Showa kinen koen – Tulip garden at Tachikawa

It took around two hours to reach at Showa kinen koen, popularly known as Tulip garden from higashi Ojima. The travel time is around one and a half hour to reach the garden from our place. One of our friends, who did recently visit this garden, suggested this as a place of must visit place around Tokyo. The photos shared in a social network forum looked stirring, something which drove us to the garden on the next week end.

Showa kinen garden can be reached from Shinjuku by taking JR-Chuo line that goes to Tachikawa. It takes around 38 minutes to reach Tachikawa station from Shinjuku. It is possible to walk to the Showa kinen garden from Tachikawa station. It takes around 15 minutes by walk, if you enjoy walking, but we took another option of boarding JR-Ome train that goes to the Nishi-Tachikawa.

Showa kinen koen is just 3 minutes walk from Nishi Tachikawa station. It is better to go to Nishi Tachikawa by taking JR-Ome line when going with a stroller. The entry fee is 400 Yen for adults and 80 yen for kids above 6 years old. It is a negligible amount considering the fun and enjoyment that the landscapes of Showa kinen koen impart to us. On 29th of April, Showa day, the entry is free to the garden.

There was an event of international flower show on the day of our visit to the garden. The entrance of the garden itself is well maintained and pleasing. Entering to the garden premise we can directly head towards the lake premise and have a boating for a while or it can be put aside to the end of the tour in the garden.

After taking our lunch at the lawn near to the lake, we headed towards the Tulip garden, which is the center of attraction of Showa kinen koen. The area of the park is around 163 hectares of land and is one of the attractive spots in Tokyo metropolitan area. Sight seeing is the major activity of adults while children can enjoy playing in garden and children’s forest. There are numerous spots for children to enjoy and make their day memorable one.

Walking through the garden viewing the beautiful flowering plants enjoying the harmony and tranquility of nature gives a sense of unification with mother earth. We saw some of the visitors to the park enjoy reading books under the shadow of the tree; some of them have a barbecue.

Bird watching is another recreation for some of the visitors while some enjoy cycling. Some of the visitors enjoy jogging and some enjoy boating. Children would love to play in the open ground and in the children’s forest. Our children enjoyed playing in the net.

Photos are powerful than the words written. The photos posted here will convey the beauty of Showa kinen koen. I have shared more photos in facebook, orkut and Flixya, which is a photos, videos and blog sharing and social networking site.

There was a booth inside the garden displaying and selling bonsai plants. Bonsai is one of the most attractive things for me in Japan. Before coming to Japan, I have tried to make bonsai trees by reading books, but failed to do so. At least for me, Bonsai is almost a synonym to Japan. It was a surprise to us to see bonsai sakura and orange trees. We took permission to take photographs and put them in this blog from the shop owner.

The artificial beaches made for children are also very attractive spots for kids to give a feeling of visiting the real sea shores. They can play with water without the fear of getting drowned.

While walking back to the garden gate at 6 P.M we were thinking of another day when we can make our second trip to the garden.

A revisit to Meiji Jingu shrine

The climate has been turning good in Tokyo with the approach of golden week. The sky is clear or cloudy but not raining, which is suitable for going out with kids. Last Saturday when we decided to go out with kids we had no clear plan where to go. It was then the name of Meiji jingu which is located in Shibuya, Tokyo, came to our mind. One of the reasons to remember Meiji Jingu was the recent visit of Mr. Guido Westerwelle, German foreign minister to this shrine. During lunch break one of my German friends recollected the news appeared in the local newspapers about the visit of German foreign minister to Meiji Jingu. Last year Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State had also made her visit to Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine.

It is easier to get to the Meiji Jingu shrine from Higashi Ojima station. The Toei Shinjuku train goes directly upto Shinjuku or Shinjuku sanchome and then to Meiji-Jingumae with in 49 minutes including the transfer time. The transfer at Shinjuku sanchome to Fukutoshin line is a bit lengthy process. Another way is to transfer to Yamanote line from Shinjuku. To plan the convenient train travel route, I use the Tokyo Transfer Guide, an online train route finding facility provided by Tokyo Metro. By using the transfer guide, we can determine where to transfer using the Toei Subway, Tokyo Metro and other railway lines in and around Tokyo like Tokyo metropolis, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures. This is one of the convenient services which Balasan forwarded to me during my initial days in Japan. This is a useful guide for foreigners since the website information are in English.

