What happens if somebody visits Hiroshima?

Recently, the newspapers, websites and news blogs were full of analyses of Obama’s proposed visit to Hiroshima. When some of my friends told about the plan of the president to visit there, I was skeptic and told them that it will not happen. The proposed visit had some thing to do with our high school physics book.

Neither politics is a subject to ignite ideas for blog posts here nor do I intend to criticize the diplomacy of politicians. Criticism, especially negative will not yield any positive result.

The equation we learned in our physics class was e = mc2. Our physics teacher, Girijan Master explained the meaning of each component in the equation. Girijan Master was not simply a teacher for me. We at high schools used to listen to him as if we hear an interesting story when he teaches complex theories of physics. It was thus we heard more about the city of Hiroshima, far away from our home town and country, in Japan.

By the time we reached High school, we had enough general knowledge about Japan and its importance in the technology products supplying to other nations. Moreover, we heard from our history teacher regarding the heroic acts of Japanese military that triumphed over European and American power axis during World War II. The history teachers were not so serious to tell us what went wrong with the war at last.

What happened before sixty or seventy years before may not be interesting to the younger generations, but when it still can influence the lives, we have to listen to the history. Looking back more seriously to what Girijan master told us when he explained the miseries of human beings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I can now realize that the energy equals mass multiplied by square of speed of light has many things to do with politics, human sufferings, power shift, alignment of nations, trade and business.

History is not written with golden letters always. Many times it is written with a knife that has the stain of blood of many innocents. Revisiting the history needs much more political will and compassion to those innocents. It may not always come with the determination of a political group that depends on the support of  majority. It is here Bertrand Russel proves himself true in saying that truth is not always absolutely true, but is what the authority or majority says. Then the chances for truth are fifty percent in the present day society. It may not be always the truth we hear as the truth is decided by the majority.

War is a crime, whoever is responsible for it. It is also true that no present-day generation can be blamed for what had happened in the past. What we can do is to learn from the past and take caution not to repeat the same mistakes that happened once in our history.

Girijan master taught us the famous energy equation on an August. That may be purely coincidence. The test ground of energy equation waited for the president which never happened. What happened in the past must not be willingly important to the present generations especially when it involves many complicated self-disgusting historical facts. We may not be able to wipe out the energy equation getting realized in many countries, but at least a caution is required to save our future generations.

This post does not attempt to find fault with anybody, but just wanted to reiterate what Girijan master taught us in our High school class. The ‘e’ that stands for energy can stand for emotion also. Then the mc (mass x velocity of light) can stand for man’s common-sense (mc). Emotions of hundreds of thousands of innocents are in the hands of common-sense of our political leaders.

A free visit to Ueno zoological park, Tokyo

The weather was suitable for an outing today with moderate cold and sun. It helped us not to change our previous plan to visit Ueno zoological park. The drive to visit the zoo was our daughter’s demand to see the animal characters which she had imagined while hearing bed-time stories.

For us, telling Panchatantra stories to children is a way of imparting moral values too. Children imbibe social values and importance of team work, social life etc through stories of animals. Originally written by Vishnusharma centuries ago, Panchatantra stories are very popular in India even today. Bed time stories help children to grow their visualization and imagination process, thereby help to ignite their hidden passions for creativity.

To our surprise, when we reached at the gate by exiting through JR-line, it was written in big red words that the “ADMISSION IS FREE”. Good! In English too. Once more I confirmed by asking the staff at the gate of Ueno zoo that admission is free today. In fact we were unaware of this fact. I have read in some of the Japan tour website that admission to the zoo on the foundation day of the zoo, probably on March of every year, on Greenery day and on October 1st etc are free, but never expected to be free today. The ticket fare for an adult is 600 Japanese yen on normal days.

There really are a lot to see in Ueno zoological park. It is one of the favored tourist spots in Tokyo and foreigners also prefer to visit on their short visit to Tokyo. If we search for some of the must see places in Tokyo, name of Ueno zoo also will appear in the search results. I got the same when I did a google search last year to make a list of places to see in Tokyo.

