The silence before and after a tempest - the typhoon Melor battered life in Japan

The morning was very calm today and it provoked to think about the calmness before the storm. Before and after a tempest the nature is calm and peaceful. The silence sometimes is interpreted as the silence before a tempest. There were reports that the typhoon Melor will hit Tokyo today.

Today morning I got the message in mobile from the school where my daughter studies that the ‘School closed due to typhoon’. It was then I got the seriousness of the Typhoon that has already started hitting Japan landfall.

The typhoon named Melor brought heavy rain and wind to the Japan mainland. When viewed the movement of the typhoon at 7 a.m in the morning today, the typhoon was around 200km away from Tokyo. My colleagues had informed me that effect of Melor will not be so serious in Tokyo compared to the other parts of Japan. And this was the reason I got up as usual and became ready to go to office. We were little bit worried about sending our daughter to school and now by receiving the message from school that worry was also cleared. However small the typhoon will be, it is not safe for the children to go to schools.

There was heavy rain when I stepped out of the apartment and I could not open the umbrella. Since the Komatsugawa exit of Higashi Ojima, Toei Shinjuku line is only a half minute walking distance away from our apartment, I could manage without opening the umbrella though it was raining.

One thing I like to repeat about the admirable attitude of Japanese people is that almost all of them do not fear to go out even during the heavy wind. I have noticed this attitude before also. Japanese people are well trained on how to respond to the natural calamities like earthquake and typhoon it seems. The houses are connected to a centralized alarm system that will announce the danger during or at least in advance of the natural calamities.

There may be much damage and disaster at different parts of Japan. There were reports of death and some 64 people injured in the evening. The typhoon Melor had destroyed many houses, many thatched roofs were collapsed, disrupted life partially in the busy parts of Tokyo.

Some of my friends were trapped in railway stations for hours in the morning. Many trains were cancelled and many of them were running slow and late than scheduled. Some offices and companies declared holiday. Somehow I could manage to reach upto Monzen Nakacho by Toei Shinjuku train and then Toei Oedo line.

There was a huge crowd waiting at the Tozai platform of Monzen Nakacho. I stood at the behind and waited for the train to come. It took around 12 minutes for the train to come. Usually Tozai trains will be arriving at this station at every 3 to 4 minutes during morning. Train was already packed and the driver pushed me from outside in order to close the door. I have written about pushing people into the train in this blog before also. It really helps us to reach at offices in time.

Typhoon Melor is now moved to the northern region of Japan. Melor did harm the normal life at the central parts of Japan. Flights were cancelled and businesses were affected. It was reported that around 315 flights were cancelled and thousands of people were evacuated to reduce the casualties.

The sky was cleared by 11 p.m and there was only wind blowing with moderate speed in the evening. Internet newspapers were full of news that Japan battered by typhoon.

I was interested to know the meaning of Melor and found it is a Malay (Malaysian language) word meaning ‘Jasmine’. Some sites suggests that the word Melor in the West has its roots in Russia. Melor in Russia is an abbreviated form of Marx Engels Lenin October Revolution. Since the typhoon came on October the name Melor suits, though it did not bring any revolution, except some disaster!

Reflections of exotic stones, greenery and Japanese history in a pond

Her tears fell in to the pacific and there arose a group of islands called Japan. There are many myths associated with old Japanese culture. The Goddess behind the creation of Japan may be a myth, but when I read the pamphlet distributed at the entrance gate of Kiyosumi gardens, I recollected the mythical story.

The artistic and beautiful stones laid around the pond in the Kiyosumi gardens were being collected from all over Japan. Thus while stepping on each stone, I could feel that I walk all around Japan! It is an imaginative feeling I shared with my family when we visited the Kiyosumi gardens on a Sunday.

Kiyosumi gardens located near to the Sumidagawa river in the Shitamachi area of Tokyo is very near to Monzen Nackacho. The Kiyosumi gardens is just a few minutes walk from the Kiyosumi shirakawa station in the Toei Oedo line. For us coming from Higashi Ojima, there is one transfer from Toei Shinjuku line to Toei Oedo line at Morishita.

There were groups of people lead by a guide, but we opted to be independent as understanding Japanese was still on the half way for all of us. The pond has three islands and a building where we saw some people practicing meditation. It reminded us of the Buddhist monasteries at some remote village. But the information written on the English leaflet says the building is a tea ceremony space architecture.

Rainwater is used for pond at present, but in old days water from Sumidagawa river was brought into the gardens. Thanks to the Iwasaki family who took the pain to collect all those beautiful stones from all over the Japan and brought them here in this part of Japan by steamships. Those exotic stones now decorate the pond and the surroundings. For that reason the Kiyosumi gardens may look like a stone garden. The tea ceremony building mentioned earlier is known as Ryotei in Japanese. Ryotei was builit as a guesthouse for the visit of British military personality Lord Kichener.

