When I was a kid, my hero in Ueno was the panda. Taking advantage of free admission at the zoo for schoolchildren, I often asked, "Can I just go and see the pandas?" and left the adults behind to have a look at the pandas for a few minutes on the way back from an art gallery or museum. On a rainy day at a reference library, I received from a staff member a bookmark made of a piece of panda fur pressed between some sheets. Of course I also used to triumphantly eat panda-rice-crackers, proud of their size. My hero is the symbol of Ueno Zoo, and Ueno station is also full of pandas. People usually see it as an ordinary sight, but have you ever walked through the station actually looking at the pandas?

On October 6th I participated in an event called "4" at "art-Link café" which was a project of "art-Link Ueno-Yanaka 2001," an art event in Ueno and Yanaka. This event was taking a system that you purchase a currency called "do" as a ticket in order to enjoy a variety of attractions such as dance, band, poem, and art. It was held at Ueno Toho Cherry. It might be more recognizable if I call it the beer garden next to the Mori Art Museum of Ueno. Having pink lanterns that look brilliant in the night, it is such an attractive place with an old-fashioned atmosphere. It is also a bit of a strange place where there is a Takarazuka theater, the only one in Tokyo, on the floor below. (But it is a cinema and not a playhouse, in case you were wondering)

The "Showa 7 Club," which I've mentioned a few times so far, was taking part in these events. Moving from this mysterious space, Toho Cherry to Takarazuka, and onto French pastimes, and Kafu Nagai. They decided to concentrate on the 7th year of the Showa period (1932) based on the line, "In the time between Showa 2 or 3 and 7, the town of Ginza had changed completely within only 3 or 4 years" from Bokutoukidan , and began to collect any information regarding Showa 7 within the scope of each member's interest. Then they decided to stage a "Showa 7 Conference" at the beer garden that day and talk about freely on their interests, and try to catch the customers's attention. One of the things they planned for the customers who paid attention was to interest them in a tour around Ueno station which was built in Showa 7. It was an attractive plan to make a study tour with a member who was a train expert of such things as the structure and ornament of the station and limited express trains. The customers looked greatly pleased to get information in fine detail, such as that the pillar on the platforms had been made from railroad tracks.

Then there was the pandas. Although it was not the main part in this tour, it became my greatest interest. Everything had a panda motif, from the road guide to the statue at the meeting place. First of all, the one everybody knows of the "Giant Panda" statue at the Asakusa entrance. There must be many people who use this spot as the place to meet. Although having a fine coat of fur, the tail is crushed under its weight, and that's also one of its charming points. Its face is round if looking at it from the front but looks quite sharp from the side view because, I guess, it has been made to look like a real panda. As you should be able to tell by comparing the size of the panda and the height of person in the picture, this is such a huge statue that it is not too much to call it a savage beast. There are designs of panda also on the floor tiles that guide you from the Central entrance to the Asakusa entrance where the Giant Panda is. Moreover, there are stickers of panda at the stairs of the closest entrance to the Ueno Zoo where you can see a real panda. So wherever you look there are pandas everywhere.

In front of the escalators to go down to the Shinkansen bullet train platform, there is a wall painting given as a symbol of Japan-China friendship, with pictures of panda and something looks like carp. This picture is quite exotic, and it also looks in a sense kitschy. It's worth looking at.

Now I wonder if you know that there is another statue of a panda in Ueno. It has been placed in the main passage just before the stairs to go up to Platform 13. It looks somewhat sad when approaching it and from the back. Yet when seen from the front, it looks distressed, as I expected. It makes me laugh that, although it has strangely realistic claws and nose, its ears are quite off to the side from the center of the face. Unlike the simple and innocent Giant Panda statue, this one looks as if it is standing up to its loneliness. Since there are public phones around it, I imagine it was made to be used as a landmark as a place to meet, but I think that it's quite impossible to get here without a thorough knowledge of Ueno station. When being told to meet in front of the statue of a panda, I'm sure that nine out of ten people would go to the Asakusa entrance. Being no less a panda than the Giant Panda is, this statue seems to be having an unfortunate life, but in some strange way it cannot be ignored. I hope you will come and have look at this statue.

In this way Ueno station is full of pandas all over. This is what I meant when I said that the panda is the don of Ueno. It's the same even outside the station. In Ueno, pandas even eat ramen noodles.

Translated by Maiko Noda