Ueno zoological park is wide and the exact geographical details may be available at the zoo official website. We entered the Ueno zoo through the Main gate which comes from the JR Ueno station. Right at the entrance, we can see Pandas. On the right side of the entrance we can see a variety of pheasants and pigeons including Japanese pigeon. The red panda is one of the famous attractions of Ueno zoo. Unfortunately the Panda region of the park is missing the giant panda. There we could see a notice that the giant panda was died on April 2008.

We walked to show elephants and monkeys. On the way, we could see the Thai pavilion, which was donated by Royal Thai government. Elephant forest section is one of the popular sections of the zoo. For us, we have seen many elephants in the past and elephants are part of the social life for people hail from Kerala. The elephants at Ueno zoo could not bring any nostalgia to me!

There are Japanese cranes and birds on the left side of the entrance. After taking our lunch we proceeded towards the mono-rail that goes to the West Garden. The monorail starts from East garden. Ueno zoo has two areas. One is West garden and the second one is East Garden. This separation is easier to make plan for visitors according to their preference to see animals.

The main attractions on the West garden are Kangaroos, Vivarium, Giraffe, Okapis, Alligators, Snakes, Frogs, Turtles, Penguins, Rhinoceroses, Zebra (which is one of the favorite characters in my daughter’s bed-time stories), Hippopotamuses and Flamingos etc. It was an eye-catching scene flamingos stand on single foot.

The attractions in the East garden are Lion, Tiger, Gorilla, Lama, Polar bear, varieties of birds apart from the elephants, pandas and monkeys.

The zoo is well maintained by the staff and rest rooms are located at the right places for the convenience of visitors. Food items are also available at major junctions and enough numbers of benches and tables are also properly set. Ueno zoo, with cafeteria, free rest rooms, rental strollers, baby stations, nursery room, first aid station etc., is an ideal place for outing with kids.

I strongly recommend visit Ueno zoo if you are making a trip to Tokyo with or without your family. It is a place to see in Tokyo.

Emotion recollected in tranquility!

There might be a Wordsworth walking in the tile paved streets. He might have written thousands of praising words and poems on his solitude about the colorful leaves that falls on the street. On his way back to home through this street, he might have spent more of his unconstrained time on one of the wooden benches on the garden imbibing the beauty of the nature.

It is thus the poetry takes birth. The beauty of nature here in autumn season will inspire even a monster! Emotions could be recollected in this tranquility, thanks to Wordsworth for putting all those words to make a meaningful definition for poetry.

Life in Japan is more beautiful than before with the start of autumn season. Life becomes colorful when the nature around us makes up herself in colorful wardrobe. During autumn season, leaves change their color, thus making the whole panorama more scenic.

This photo is taken from the balcony of our apartment. The street down was not visible with the densely packed green leaves till some days back, now turned to be visible from top. The green leaves also turned into different colors.

This street that goes to the Higashi Ojima station looks enticing with yellow, orange, green, orange, dark brown and red leaves intermingles each other. Ideal place to spend time during day time if we are free!

The trees near the river bank also turned their leaves colorful, making the river more attractive than ever before.

Respecting the nature is a traditional way of Japanese culture!

Enjoy the nature and tradition just 50 minutes from Shinjuku station!

This is the advertisement caption on which I get something to stare while riding on Toei Shinjuku trains to and from Higashi Ojima on weekdays. Most often this advertisement shown on the Toei Shinjuku line trains or Keio line trains that goes to Keio-tama center is the one that has caption in English. Indeed, advertized to attract foreigners, Mount Takao is a place to visit especially during the season of color change of leaves on November second week.

By repeatedly seeing the advertisement inside the trains, we decided to make a trip to Mount Takao today. We are just back from Mount Takao, which is just one and half an hour away from our house at Higashi Ojima.