My kids could enjoy the fishes and the tortoises and the ducks in the pond. There were pigeons as well sitting on the stones. We walked towards the Ryotei building stepping on the stones laid in the pond. We could see a big stone monument in which a poem was inscribed. Sitting on a nearby chair we could recognize that the poem tells about a frog who jumped into an old pond. The monument stone was originally located on the banks of Sumidagawa, but was moved to the Kiyosumi gardens when the protection walls were constructed along the Sumidagawa river bank.

The shallow parts of the pond have stepping stone pathways that looked amazing for my kids. They enjoyed the scene of fishes and tortoises while crossing the pond and found the reflections of trees in the water. After walking a while we took rest and gave food to our kids. The climate was ideal for an outing with family with low sun but clear sky.

The tallest hill in Kiyosumi gardens is known as Fuji-san, resembling the name of Fuji mountain. There were Crape myrtle flowers in the garden. We were not tired after walking one round around the pond. On our way back to the exit gate which also the entrance gate, we could meet warm-heated Japanese people greeting while passing on the way. The garden was built by a business magnate Kinokuniya Bunzaemon, who lived in the Edo period.


The entrance ticket charge is JPY 150 per adult and for children, admission is free. It is a place recommended to be visited in Tokyo and which is worth to visit as we can recollect some part of the history of Japan while walking through a typical Japanese garden. Kiyosumi gardens is designated as “Scenic Park” by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The pond inside the Kiyosumi gardens reflects the history of Japan along the with the reflections of the exotic stones and the trees.

Statue of Ino Tadataka in Tomioka Hachiman Shinto shrine at Monzen Nakacho

When I visited the Shinto temple at Monzen Nakacho, I did not even know the name of the temple itself. During my stay at Day Nice Hotel last year, I used to walk on Monzen Nakacho streets at evenings to have a look at different varieties of Japanese food displayed in front of restaurants and Japanese shops.

I have seen two temples during such evening walk but feared to enter inside alone. The fear was due to my ignorance that I may need permission to enter into a Japanese temple. After hearing from friends that Japanese temples are not like the Hindu temples in India, where only Hindu people are allowed to enter, I had a desire to visit those temples at Monzen Nakacho.

I was alone today visiting the temples, and I was the only gaikokujin (foreigner) at the premise. Here, when I say I was the only gaikokujin it clearly reflects my inability to distinguish the Koreans, Chinese or similar looking foreigners from Japanese people. Though I could recognize many of the East Asians other than Japanese from the gestures, dressing style and attitudes it required more observations and not by a mere look at them. There might be more foreigners from Korea or China or some other East Asian countries. My face was the only ‘different face’.

Anyway alone, but with many friendly Japanese people all around, I never felt, I am alone or different from them. When I entered inside I could see a statue and started thinking who it will be. I had no idea. I thought he will be the founder of this Shinto temple. Let me tell you frankly, as I wrote in the first, I did not know the name of the temple itself!

But information always comes with exploration of new places and things. Had not I been visited the temple today, I would have still remained ignorant on some of the interesting information on Monzen Nakacho.

What to say, my pure luck? When I was standing in front the statue of a man and trying to interpret the Kanji characters written on the black stone behind to get some idea of the man, I saw one Japanese young man looking at me with his face full of friendly smile! Oh, I could approach him, because he was friendly and seemed interested in offering his help. To be frank, I have seen during similar situations, Japanese people are friendly and helpful contrary to what I read from many websites.

With a small introduction, he became my guide to the temple! He could speak English which I could follow too. Thanks to the stranger friend. If you happen to read this blog, please put your comments. There is a ‘Ta’ in his name, other parts of his name I could not remember and anyway, it is not fair to put his name on this blog without his permission. Let me call him ‘Ta-san’. As per Ta-san, the statue is Ino Tadataka, who was the great surveyor of Japan. Ino Tadatakasan started his survey from Hokkaido.

Later, after coming back to home, I searched for Tadataka-san and learned more about him. Otherwise, I would have forgotten the name of Ino Tadataka-san also with in a day or two. I have still that problem of remembering Japanese names.

Ino Tadataka was born in a village in Chiba Prefecture. He was adopted at the age of seventeen into the Trio family in Sawara. After working actively for the community of Honjuku and his family's business for thirty-two years, Ino Tadataka-san retired at the age of forty nine.

Ino Tadataka-san studied Western astronomy under Takahashi Yoshitoki, a specialist in the astronomy and calendar department of the Tokugawa Shogunate. With an order from the Shogunate, Ino Tadataka-san started a tour for surveying the whole of Japan to make accurate maps, using precision instruments for his astronomical observations.

During Edo period many Japanese people tried to imbibe Western science and technology into Japan for modernizing Japan. Ino Tadataka was one of such famous figure. His map of Japan won praises from all the quarters. Again, before forgetting let me write down the name of the shrine I visited today at Monzen Nakacho. It is Tomioka Hachiman shrine.