April 5th: Day 4

A day at Ueno Park

We moved into the Youth Hostel, leaving our luggage behind so we can all go to a park famous for its Cherry Blossoms.

It was overly crowded and we couldn’t help but loose each other. Luckily we had pocket wifi provided by the Japan collective to help us communicate via our phones. We walked up the steps of a temple we found and took in the view all around us.

A few of us distributed flyers and talked to foreigners about our upcoming programs. Suman was with us to translate in Japanese. She had been in Japan for 8 months, but it was her first time getting to explore Tokyo.

Just on the border of the park we found a lake surrounded by streets packed with food stalls. We got takoyaki (Fried Squid Dumplings with Mayo, Peanut Butter and Soy Sauce on top). We also got Dango (sweet sticky rice).

We sat down under a tree to eat and the pigeons on the branches pooped on Sophie and Lukas. The problem with Tokyo is that you can never find a garbage bin or a toilet. It seems to be part of the culture here to take your garbage home with you. So poor Lukas had to run around looking for a bathroom.

We also found a cat trapped in a tree and Emma and Qasim tried to get it out. Eventually, the cat jumped off the branch and landed on its owner’s back.

We headed off in another direction toward another popular temple with lots of outdoor markets. At the entrance Devdut and I found a Sandal hanging from the wall. Devdut wanted to raise his foot to make it look like he was wearing the sandal, but we figured it might be disrespectful to the temple, so we proceeded to walk down the busy street.

A long day of travelling ended with packing for the trip to Chiba for Shri Rama Puja!