Key #41: Fora

Humans, as a species, have always had the need to socialize. Initial socialization was mostly survival-oriented but once basic needs were met the patterns became more complex. Eventually, some kind of balance was struck, and the concept of "leisure" began to take hold. As early as in the ancient world, enough people were able to combine business and pleasure - quite literally - to justify allocating space and building structures facilitating such activities. That's how first market squares appeared where traders, lawyers, politicians and such could meet to discuss numbers, votes and transactions but also to drink a cup of whatever was popular in that particular country or just relax. In Ancient Greece, a place like that was known as "agora", while Romans called theirs "forum". The most famous Forum came into the world in about the 8th century BC (even though it wasn't fully finished until 13 or so centuries later), and the literal translation of its name - "a public place for trading and meeting people" - kept inspiring architects throughout the world centuries after the Forum itself had been reduced to rubble. One such architect, Victor Gruen, who came to the USA from Austria in 1938, decided to resurrect the ancient concept by transplanting it into a new soil - so, he strove to create a community focal point, a place where people could both work and shop, eat and play, relax and socialize. His efforts resulted in the first ever mall opening in 1956 in Edina, Minnesota. 

Sheltered from the elements, the "forum of the 20th century" seemed to be one of the pinnacles of human creative thoughts - and the future of the "mall" concept looked bright...until it didn't. The sublime clashed with the mundane and lost: what was envisioned as a "community paradise", turned into a never-ending shopping spree. Gruen himself minced no words to express his disappointment: "I am often called the father of the shopping mall. I would like to take this opportunity to disclaim paternity once and for all. I refuse to pay alimony to those bastard developments. They destroyed our cities"! The concept was still too good to be given up on but, to thrive, it clearly needed another relocation - to yet another continent and culture.

The area is called "Ueno Park". There are quite a few definitions of "park" in various dictionaries, and all of them include words like "grass", "trees", "recreation", "play"... The "Freiburg Experiment" and the Vigeland Park proved that a creative approach might help to add "art" and even "residence" to the list. However, none of the above prepares a first-time visitor for the variety and the intensity of the experience. The park whose name simply means "Upper Field" is, in fact, a microcosm of Japan as a whole - everything the country is famous for or simply associated with can be found there. Blossoming cherry trees? And then some! Not only does the park attract huge viewing parties but also the trees spring an occasional surprise on the viewers and blossom weeks before they are expected to. Like this

Animals? Ueno sports the oldest zoo in Japan, and that's not counting chance encounters

Shrines, temples, history and prominent personalities? Toshogu Shrine is yet another one dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu 

and there is a statue of Saigo Takamori, one of the key generals of the Battle of Ueno

There are five big museums in the park, all of them among the most important ones in the country; several additional temples; even a train station. Multiple small, privately-owned eateries and souvenir shops where one can (and does!) socialize, including with tourists, go without saying. Not to forget, there is passion, too

The ancient Roman Forum, once created to bring people together, was reborn many centuries and thousands of kilometers away, in Ueno Park.