We reached at Meiji Jingumae station at around 3 PM. As usual and expected the Harajuku area and Meiji jingumae area were crowded. My kids could enjoy the animation characters walking on the streets. This part of Tokyo is totally different! Harajuku is the meeting point for the young generation living in a romantic imaginary and fashion world making fun and love that many times crosses all barriers of genders.

The first time I visited this shrine was with my brother. The pamphlets written in English and Japanese have a brief history of the Shrine. Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. After their death people wished to pay their respects to the Emperor and Empress and they selected an iris garden in an area of Tokyo where Emperor and Empress used to visit was selected for the location of the shrine.

The artificial forest  is with trees brought from different parts of Japan and looks as if it is a natural forest. There are brooks flowing through the artificial forest. The construction of the shrine was started in 1915 in the Nagarezukuri style using Japanese cypress and copper. The air raids during Second World War had totally destroyed the shrine. The shrine was rebuilt on 1958 after the war.

The first time I visited this shrine was with my brother. The pamphlets written in English and Japanese have a brief history of the Shrine. Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. After their death people wished to pay their respects to the Emperor and Empress and they selected an iris garden in an area of Tokyo where Emperor and Empress used to visit, to build the shrine.
On the way to the shrine we could see huge barrels stocked in racks on the sides of the road. These are barrels of sake (sake means alcohol in Japanese language) known as nihonshu donated to the Meiji Jingu shrine.

Meiji Jingu Shrine is located in a forest that covers an area of about 175 acres. Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine area is covered by an evergreen forest with around 120,000 trees of 365 different species. These trees were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established. The shrine has two major areas known as Naien and Gaien. The Naien is the inside grounds centered on the shrine buildings. There is a treasure museum that has articles of the Emperor and Empress.

The Gaien is the outer grounds with Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery and many sports facilities. There is a Meiji Memorial Hall, used for official meetings in the past which is now used for Shinto religion weddings. In almost one hour we did spend at the Gaien, we could see rituals of two weddings. Priests and maidens were in traditional Japanese dress. Tourist people were taking photos of bride and groom who were clad in traditional Japanese dresses.

We can write down and sign the prayers and put them in envelops along with offerings. Recovery from ill-health, protection from evil spirits, family protection, Children’s health, General well-being, Business prosperity etc can be requested through the prayers. It is believed that the prayers we make at the shrine will come true.

The trip was memorable and informative as it could help recollecting one of the important historical eras of Japan – Meiji Period. Emperor Meiji was open-minded to other cultures. A few lines from one of his poems says ‘By gaining the good and rejecting what is wrong, it is our desire that we’ll compare favourably with other lands abroad.’ These lines are displayed near to the Sake barrels.

The shrine closes at around 6 in the evening. Harajuku and surrounding areas were still boisterous with colorful and cheerful youngsters chirping around showing no interest to return to their nest. The shrine and the garden surrounding it stood behind us as a symbol of Emperor Meiji’s wisdom when we looked back.

Sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka? - Pushing people into the crowded trains

On an average, three to four visitors of this blog comes from a google search for “Pushing people into the train in Japan”. The google analytics gave this statistical data of visitors from different parts of the world to this blog. It was interesting to know that people from 79 countries out of 167 countries searched for “Pushing people into train in Japan”. This shows the popularity of this “pushing” in Japan in the outside world.

It took around 10 months after reaching to Japan for me to realize this phenomenon and on November 2008 for the first time I noticed one such pushing. I might have come across similar scenes but could not have noticed while rushing for own entry into the train. As many things are unique for Japan, it seems, this pushing people into the train is one the unique phenomena to Japan. I like to call it ‘phenomenon’ irrespective of the creation of this action. It might have formed as part of the subway journey requirements over a period of time.

Unlike in many other countries, the subway discipline is much stronger and strictly followed in Japan. Even if the trains are late due to some unexpected reason, passengers keep their patience. Japanese people generally would not deviate from their disciplined behavior and they follow the beeline into the trains too even if they know that they are going to be late if not rushed to the crowded trains. Trains towards Tokyo are terribly crowded in the morning hours. For almost all, it is a rush holding the time in hand. If any of the connecting train is missed or becomes late, reaching at the office will be delayed. Being late to the office is considered a shame in Japanese companies, where work is given the topmost priority.

What prompted me to write this blog post with a heading like ‘Sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ is one of the interesting conversation heard recently in the crowded Toei Shinjuku train, which I could managed to board from Higashi Ojima to Morishita. There was snow in the morning and due to troubles in the Keisei line, the trains in the Shinjuku line were also got delayed. I think, this was the reason for delay, if my understanding of the announcement in Japanese language made on the platform was correct! I have to frankly admit my inability to catch Japanese words.