The ideal visiting season is November when the trees change the colors. Mount Takao looks gorgeous with trees bearing colored leaves in a varying mix of red, yellow, green, pink, orange, dark brown and grey. The winter is near and the trees will prepare themselves to shed the leaves. During autumn season, maple leaves change color which is known as momiji in Japanese. もみじ momiji is romantic season in Japan and we could see many young couples making their trip to the top of mount Takao.

Mount Takao is 599 meters tall in the city of HachiOji. HachiOji is in Tokyo prefecture and for me HachiOji is particularly important as one of the initial visitors to this blog Mr. Hashimoto was from this place. Mount Takao is a popular hiking spot for Tokyo people.

To reach Takao-san, take a keio line train that goes to Kitano and then change to Keio Takao line to reach Takaosanguchi. Alternatively, from Shinjuku, we will get express train to Takaosanguchi. Pasmo or suica card holders do not need to buy separate tickets to reach Takaosanguchi.

From the basement of Mount Takao known as Takaosanguchi, where the Keio trains stops, we need to walk around 5 minutes to reach the cable car station. We had two option to reach at the top of Mount Takao. One is by using Cable car and another one is by lift chair. Lift chair will be an open air atmosphere and as we were with small kids and strollers did not opt to use. Cable car was pulled by giant high strength ropes that was operated from the station at the top of the mount Takao. The cable car have two cars and the travelers are well controlled by the staff at the entrance. The round trip by cable car costs 900 Japanese yen for adults and for children below 6 years old it is free.

It took around 3 and half minutes to reach the station at the top of Mount Takao. We could see the Tokyo city far away with skyscrapers looking like match boxes piled one over one. The observatory hall built on the mountain has telescopes that operate by inserting 100 Yen to view the far away places.

Walking further through the forest, enjoying the nature and tradition as the advertisement says, we could see many sculptures on the way to Yakuoin Buddhist temple. The temple built with the traditional Buddhist style have influence of Chinese architecture.

Though not so far away from busy Tokyo city, Mount Takao is rich in wildlife with more than 1200 species of plants, bushes and diverse species of insects, birds and animals.

The temples in Japan as per my experience goes is a mix of Buddhist and Shinto cultures and almost all of them I have visited have Buddha and other Shinto Gods. The Gods co-exist in good harmony in all the temples. We could see many Gods in the temple and too many sculptures of Buddha everywhere on the way to the temple. We learned that visitors to Yakuoin temple pray to mountain Gods (tengu) for their better future and good fortune.

One of the photo shown in the advertisement inside the trains is of such a God having long nose with an angry face. We could see many statues of Gods with long nose and another with a crow beak in the Yakuoin temple premise.

It was 5 in the evening, but was dark when we got inside the cable car to come down to Takaosanguchi. The journey was too memorable and all of us enjoyed, with plans of revisiting as we could not cover all of the attractions on the top of Mount Takao. Probably we need one more day to plan the journey properly.

Mount Takao, Takaosan as Japanese people say with respect, is one of the best examples of traditional Japanese culture of respecting nature and living things equally. Behind all those sculptures, the shapes we saw on the way to Yakuoin temple, the customs being followed in the temple, we could realize that it is a tradition in Japan to respect the nature!

Indian International School in Japan - IISJ Morishita, Tokyo

For almost eight months from now, I have been thinking of writing about the Indian International School Japan, having their campuses at Morishita and Yokohama. On March 2009 I went to Indian school to inquire on the admission procedures for my elder daughter. After talking to the staff at the school office, I got the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Nirmal Jain, The Director of the Indian international school Japan.

Indian international school Japan is popularly known as IISJ in Japan. It is located in Morishita, in Koto-ku ward of Tokyo prefecture. There are two Indian international schools in Japan. The second one is Global Indian School, the campus of which is at Mizue.

It is a great service being done by Indian international school Japan authorities, especially by Mrs. Jain at Japan for the Indian community. Some years before, for Indian people living in Japan with family and kids, education was a major problem. I came to know from friends that their kids go to other international schools in Tokyo. For Indians, curriculum based on Indian syllabus is important as most of the Indians are here for a short stay.

