Japan Series : Tokyo....Ultramodern city with a touch of history.

Kanda Shrine

Japan....Country of the rising Sun. 

I came across a photo of a village named Shirakawa-go on a social networking site and instantly felt like visiting the same. Some places make you feel that they should be experienced at least once in a lifetime and that is what I felt about Japan. But this is not a country where you just pick your bags and leave, you need to do a little research before entering Japan. We planned two week itinerary and travelled extensively throughout Japan yet could not cover the south and north part of the country. If you are planning to travel throughout Japan it is recommended to get yourself a JR (Japan railway) pass. Japan rail reaches every nook and corner of the country and it becomes very easy to travel with this pass, firstly because it is economical and secondly because it saves time of waiting everywhere for a ticket. (But if you are not travelling much and going to visit only few places, I would suggest you skip the JR Pass and you can buy regular tickets as and when needed either physically booking on counters or buy an IC Card such as Suica, Pasmo etc., which can be used anywhere including trains, buses and hotels). We bought our JR pass of 14 days from Klook. You have to book it beforehand and you get a voucher at your place of residence.

Travel : ANA Japan has direct flights from Mumbai to Tokyo Narita twice a week and it is better to take a direct flight which is also economical and faster.

Language : Many people skip Japan because they have no knowledge about the language but believe, we did not have a single issue for 2 weeks in Japan because of language. Everyone is very accommodative. All sign boards are in English, if not you can use google translate to check out the meaning of a work. People also help you using google translate.

Food : As Indians we are very attached to our food habits and we may not like to eat Sushi and Ramen but Japan had many Indian hotels throughout the country even at the remotest places. So you can search for Indian hotels at the places you are visiting on google and you will definitely find one. Another thing that we did was we carried some ready to eat packets and made our own comfort food like dal khichadi and pav bhaji which is highly recommended since it will be very difficult to get vegetarian options in Japan. You can book homestay's where you get our own kitchen with all the utilities to cook your own food.

Day 1 :

Narita Airport Station

Once you reach Narita Airport station you have to exchange your voucher with the JR pass. Expect a long queue for this exchange, it took us almost 1-2 hours to get our passes even though we did not visit Japan in peak season. Peak season would be April- May which is the cherry blossom season in Japan. Once you get the pass you are free to explore the country. Japan's Rail Network is one of the largest in the world with many lines and it can get overwhelming when you experience it first hand. Even after a lot of research we were confused when we got down at Tokyo station. Tokyo station has 2 exits (east side and west side) with 3 entrances each. It has 28 platforms which makes it one of the largest railway stations in the world.

Narita Airport Station

We took Narita express from Narita Airport and after an hour got down at Tokyo station. We had to get 5 floors upward to get out of the station and were figuring out the exit for half an hour dragging the luggage. So, if you are planning for a trip to Japan you better study the railway network and also station maps to understand it better. If you have heavy luggage and you are planning to explore the city as soon as you land in Tokyo, you can also book your luggage with JR travel service desk or Skyliner & Keisei and they will drop the luggage at your hotel at nominal cost.

Tokyo

Our hotel was near Tokyo station so we took a cab from the station to our hotel. The check in time for every hotel in Japan is 4 p.m. so we dropped our luggage and left to explore Tokyo. Surprisingly in spite of being the biggest city in the country, the by lanes were quiet and beautiful. I loved Tokyo the moment I came out of the station. As we traveled in November the weather was pleasant and at times chilling for us Mumbaikar's. Streets were neat and clean. Traffic was organized with no unnecessary honking. Taxi's were up to the mark and all the drivers wore gloves and were extremely hospitable.

So the first stop we took was for lunch since we were famished and also tired from the air travel and sleep deprivation. We went to an Italian restaurant which made Italian food in Japanese style. We really could not finish it, but the staff was super courteous and we could not ask them to throw away the food so we took leftover as a parcel and searched for a homeless foodless beggar but to our surprise we could not find a single beggar in Tokyo. We were staying at Shimabashi and the area was more like the Fort area of Mumbai so we could only see office goers. One more thing we observed was that everyone in Japan is dressed formally, you will find very few people dressed casually. 

Senso ji Temple :

After our disappointing lunch we went to see the famous Senso-ji temple of Tokyo. We took the Ginza line subway from Shimbashi Station and got down at Asakusa station. The road to the temple has a lot of food stalls so we tried some local delicacies and visited the temple. Senso-ji is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo with 5 storied Pagoda. Though it is situated in the heart of the city yet it has its old charm which captivates the visitors. Just close to the senso-ji is  Tokyo 's tallest building 

After senso ji we wanted to visit more places but our son was exhausted and we went back to our hotel. We as Indians are very attached to our food habits so we carried  puranpoli, Gul poli, theplas and ready to eat packets from India and had it as our dinner and we hit the bed at 6 p.m. Japan is 3 and half hours ahead of India so the jetlag and the travel had us exhausted and we had a good night sleep.

Day 2 :

For the next day we had planned to visit a nearby town of Nikko but since our son Ashvath had fever we could not do so. (We carried medicines from India and put it in check in baggage, if you want to carry it in cabin luggage you need to carry prescription along with the medicines). We literally missed out on a complete day in Tokyo. While Ashvath slept and rested, I went out to see the surroundings and got us something to eat for lunch from convenient store.