When the train stopped at Nishi Ojima station, two stations from Higashi Ojima, and the doors opened, I could see many ‘heads’ waiting outside that were eager to enter to the train. Hardly there was space for them enter. The people inside the train were already crammed that entry of some more people into the train was almost impossible. It was hard for the closed door to open at the Nishi-Ojima station as the crowd inside was sticking to the doors. The time was almost 9:00 and everybody knew that they were going to be late in the office. That might had been the same feeling of people waiting at the platform too.

I was sure, only one or two managed to put their legs into the train, but with them in that position the doors could not be closed. It was then the driver appeared on the scene. The two passengers who managed to put their legs inside the train were struggling to get their body inside when the doors tried to close. It was impossible to close the doors with their body almost outside!

I could see the ‘heads’ and hear some sounds. I could hear a male voice asking ‘Sumimasen, Oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ and then a female voice ‘onegaishimasu’. Then the crowd inside felt a ‘Push’ from outside. The pressure from outside might have pushed the owner of the female voice inside the train! We were almost squeezed and there were grudges and exhaling sounds inside. The doors were closed and the train moved.

For me, the incident was an opportunity for revision and practice of one of the often used Japanese words ‘Oshimasu’. Oshimasu is one of the Japanese words I learned in lesson 16 of Minna no Nihongo I book. Oshimasu is the polite form for pushing or pressing. Minna no nihongo have examples of sentences using oshimasu and osu to. Osu is the dictionary form of Oshimasu. We learned the oshimasu, oshite, oshita, osanai and osu form to make sentences where we need to press or push any kind of button or keys.

Use of Oshimasu in subway trains to push the people into the train was a new knowledge for me. I went skeptic on what I might have heard. When confirmed from friends and sensei, I got an idea of the usage of oshimasu in subway trains also. The meaning of the conversation ‘sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ is ‘excuse me, is it OK if I push you?’ and the female voice replied politely ‘Yes, please (do)’.

This is not really an extraordinary or odd incident to write a blog post, but being a foreigner having no such experiences in the past, it stimulated me to think of the discipline, obedience, politeness and after all the compassion in the society where I do live. Is it not the manifestation of ‘compassion’ in Japanese society that I have heard through the words ‘sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ I mean the compassion in the sense of consideration, care, concern and kindness. I do not intend to use compassion in the meaning of ‘sympathy’ or ‘empathy’ here. Pushing people into train is a form of that consideration from the side of the person who pushes passengers into the crowded train. He helps them to reach their offices in time!

An evening trip to Funabori Tower, Tokyo

We heard about Funabori Tower from one of the friends last week. Funabori is just a two minutes by Toei Shinjuku line from Higashi Ojima. Yesterday, we went to visit Funabori tower with two friends.

Funabori tower, an integral part and main attraction of Tower hall Funabori, is also a place of conference, wedding parties, meetings, events and hotels. Calm and quiet Funabori station is just less than a minute walk from the tower hall Funabori.

Funabori Tower got its name from the place name Funabori. Funabori is near to Higashi Ojima and Ichinoe in Toei Shinjuku line. Funabori tower is approximately 7 minutes from Yawata/Motoyawata when we come from Narita Airport in Keisei line. A 7 minute walk from Keisei Yawata is required to reach Motoyawata in Toei Shinjuku line. It is recommendable to burn the extra fat accumulated! Japanese people are health conscious to the extent that they purposely make some of the destinations reachable by walking only!

It was around 6:30 PM when we started from Higashi Ojima with kids. Kids like to play outside and such journeys are ideal occasion to impart knowledge on them by talking about what the elders know about the place and history. Unfortunately I was not much informed on the importance of Tower hall Funabori.

Funabori tower is named after the tall tower, which is 115 meters tall and location, Funabori. At the entrance place there were wooden sculptures of musicians with violin in their hands. When we entered the Tower hall building, the first thing I noticed is a Japanese girl clad in black suit with a black hat coming walking to the reception area. Our friend approached the reception to ask how to access the tower. They explained how to go to the top of the tower.

We could see model statues of bride and groom on the first ground floor (First floor in Japan).Tower Hall Funabori is an ideal venue for holding events that ranges from expos to conferences to weddings. Funabori tower hall also have a bridal salon, restaurant and cinema. Funabori tower hall have a big hall, small hall, Banquette room, Event hall and Shop & Service room. Parking lot, Movie Theater, Exclusive service yard etc makes the Funabori tower hall a unique place for events.