When I met Mrs. Jain I conveyed my admiration towards the service they do to the Indian community in Japan. Far away from India, giving children an atmosphere of International curriculum yet based on Indian values and syllabus is not a simple thing. That is one of the objectives of Indian international school in Japan. To make the coming generations of Indians living in Tokyo global citizens, it is a must to impart values and habits suitable to live in an international community, also by keeping traditional Indian values and customs.

The positive attitude and values Mrs. Jain keeps to impart knowledge to the new generations is impressive. Indian International school in Japan is a co-educational institution that is affiliated to the CBSE (Central board of secondary education, New Delhi, India. Interestingly, there are students belonging to other countries also studying in IISJ, Morishita. Recently, some of the Japanese parents have been attracted to the Indian curriculum.

The development of mathematics in India is amazing. Though India still bear the images of a poor country with almost half of the population under darkness of illiteracy and lower living standards, the mathematics has got a place in Indian society. Indian vedic mathematics is an amazing product of India with which complex arithmetic calculation becomes too simple, that does not need a calculator.

I have learned some basic vedic mathematics from a teacher when I was in India and when I showed the easy way of calculating complex numbers to some of my Japanese colleagues, they were astonished virtually. On my last trip to India, some of my colleagues requested to bring vedic mathematics books.

Due to the popularity of Indian mathematics and the English language medium of education, Indian schools have students from other countries including Japan. My daughter is studying in the upper kindergarten. Indian International School in Japan has got trained and qualified teachers.

For more information, please visit the official site of Indian International School in Japan – IISJ Morishita

Revisiting Tokyo Tower on a sunny day with family

There was news that cold wind from Siberia will hit Japan and the mercury will dip further from 14 degree Celsius to 7 degree Celsius suddenly. We could feel the signs of that cold wind from yesterday evening onwards. Today the temperature in Tokyo is 7 degree Celsius. The coming days are going to be chilled ones.

The vendor machines will serve hot coffee and tea along with other hot drinks. Even though the night temperature has come down the day was much clearer than previous days. Morning we got a clear sky. Today, November 3rd is a holiday in Japan. November 3rd is a national holiday in Japan. The holiday is called cultural day or Bunka no hi in Japanese language. Japanese people celebrate bunka no hi as a day for promoting culture and love of freedom and peace. Government institutions will award selected individuals for their contribution and achievement in the cultural field.

Anyway, it is just a holiday for foreigners in Japan. Holidays like this coming in between the weekends are good to plan for an outing with family. Since the day was clear we planned to visit Tokyo tower. It was my third visit to Tokyo tower! We will get a good view of the surroundings from the top of the Tokyo tower on a sunny day.

The best transfer point for us from Higashi Ojima (Toei Shinjuku line) to reach Tokyo tower is Morishita. After getting down at Morishita we need to change to Toei Oedo line that goes to Akabanebashi. I had a bit confusion on the places in Tokyo since some of the names pronounce similar. There is one more place called Akebonobashi in Toei Shinjuku line. The Tokyo tower is near to the Akabanebashi in Toei Oedo line. After the exit, we need to walk 5 minutes to reach Tokyo tower.

When we entered to the complex, we saw a crowd clapping and dancing to the tunes of the singer and performer on the stage in front of the ticket counter. There were food stalls temporarily arranged for the audience. Such street shows are common in Japan and the performers can sell their albums and can reach to more customers.

Since the day was clear we got a good view of Mount Fuji, which I missed on the last two occasions. The night view of Tokyo Tower is also very exciting. Tokyo tower is the tallest steel structure in the world with 333 meters height. The weight is 4000 tons. The Eiffel Tower of Paris is 320 meters high, but has 7000 tons weight. Tokyo tower is made of light weight steel structure but still can handle more shocks and vibrations.

