Uma's Corner

The title, translated in English, means – Thank you so much, Japan 🙂

This blog is dedicated to the people of Japan, and to the country itself. <3

I have tried to pen down my impressions of the place in the form of notes, points and pictures. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing about it.

Culture and Heritage

An unusual blend of rich culture, heritage with high-tech technology, Japan is definitely one of its kind. Nowhere have I found such a lovely group of people, who are so friendly, warm, caring, mindful, and at the same time, super-intelligent.

They display such rare acts of gratitude and thankfulness, which most of us have forgotten, worldwide. Bowing down and greeting even random strangers is such a lovely gesture. And it comes from the heart. A week there and I too started to bow down automatically, and saying Arigatou gozaimasu. I strongly recommend a week of training for all our children there, and adults too. 😉

Visa and documents

Visiting Japan is really tough for Indians ☹. But, having said that, visiting any country outside India, is tough for us. With so many documents required to obtain visa, one can easily feel frustrated about the whole damn thing. Having gone through VFS for visa, they asked for all sorts of documents, and proofs. But, surprisingly, the Japan consulate had some really friendly and accessible people, who made life easy for me. I never thought that we could talk to the Consulate directly, for help and assistance.

A week in Tokyo

I stayed in a hotel in Ginza, and the office was about 1 Km away, just across Tokyo station.

View of the Tokyo station from the office

A view from the office

The main entrance to Tokyo station

While we tried commuting by train the first day, we decided that walking was faster, easier and more fun. Our colleague, Akiko-san, who really deserves to be mentioned in gold lettering, made sure that we got our ID-cards for entering the office, showed us around (starting from the office to the different places in and around Tokyo), and made us feel so comfortable throughout our trip.

Going to office from Monday to Friday, there was hardly any time to see anything at all. By the time, we came back from the office, tired and hungry, the restaurants would already be taking the last orders of the day, and the shops would be on the verge of closing.

Walking back from office to the hotel

Rains and umbrellas everywhere

Food

For vegetarians, it’s a little difficult to find food to eat. I was struggling to eat salads the first 2 days, its definitely not my favourite food. 😀 But, my caring colleagues made such a great effort to find places that were vegetarian friendly, and got me some really nice stuff to eat and try. In fact, I also visited a couple of Indian restaurants, where the food was quite good. Some Indian restaurants definitely worth visiting are Annam and Bombay Sizzlers. Though I had carried some readymade MTR Upma and Poha packets, I am happy to say that I brought them all back, unopened, as I was able to manage with some excellent food. We also went to some authentic Japanese restaurants, which were located on basements that were run by old Japanese couples, with warmth and love. For people who like to experiment, one can try the:

• Vegetarian tempura (You just need to be specific about vegetarian ingredients to the waiters 🙂 )
• Japanese curry (My favourite dish in Japan). Surprisingly, they have some nice vegetarian options.
• Vegetarian Udon noodles
• Dungo

For non-vegetarians, the place is a foodie’s paradise. I am saying it based on my colleague’ expressions, on trying out all sorts of food. 😀

Ice-cream made with Green-tea and Kidney beans paste

Vegetarian Tempura

Salad

Japanese curry and rice

Weekend – Traveling around

Considering that its so difficult to visit the country from India, I knew that I might probably not visit it again. So, I extended my stay by 2 more days on personal expense. Should have extended by at least a month (there is so much to see.. 😀 ) We tried to cover 5-days worth of places in those 2 days, thanks to the colleagues of mine, who short-listed the places, and we traveled in local transport everywhere. Traveling around anywhere in Japan is quite easy, due to the complete wide-spread railway network. I felt that every street had a connectivity to a station nearby. Was really amazed by the 5 to 6 levels underground platforms.

Underground train station

Friday night

Tokyo Tower:

To get the best night-view of the city, Tokyo Tower is definitely a must-try. While we tried to capture the marvel of the structure, which looked quite like Eiffel tower, we also sat down to have an ice-cream on top of the deck, which is definitely a must-do.

While my colleague pointed out the TCS building, saying its Tata, I felt so proud of our country and Tata, of course. 😊

Tokyo Tower

View from the Tokyo tower

India’s pride – TCS office 🙂

Saturday

Asakusa

I think this was the best place for me in Japan. With a mix of street food, shopping sovereigns, and a lovely Buddhist temple, the place had so much to offer. And, considering that it was raining, we could see a street full of umbrellas and people under them. We had some delectable food there. My colleague, Sharry, who is from Malaysia, but knew Japanese, made sure that I tried a lot of the local food. Some of the food that I tried was – Matcha Gelato ice-cream (it had so many things in it that I took a pic for the ingredients :D), and the Taiyaki, which was again, quite amazing.

Asakusa Senso-ji temple

A beautiful lady doing a photo-shoot. I took her pic as well 🙂

A street in Asakusa

The ice-cream that we tried.. a bit expensive but totally worth it.