The staff at the ground floor guided us to the elevator (Erabeta in Japanese) which took us to the seventh floor. Came out of the elevator at the seventh floor, we walked on the corridor which is long that reached to the end of the building. There another staff guided to us to one of elevator. Baby strollers are allowed to take up to this point only.

We entered to the elevator to reach the top of the Funabori tower. The digital display inside the lift showed the distance we covered in meters. When the display showed 105 meters, the lift stopped. Conveying our Arigato gozaimasu to the lift operator, we entered to the observation tower area. It is built in a square shape allowing 360 degree view of the surrounding Tokyo city and skyscrapers.

The night view of Tokyo is exciting! The extreme engineering skills manifested through the construction of attractive tall structures illuminated with electric bulbs are a feast to the eyes.

We saw Tokyo Tower from the observation tower in dim light, Sky scrapers in Odaiba was also visible. The photos taken from the top of the Funabori Tower at night were not so clear.


The view of vehicles moving not so far away on the bridge along with Arakawa river was really amazing. Another attraction was the view of trains moving on Toei Shinjuku line from the top of the tower.


We spent more than one hour at the tower top. There were no crowd and the observation area was silent, except our children made some noise when they played. Funabori Tower in the Tower hall Funabori is a recommendable place to visit in Tokyo.

Funabori tower is free to visit. To reach Funabori Tower the following link have a pdf file showing the nearby places and approximate time to reach the tower from Narita Airport and Keisei line.

How to reach Funabori Tower and Tower Hall Funabori? Click here

For those who are interested to contact the Tower hall Funabori for any kind of events, conference, the following address and website address will help. The site is in Japanese language;

Tower Hall Funabori
4-1-1 Funabori
Tokyo, Japan
phone: +81 3 5676 2211
fax: +81 3 5676 2501
Funabori Tower Hall

When the castles of good images of Japan falls down in the mind…..

Some of my preconceived notions were getting jolts when encountered with an incident of discrimination though not directed at me. I saw it happened at Morishita Toei Shinjuku station while waiting for train towards Higashi Ojima. Though I tried to convince myself that the acts of racism were not due to the skin color of the victim, I could hardly succeed in convincing myself. There were no other reasons to believe it was not due to skin color. If I could guess correctly, probably it was due to the hate towards a particular race.

And Japan is known for it as many of the personal bloggers declare with their own experiences. I defended many of the negative opinions expressed about Japanese people through this blog.

In acts of discrimination there are always three parties involved. The one who shows the hate feelings, the victim of discrimination towards whom the acts of the racists are expressed publicly and the third one are the witnesses. I was at the third position of witness and was watching the discriminator’s actions as he walked through the plat-form from where the victim was standing in the queue.

At first I thought of not writing about this incident as it may project Japan and its majority good and kind people in a detrimental manner. The discriminator here may be an exception from the vast majority of friendly Japanese people. Though an odd event, I could observe contrary to what I have been telling to my friends that I have never seen any kind of discrimination in Japan. This one of course was pure racist comments he spat on the plat-form with his antagonistic foul mouth.

Let me come out openly with what happened. I was coming down to the plat-form in the escalator at Morishita Toei Shinjuku station. The time was around 6:40 in the evening. The pink car is no more reserved for women. I used to board into the first compartment/car since it will reach first at the Komatsugawa exit by the time the train reaches Higashi Ojima.

There was standing a person who might be from one of the many countries of African continent. The physical characteristics of people including the skin color gives sufficient clue to guess the region and race of them. The person in black was gentle in his position, dress and looks. The moment he entered in a queue, I could see the Japanese young man who was already standing in the front looked at the guy in black and uttered some words in Japanese. The J-man walked away with an angry face and he showed as if he spit on the plat-form. This was to show his unlikeness to the person in black.

We, the witnesses could not see any reason for the J-man’s anger except the one that the B-man stood in his back of queue. They had to travel together once they enter inside the train. The J-man might have dislike towards the B-man’s race. There were no other reason I could guess in mind.

The witnesses of the J-man’s venomous words were just witnessing and did not show any surprise at his action. That is the great thing with Japanese people I have observed. Japanese people have an expressionless face towards many of the events in public.

What was the reaction of the B-man? He was engaged in eating chewing gum as if nothing new has happened. Some of the people walking were looking at his reaction, but he was not looking at anybody. He was gentle in his stand and the J-man was the ugly one showed up his foul mouth at the public place. Who is the winner here!