Tokyo tower has many attractions for children and adults like Wax museum, Space Museum, Aquarium and its gallery, Guinness book of world records museum etc to mention a few apart from many gift shops. Gift shops sell miniature structure of Tokyo tower. The Aquarium has many rare varieties of fishes and sea creatures that I could never see before.

In front of the Aquarium ticket counter , which is also place for exit from the aquarium, there are several fish and sea creatures toys, big and small, high price and low price available to attract children. After visiting an exciting place like Aquarium, naturally children will be thrilled to buy toys of creatures whatever they have seen inside. This is one of the interesting marketing techniques I have observed in front of the museums, parks, zoo, historical places, public tourist spots etc. It is good to buy and keep something related to that place to remind our visit to that place. That will make our memories alive.

The ticket to aquarium for an adult is 1000 Yen and for children more than 4 years old, it is 500 Yen. It is worth visiting the aquarium with children. This place will surely boost up their imagination and knowledge about our planet and its creatures. Our children were joyful to play around at the R floor. My daughter had a bagfull of doubts on what she saw in the aquarium on our back home. The shape and variety of sea creatures will surely increase the imaginary inner world of children. This is one of the prime objective of going for outing with children too. Tokyo and surrounding Japan have many such places which is especially useful for children to grow their curiosity. Igniting the curiosity will turn on the hidden interests in children that will drive them to know more.

View of Tokyo tower at night is beautiful. I could not wait on the last two occassions till it become dark to get an illuminated view of Tokyo tower. Since the day is short on winter season, it was already dark at 5:15PM when we came out of the aquarium. We searched for the turkish food stall that was temporarily built on the tower complex. Unfortunately the turkish food stall was closed and they were packing up to leave the place. The stage show was over and the crowd was reduced.

With thousands of lights illuminating the tall steel giant stood proudly with its head high as a symbol of Tokyo and Japan. The wind was cold to shiver us and forced us to reach home faster. The Bunka no hi, the holiday on November 3rd is thus finished with some treasured memoires

Indian and Japanese influence in Indonesian culture and language

Indonesia shares many common things with India, from culture, language, diversity and people’s attitude etc. For me, Indonesia was all about Mustain-san. Our friendship in Tokyo lasted more than one year in Tokyo.

While Mustain-san was in Tokyo, we used to go to Indian restaurants and Indonesian restaurants. Both of us had trouble to cope with local food on all days. Once in a while Japanese food is OK, but for all the days, both of us found it a bit self torturing. We visited Indonesian Surabaya hotel and ‘One coin curry’ and ‘Namaste India’

Indonesian culture is a mix of many cultures. Indonesia was ruled by British, French, Dutch, Portugal and finally Japan. I heard Japan conquered Indonesia to get petroleum products when European and American countries denied petroleum to Japan during Second World War. I may have to do a google search on the events that happened during world war II to know more historical facts.

The news paper I got on the board carried strange news that Western Indonesian state will implement a ban on the tight jeans for ladies. I thought I was entering to a religiously fundamentalist country, but the experiences in Jakarta showed a different picture of Indonesia.

Indonesian language is originated from Sanskrit and is then influenced by Chinese, Malaysian, Portugese, Arabic etc. I could hear many Sanskrit words while talking to Indonesian people. Bahasa is colloquial slang of Bhasha in Sanskrit or any other Indian language meaning ‘Language’. Bhoomi stands for ‘Earth’, Putra for ‘Son’ and Putri for ‘Daughter’, Guna for ‘Quality’. Pura stands for ‘Temple’. These are some of the words I just recollect immediately.

Starting of my own name ‘Jaya’ means success or victory in Sanskrit. Jaya is one of the popular word in Indonesian language used for names as well as for company names.

Indonesian cuisines are influenced by Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch and Arabic cuisines. Indonesian food is tasty with many sea foods. I could taste crab and smoked duck for the first time in Indonesia. Indonesians use coconut milk in almost all curry they prepare. Nasi goreng is fried rice and is a popular Indonesian dish. Prawns and a wide variety of fish dishes are also part of Indonesian food.

