My Trip Souvenirs
| The Land of Rising Sun offers : |
a) Mt Fuji 👍
b) Asakusa, Sensoji 👍
c) Bullet Train 👍
|
d) Ginzo Electronics 🛒
e) Imperial Palace, Tora Gate
f) Sky Tower and Tokyo Tower
|
g) Thermal Springs
h) Sushi, Green Tea 🍱
i) Tokyo Tower
|
We visited Nippon, the Land of Rising Sun in the chilly winters of December 2012. Our trip was for 5 days and its not enough a time to experience the beautiful country and its uniqueness. However less, the days were action packed and we had a great time. We landed in Narita Airport, Tokyo and took the Airport express train to the city centre. The pin drop silence in the crowded train itself is an experience on its own, especially for Indians who tend to talk aloud :). The hotel rooms are pretty small and well equipped and Japanese are known for effective utilisation of resources. On the first day we roamed around the Tokyo city. We had a sneak peak of the Sumo wrestlers practice sessions, and a close watch requires prior appointment, followed by Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace neighbourhoods to watch the Samurai statue and majestic gardens. Next we visited Ueno gardens which would be adorned with abundance of pink cherry blossoms during the Spring. We stayed close to Asakusa and visited shopping streets and the Asakusa temple, with Japanese lanterns all around, to wind up the day.
We boarded the Bullet Train followed by a local train to Nikko the next day, for our chance to experience the Japanese snow, Kegon waterfalls and Japanese Torri close to the lake. We spent the evening at Ginza electronic shopping street which is bustling and colourful. Tokyo Skytree was the first stop on Day 3, which stands second in height to Burj Khalifa. After a short stay there, we headed to the Disney Land, which was much awaited for the kid. On Day 4, we headed towards the scenic Kawaguchiko lake for the views of Mt Fuji. The tourist train to the spot has sliding seats and full sized glass windows for enjoying the views on the way. Mt Fuji is beautiful and majestic and we get nice views of the mountain on a boat ride in the lake. We took the Airport express train back to Narita to bid farewell to this beautiful country.
During this trip, we tried out the Sushi and found that it was not to my liking. However the Sobha noodles were definitely interesting. We tried out different Noddle soups but liked the fiery tast of Nagasaki Soup :). On the Souvenir shopping, the Japanese shops are quite busy with lot of action figures and other miniatures that everything appears interesting. We brought Japanese knives along with minature of the Japanese lady in Kimono and of course the Japanese fans.
December may not be the best time to visit as it is pretty cold and vacation time brings longer queues in Disney Land.
The places are superbly maintained, clean and neat, people are warm and helpful, in spite of the language barriers, they try to help the visitors as much as they can. With all these memories, Japan remains in the top list of the places visited so far and a 'must visit again' destination, hopefully to experience the the mesmerising Autumn and more on the Zen Culture.