This one event looks different and dirty among other pages of life in Japan so far. Though not a victim of Japanese racism and discrimination towards foreigners, it hurts my feelings. At many incidents, some witnesses bear deep wounds than the victims. Still I bear the wounds and remember the moment I get down to the plat-form. That plat-form was the place where the castles of flatter on Japan built from the images of beautiful and kind people fell down in my mind. Still I like to believe this is an odd incident.

Shopping experience at Costco wholesale, Makuhari

This was the fourth time I did purchase at COSTCO WHOLESALE at Makuhari after coming to Japan. When Balasan told about Costco and the economical benefits of purchasing from Costco one year before, I was not fully convinced obviously because I was leading a single life at that time in Japan.

Now with family, purchasing from Costco is an economically beneficial. Membership is mandatory to purchase from Costco. Two individuals can do shopping with one membership card. Balasan has taken the membership card for one year. The one year membership card costs 4000 yen without tax.

When we buy household items in bulk, Costco is a good choice, as far as our experience goes. I could see Ready to eat MTR foods from India, which is an attractive item for Indians and Pakistanis in Japan. The cost of 4 Nos of Palak paneer packs cost 898 Japanese Yen. The average cost of one pack is 224.5 Japanese yen. The same Palak paneer from MTR in other local shops in Tokyo that sells Indian foods costs 480 Japanese yen. There are some Indian shops that sell little bit cheaper than 480 Yen but not very near to the cost at Costco.

Another example is the cost of Olive oil. The one liter Olive oil I bought from a local supermarket cost me around 900 Yen, while the one I did yesterday at Costco cost me around 500 Yen per liter, when purchased a can of 5 liters.

Travelling from our place to Makuhari is the only disadvantage for us to shop at Costco. For me, living at Higashi Ojima, I have to take Toei Shinjuku line up to Motoyawata. From there by changing to JR line to reach Nishi Funabashi. From Nishi Funabashi the frequency of trains directly to Kahin Makuhari is less. Most of the time we have to make one more transfer at Minami Funabashi to reach finally at Kahin Makuhari. From Kahin Makuhari we will board the bus that goes to Costco wholesale, Makuhari. There are two buses in every one hour. We have to plan the travel as per the bus timings to save time.

When we used to go to OVTA for our Japanese lessons, it was easier to shop at Saturdays once the Japanese lessons are finished. Vegetables and Food items are much cheaper compared to shopping at local shops. Costco is a wholesale shop whose history dates back to 1976 when it started first sale in Morena Boulevard in San Diego, CA, U.S.A.

First Costco warehouse was opened in Seattle, WA, U.S.A in 1983, Costco have more than 500 locations worldwide. Best part of Costco is it is open not only to business customers, but to retail customers too can avail the benefit of purchasing the things at whole sale price. Costco operates at nine locations in Japan. The branches in Japan are in Fukuoka (Hisayama), Chiba (Makuhari), Machida City (Tamasakai), Hyogo (Amagasaki), Yokohama (Kanazawa), Kawasaki (Kawasaki), Sapporo (Sapporo) and in Saitama two branches one at Iruma and another at Shinmisato. We can see the Makuhari branch when we go to Kahin Makuhari from Nishi Funabashi on our way to OVTA for Japanese lessons. Click here for Costco website in Japan; Costco.jp

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Makuhari, click here; Costco Makuhari

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Tamsakai, click here; Costco Tamasakai

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Amagasaki, click here; Costco Amagasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Hisayama, click here; Costco Hisayama

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kanazawa seaside, click here; Costco Kanazawa seaside

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kawasaki, click here; Costco Kawasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Sapporo, click here; Costco Sapporo

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Iruma, click here; Costco Iruma

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Shinmisato, click here; Costco Shinmisato

Shopping at Costco is a good option to control the living cost in Tokyo. Living in Tokyo is highly expensive especially with family. Then the options like Costco will make the living somewhat comfortable though not fully. Daily living items, the expiry date of which are more than 6 months can be purchased at once in bulk to save money while we do shopping at Costco. One of the disadvantages is that most of the times we have limited options of brands to choose from. Electronic items do not have many options.

As one of the Japanese friend told, foreigners in Japan spend more money for living as they lack information on places where they can do economical purchasing. Local people and foreigners who have been living in Japan for long know such places and have many options for shopping. They can limit their expenses to their budget, while many of the new comers to Japan spend more unknowingly due to lack of information. Single living does not require many items to be stored in bulk. This also tempts singles to buy from local shops as and when required and that costs them higher making the living expense in Japan further high.