Tender coconut water is popular in Indonesia along with other soft drinks. Coconut is called Kelapa in Indonesian language. Indonesian cuisines are rich in their varieties like Indian dishes. Indonesian dishes are spicy and they commonly use red hot chilli. Rice is the main food in Indonesia.

Japan’s influence in Indonesia is still visible after many decades of Japanese invasion of the Indonesian archipelago. All kind of invasions have some sort of aggression and that will reflect in the administration of the invaded geography. For many of the Asian leaders, Japanese occupation was more tolerant than the occupation of the European colonial forces. The influence of Dutch was discarded by Japanese rule in Indonesia, but some forms of influences in the food preparation are still visible.

Bali in Indonesia is a place where Hindus live apart from India and Nepal. Bali is a favorite tourist in Indonesia where the prakriti (nature) and bhoomi (earth) are still in harmony with the Atma (soul). Visit to Bali will be a life experience, which we should not miss while planning a trip to Indonesia.

Indonesian people admire the economical growth of Japan and its technological advancement. They perceive the whole Japan as a high-tech city. Normally Indonesian people are interested to know how Japan could achieve such a high level of growth.

Apa kabar? (How are you?) was the only Indonesian word I was familiar with by buying the Apa kabar international telephone calling card available in Japan. Terima khisi means ‘thank you’ and I said this to the driver who dropped me at Soekarno-Hatta international airport.

Change of seasons in Japan and its impact on life

The rain brought more cold to Tokyo during the last two days and it is predicted to have rain tomorrow also. The rain started yesterday evening around 15:00 hours, when we were just went out of house on our way to Kameido shopping center.

Japan is getting on her autumn dress looking gorgeous all around. The winter is yet to come. The trees started shedding the yellow leaves and it is a hard work for the ward office staff to clean the whole street with full of leaves in the morning. Especially when it is raining, the leaves stick to the ground.

The color change to the leaves will happen at the beginning of November, it is expected this year in Tokyo. Trees at Komatsugawa park will also to discard the leaves thus preparing themselves to face the winter. Last subsequent two years had mild snowfall during second month of the years.

The cold wind is blowing today in Tokyo. The temperature has not gone down to make the climate cold. It may be due to the rain we feel cold. The temperature is around 14 degree Celsius now and it is considered to be hot in Japan. The real winter during December and January will show the mercury down to zero.

The dipping down of mercury will not freeze the life in Japan. It won’t bring any immobility to the usual things happening here. In fact the changes of seasons are warmly welcomed in Japan. People arrange festivals, get-together parties, Season welcome drinking parties, Season good-bye parties and the likes.

There will be discount offers by shopping centers during the season change in Japan. The cloths suitable for October and November are more available in the market now. During the second week of November, winter cloths will start appearing. The impact of economic recession on the textile industry was more in the US than in the Japan. One of the peculiar characteristics of Japanese people is their obsession towards the brand items in the market. They don’t mind to spend to get a branded cloth or costume.

The color changing of leaves during October and November is one of the beautiful natural phenomena in Japan. Japanese people like to talk about the minute changes in the weather and its mysterious beauty. They are so careful to observe and comment on the deviation of even a single day here and there for a climate change from the expected date. So is the weather reporting system in Japan. It is an accurate prediction almost 99.99% of the cases and we can rely on it and plan our activities accordingly.

Since we did not log into see the climate, we planned our outing to Kameido shopping center. For us, living in Higashi Ojima, Kameido shopping center is near if we get down at Nishi Ojima Toei Shinjuku subway, take a straight road walk in front of Daiei that goes to the back of Kameido shopping center.

The biggest attraction of Kameido shopping center is the ToysRus, which is a dream world for children. The sunstreet Rambling Market at Kameido is great place for spending evenings with children. Sometimes there will be stage shows. I will write about Kameido shopping center and ToysRus on a separate post.

