Ueno Park

Morning calisthenics in Ueno Park, Tokyo, just before 7 a.m. on a September Saturday in 2018 Rows of people bend sideways in unison on the open plaza, a stroller parked among them. Group stretching like this is the Japanese park routine at its most familiar, shaped by radio taiso, the short calisthenics set Japan first broadcast in 1928 and still airs on NHK from 6:30 every morning. The movements are simple whole-body swings, bends and stretches that take only a few minutes, which is exactly why neighbors can fit them in before work or school.