Picture Courtesy: Sharry Wong, holding the ice-cream we shared 🙂

Shibuya

Changed trains from Asakusa to Shibuya. I had to see this place, just to witness the crazy crossing. Living in India, we don’t crave for people crossing, but have you seen people crossing all over the road, in such an organized manner? That is some sight to behold.

Shibuya Crossing

Shinjuku

Took another train from Shibuya to Shinjuku, which was not far. This place was like some kind of a colourful, jazzy market area, where you could find almost everything. From a drinking street to food streets, a range of shops and things for people to try and buy.

The jazzy Shinjuku area

A narrow drinking and food street, which was definitely a must-visit street

Day 2

Odawara Castle by Shinkansen and Kamakura temple

Travel by Shinkansen (Bullet) train was there on my wish-list from day 1. But, I had no idea where to travel by that. My helpful colleagues suggested that I go from Tokyo Station to Odawara, by Kodama train, enjoy the castle over there, and then come back by local trains from there.

So, that’s what I did. The ticket price was a little expensive – about 3400 yen per person for a distance of  about 85 kms, covered in 30 minutes, but it was definitely worth it.

Like us, there were other travelers too, who were figuring out which train to take, and how to pay for the tickets. We paid through currency, and got the tickets on Kodama train. While waiting for the train, we tried to take a few pictures, and modeled around. Am sure, the locals would have thought we were crazy, or maybe, they would have already been used to having such crowd around. The train was empty and we got all the time to roam inside the coach. The train did not pick up speed until about 10 minutes later, till it was out of Tokyo, and then it sped off as if it was going in a time-lapse mode. And, there were no vibrations felt inside at all.

Waiting eagerly for the Kodama train

The bullet train – up, close and personal

We reached Odawara at 11:30. The only spoiler was the continuous rains, so the first thing we did was to purchase an umbrella from Lawson’s convenience store. We paid about 1500 yen, and thought that the amount was too high, but I am still using that umbrella in India, so, its fine. 😊

The Odawara castle was pure white, and looked so magnificent. We climbed on top of the castle, and clicked some lovely pictures. And, I also tried another Japanese dish called Dungo there, which was awesome.

A lovely walk to the Odawara castle

With the lovely Akiko-san (Look at how much she is bending, to match my height) 😀

Odawara Castle

As it was raining and cold, and we had walked so much, Akiko-san recommended a foot massage in the hot spring. Wow, that was amazing, and instantly relieved us from all our stress. 😀

Relaxing hot spring

From there,, we took some local trains, and reached Fujisawa. And, then took Enoden train to Kamakura, which is famous for its Buddha temple, and lots of street shopping. Enoden train went though some narrow roads, and halted in a few stations, in between. Each station had something really wonderful to offer, along with a beach as well. People, who are familiar with Japanese animated serials, would know what this train is all about. For me, the experience was too good, and quite different from the rest of the things.

Enoden train

A train station on Enoden train-route – That’s the Pacific Ocean in view, with the train approaching

A view from the train – passing through narrow alleys – with heavy rains

Kamakura temple

Street-shopping in Kamakura

After eating some more street food, some more shopping, and visiting the temple, we took the local train to Yokahoma. Its again a lovely place to hang around, though we were quite short of time. There is a lovely colourful Ferry wheel there, and ships anchored on the port. The clouds were so happy that day that they kept pouring, without a break, so we couldn’t venture out much outside. Just had some hot tea and biscuits, and then returned back to Tokyo.

The beautiful Yokohama

Ferry wheel in Yokohama

By the time I reached back the hotel, it was almost midnight. But, Tokyo is such a safe place to roam around, and I could still see a lot of people outside in the night.

Japan has left back some really sweet memories for me to cherish. Along with the place, the people there are the main contributors. 😊

Some notes from the trip:

1. I didn’t carry a lot of Japanese Yen. I carried my International debit card, which worked like charm everywhere.
2. From the airport to Tokyo City Terminal, we took a Limousine bus, which cost about 2800 Yen. It covers a distance of about 70 kms in an hour, and you will be so surprised to note that there is hardly any traffic on the roads at all. Most of the people use public transport, so the vehicular traffic is so less. Coming from the most traffic-congested place like Bangalore in India, this was the best thing about this place.
3. There are vending machines everywhere, and you can buy drinks anywhere and anytime.
4. Every station has a self-serving Kiosk, where you can buy your tickets, with coins or currency notes, and it would give you back the exact change. You could also get a pass like JR or Pasmo, and keep recharging it.
5. There are free toilets in public places, and they are maintained so well, with all the high-tech features. I guess Japan has the best toilets in the world, with features that one can’t even imagine.
6. There is no concept of wasting food. All food that’s not sold during the day, is sold at half the price or less than that, in the night, especially the bakery items, which still taste so yummy.
7. Our office had a unique concept of vending machine, where you could get 1 free drink a day, but the machine would work only if there is another person showing his/her card as well. And, within 30 seconds, you both need to choose your drink. I would say, a very good way to make sure that you bond with others. 😊

Vending machine in the office – expects 2 people to swipe their cards to get free drink 🙂

Arigatou gozaimasu for reading my blog. 🙂