Ueno Park: "It was a warm day, and sunny, and the park was full. I saw groups of schoolchildren in their blue uniforms and yellow safety caps, chattering and holding hands as their teachers ushered them to whatever shrine or museum was next on their itinerary; tourists, cameras hanging from their necks, consulting maps and guidebooks; mothers with strollers, out for walks; salarymen with newspapers out for illicit saboru breaks; pensioners on benches out to kill time. The air was light with laughter and the sounds of relaxed conversation. The leaves of the gingko trees were tinged with yellow, and the kōyō, fall colors, made me think of my mother, and how much she had loved autumn in Japan."