Ueno Park

It’s all here: As well as plenty of trees, grassland, a zoo, a fountain, a lake for boating, shrines and temples, Ueno Park is home to some of the city’s finest art galleries and museums. Opened in1873, Ueno was Tokyo’s first public park and remains one of its finest. An astonishing array of museums and galleries in and around it cover Japanese art, Western art, science and history; the Tokyo National Museum alone has more than 100,000 items, which it displays in rotation.

Within Ueno is the Toshogu Shrine, famous for the carvings of dragons on the front gate. It is easy to spend an entire day here, observing the Japan of today, on the park’s grounds, and of the past, in the surrounding buildings. Nearby is the Ameyoko market, composed of a packed collection of street stalls selling food and clothing and an adjoining mall with knickknacks and crafts for sale in a more formal setting.