Ueno is a bit of both—cultural heavyweight and tourist cliché. It’s home to museums, a park, and Ameyoko’s bustling market, but it can feel crowded and a little worn around the edges. Still, if you dodge the obvious and dig a little, there’s depth.
Ueno Park
Museums, shrines, and food stalls sit alongside buskers and school kids. Skip the zoo, not sure it’s great for the animals. For humans, there’s space to wander. In spring, the cherry trees draw crowds.
The number of museums in Tokyo can be overwhelming in Tokyo. Here are some major ones, many of which are clustered around Ueno Park.
Tokyo National Museum: If you have just one day to devote and are interested in Japanese art, this is the place to visit. Japan’s oldest and largest museum houses over 110,000 items.
National Science Museum: At this museum inside Ueno Park, the exhibits of fossils, specimens and asteroids are now supplemented with touch screens providing videos and multilingual explanations.
National Museum of Western Art: The core collection housed in this 1959 Le Corbusier-designed building, Japan’s only national museum devoted to Western art, was assembled by Kawasaki shipping magnate Matsukata Kojiro in the early 1900s. Considering that the collection was begun so recently, it is surprisingly good, ranging from 15th-century icons to Monet to Pollock.
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum: Designed by Maekawa Kunio, this brick-faced art museum was largely constructed underground to remain unobtrusive, with limited success.
Shitamachi Museum: This museum presents the living environment of ordinary Tokyoites between the pivotal Meiji restoration of 1868 and the Great Earthquake of 1923.
Ueno Tōshō-gū Juyosho. Hiroshi Nakamura’s renovation creates a modern meditation space around a 600-year-old camphor tree. Quite elegant and in stark contrast with the blinged out shrine adjacent to it.
Shinobazu. The pond path takes you around a shallow body of water split into zones—lotus, ducks, rental boats. Benzaiten Shrine is situated on an island linked by a red bridge. On summer days, lotus flowers are in bloom, it’s spectacular, but weather will be super hot.
Snacking & Shopping
Kurogi. A sleek kakigori shop by kaiseki chef Jun Kurogi who has elevated shaved ice to something much much more. Regular offerings plus seasonal specials year round.
Cafe Lapin. Retro-style kissaten offering a calm atmosphere and a menu featuring morning sets. Popular among locals, it provides a quiet retreat from the nearby tourist spots.
Tsukishimamonja Moheji Uenobunten Monjayaki. The looser and stickier cousin to okonomiyaki, expertly grilled tableside. Signature dishes like mentaiko mochi monja blend spicy cod roe with chewy rice cake.
Delizioso 0141. Known for its Instagrammable white omurice—a soft, pale omelette over seafood rice with cheese sauce. Visually striking, yes. Flavor-wise, just average. Worth a trip if you’re into the hype and in the area.
Ameyoko Shopping Street. Noisy, cramped, a postwar black market that now sells everything from dried squid to fake sneakers. Some army surplus and denim. Good to know about, but not a place I would normally recommend.
箱義桐箱店 Hakoyoshi Kiribako. If you ever need wooden boxes, this is a sixth-generation family-run shop, crafting traditional lightweight, moisture-resistant boxes made from paulownia wood.
Japan Blue Jeans. Heavyweight selvedge denim, staff are friendly, sizing is precise, and the cuts lean classic with a few wide fits in the mix. If you’re into Japanese jeans, put this on your list.