Ginza. In keeping with the not eating Japanese food theme, we found a very nice Italian restaurant for lunch and then had a wander around the shops. The most annoying thing when out shopping is having money to spend and not seeing anything you want to buy! And so after walking up and down Ginza streets, with aching feet we headed home to our hotel.

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