Last day in Tokyo - Part 1 (Ueno)

On our last day in Tokyo we did a bit of a general exploration of the various cities of Tokyo. Yes, Tokyo is actually comprised of 23 cities, which together form a super-city. We'd already previously explored Akihabara and Shibuya, so we left them off the list, and started in Ueno. Ueno has a huge park containing several museums, a zoo, a mini-amusement park, and a number of other cultural buildings. We intended to go to the National Museum, but somehow ended up outside the Museum of Natural History and Science instead, so we decided to have a look inside.

Inside the museum, they had a spherical movie theatre. You stand on a narrow bridge stretching the diameter, and a movie is projected right around you, giving you the impression that you are immersed in the environment. They showed us two short movies back-to-back, one about dinosaurs, and the other about the marine food chain. It was incredible. We couldn't understand much of what was being said, but it didn't matter, the stunning visuals were enough. It's amazing how easily the senses are fooled. As our view zoomed around, from sky high to ground level, back up, and then down into the water, I was convinced (on an emotional/sensory level) that we were actually moving. I found myself bracing when it looked like we would hit the water, and at one point a dive had me leave my stomach behind as if it had been real.

After the movie we went to see an exhibition about the life of Alfred Nobel, which was presented with full English, but otherwise wasn't that interesting. After that it was the more long term exhibitions. The one about the history of people in Japan, from the early hominids to the recent past, and also the one about dinosaurs and other fossils would have been interesting, but displayed only the titles in English, and the other displays (space, marine ecology, etc.), had not much English at all.

We left the museum, and went to see a shrine in the park, only to discover that what looked, from a distance, like an incredibly decrepit building was actually only a giant picture of an incredibly decrepit building, hung in front of said building while maintenance was being carried out.

Slightly disappointed, we headed back to Ueno station, where we had lunch in a Hard Rock Cafe. This was a first for me, and the food was excellent. I had chicken and pineapple quesadillas, and every mouthful (of which there were many) was a blissful experience, soaking up the flavours. I hate to say it, but I have yet to find any Japanese food that comes even close.

Part 2 is continued here.