The best part is that Japan has a lot of convenience stores such as 7 Eleven, Family Mart, Lawsons, etc. They had sandwiches, burgers, cakes, Japanese curry rice and various other items that we could eat and we literally survived on them. You will also find beverage dispenser on every cover of the lane where you can buy water, cold coffee and various other drinks.

Meijijingu Gaien :

Meijijingu Gaien

Ashvath felt a little better in the evening so we went to Meijijingu Gaien which is a patch of 300 meters of golden ginkgo trees. The autumn colors of yellow leaves are very famous here and it had just started in Tokyo when we visited in mid November. These trees create a tunnel of yellow colour with trees on both sides and roads in the middle. After taking a stroll along the beautiful lane and clicking many photos we headed to Akihabara.

Akihabara :

Akihabara also known as Tokyo 's electronic town is a heaven for kids with a complex full of gaming gadgets and other electronic items. Ashvath wanted to buy a Nintendo which I had ignored for almost a year and promised to get him Nintendo only when we go to Japan. So shopping for Ashvath was mandatory. We bought the Nintendo he selected from a tax free counter and carried a bill just in case its required at the airport. The Akihabara Arcade is almost 7 floors with all sorts of things to buy. We went to the 5th floor and Ashvath was awestruck with the range of games and anime characters.

Akihabara Station

After shopping we headed to McDonald's for dinner. The lady on the counter could not understand English and to our surprise and contentment she started speaking in Hindi . She was from Nepal and was fluent in Hindi so we could place the order without any inconvenience. After hogging on to a delicious Chicken teriyaki burger, fries and Cola, we took our last stop for the day.

Kanda Shrine :

Kanda Shrine

Kanda shrine is the oldest shrine which dates back to 1270 years and is right in the middle of the city. The current temple structure was rebuilt many times  due to earthquakes. We visited the place after sunset and it was beautifully lit. One thing to note is after sunset Japan becomes very quiet and deserted except a few tourist places. So when we visited at around 7:30 p.m. we had the temple for ourselves and we had an amazing experience of calmness and peace, just the way we wanted. Before visiting the shrine, they have a dragon face water tap which works on the sensor, you have to wash your hands and enter the temple.

The way the Japanese pray to their deity is that they first fold their hands, bow down, clap their hands 2 times and again bow down. This was undoubtedly the most beautiful temple we visited in Tokyo and I would definitely recommend visiting it after sunset when it is not crowded. Later we took a subway and went to the hotel and called it a night.

Day 3

Hakone

Next and last day in Tokyo we had planned our trip to Hakone. Hakone is a place from where you can have a sight of boiling Sulphur springs, the magnificent Mount Fuji and it is also a scenic town surrounded by beautiful landscapes. Hakone will be described in another blog since there are lot of things to see in and around Hakone. We spent whole day in Hakone and returned to the hotel at night.

Night life @ Tokyo

While coming back we strolled through by lanes of Tokyo's by lanes where the local public were enjoying food and drinks with their friends. The unique thing that we observed was that many people had food and drinks by themselves in solitude. Many hotels in Japan have side table with arrangement for a single person to sit and eat.

Day 4

Zojo-ji Temple

Today was our last day in Tokyo and we had a scheduled bullet train for Kanazawa at around 11:30 A.M. but since we had a little time in the morning we visited a unique temple in Tokyo named Zojo-ji built in the 14th Century. The temple earlier had 120 buildings but following the decline of Buddhism during Meiji Period in Japan most of them were burned down in bombing during World War - II. The main gate named Sangedatsumon is the oldest wooden gate, "San" means three and "gedatsu" means Moksha and it is believed that anyone who passes through the door of the temple can free himself from three passions namely greed, hatred and foolishness. Well i really don't know whether i have freed my self from the last one though....lolzzz.

Zojo-ji Temple

Six of the 15 Tokugawa Shoguns are buried in this temple, this cemetery also has a small garden named Sentai Kosoate Jizo dedicated to unborn children including miscarried, aborted and still born. The garden is adorned with small stone statues representing the children and each statue is dressed with pretty dress and gifts. Many couples come to this temple for safety of their children and we could see many cute little Japanese kids dressed in traditional attires. Since Ashvath was not keeping well, we also prayed for his safety and left the temple with a heavy heart.

Though we could not cover many other places in Tokyo due to Ashvath's health and time constraint, I am giving here a list of places to see in Tokyo and you can plan your trip as per your convenience and interest.

1. Shibuya for its famous Shibuya Crossing,

2. Kappabashi for glass and ceramic utensil shopping (Famous for Ceramic knives),

3. Teams lab Planet Museum - Ticket is around 3800 Yen per person.

4. Tokyo Skytree, tallest building for mesmerizing view of Tokyo.

5. Shinjuku Gyoen, abeautiful garden in middle of the City.

6. Meiji Shrine near Harajuku Station Tokyo.

7. Shinjuku and Ropponji Hills for nightlife

8. Odaibi beachfront with beautiful Rainbow bridge at night.

9. Sumo Museum at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

10. Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea.

One day trips from Tokyo :

1. Hakone

2. Nikko

3. Kamakura

4. Lake Kawaguchiko

   
   

   I had initially chalked out a plan to see innumerable places in Tokyo but I missed out on many of them. But always remember you will miss out on some places and will not be able to do everything as per your itinerary since 2 weeks are nothing to see a country. So take it easy, enjoy the journey and feel the vibe of this beautiful place on earth :)