It is cold outside and inside the house it is noisy with children playing and thus making the room heated. Children may not feel this cold as they are interested in playing on holidays. They may feel cold on week-days before going to school!

The shedding of leaves and changing colors are part of human life too. Without change the life is dull. Things should be in a state of flux to make the life exciting. The changes in the nature brought out by 4 distinct seasons are much visible in Japan. The life is not monotonous if we keep on changing the physical activities keeping the inner world intact as the nature herself does!

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!

My mother

My mother was staying with me for the last six months and today she left to India with my brother. Father and Mother are not part of the family in Japan. Each country has its own rules and regulation for immigration. But Japanese government is kind enough to give permission on some exceptional cases for mother to stay with her son if that son is the only one male offspring.

My mother’s temporary visa which was for 90 days could extend once more for another 90 days. So, she could stay in Japan for 180 days. I like to share my own experience of bringing mother to Japan as I think it may help some people who wish to bring their family members here.

At first I applied for certificate of eligibility for my mother too along with wife and kids. Mother’s application was returned on grounds of immigration limitations and I proceeded for temporary visitor visa application at Chennai consulate. The process and documents required to get visitor visa to Japan are very easy and on the third working day, we will get the visa stamped on the passport.

The documents I did send from here to stamp the temporary visa were the following; Application form, Letter of Guarantee, Schedule of Stay, Income tax certificate, Photocopy of my passport (the page of passport where mother’s name is written is important to prove the relationship) and Alien registration card. If the application for the visa is processed through an agent, it is necessary to give authorization letter in white paper. Before proceeding for a temporary visa, even though consulted with experienced friends, it is advisable and necessary to check the MOFA website for the updated information and application form.

Mother was under treatment also, while she was in Japan. There was no insurance coverage for the treatment since she had visitor status. The doctors in Tokyo treated her as if she is a resident of Japan. The hospital staff also co-operated throughout the treatment in the clinic at Higashi Ojima. Since she was undergoing physiotherapy treatment, she had to attend the clinic regularly.

On holidays we used to go for outing to the nearby places. The life is meaningful and the time is worth if spent with the dear and near ones. The bits of pleasures and joyous moments after sharing become more enjoyable life experiences. So were the gone days for me too.

Mother forms our world in our childhood and she transforms our life with her presence. In Indian culture, mother is more than God and assumes various roles in the family relations. She is the uniting force among the offspring in a joint family.

The presence of mother gives a sense of security to us in our childhood. We feel it more when we are sick. That sense of security is unique and none of the robotic technology could be an alternative. While writing this, I have been thinking about those who could not feel the presence of their mother. Unfortunately there is a significant section of our society with such people.

Contrary to the negative remarks appearing in many websites against the Japanese attitude towards foreigners, we could not notice even one such negative experience at the hospital or the public places we visited during the last 180 days. It prompts me think that the anti- Japanese propaganda may not be really true. It may be from some groups with vested interest. The Japanese doctor who was treating her asked for a group photo on the day when we told her that mother will go back on 4th October.

Coming back from Narita Airport, my mind was void at times. With the feeling of swinging between the unreal world and the real world outside, I entered to the Keisei train boarded for Ueno. Those who could not feel the presence of human mother have the feeling of imaginary mother and often we call it mother-nature. Whatever be the feeling, mother is the big part of our real world!

What are the places to see in Tokyo? – places to visit in and around Tokyo

Tokyo is an incredible place to visit! This is what I read in many sites when I searched for ‘Places to see in Tokyo’ in google and Yahoo. It is almost 10 days since my brother landed in Japan. We visited around 15 places in and around Tokyo. The visiting schedule is hectic and he has 3 more days in Japan.

I asked some of my friends for their recommendations. Most of them suggested places like Tokyo Tower, Yokohama China Town, Kamakura, Asakusa Sensoji temple, Ginza, Harajuku Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Mount Fuji, Five lakes, Hakone, Akihabara Electric city, Odaiba, Ueno Gardens and Zoological park etc. We could complete our schedules one by one except the Mount Fuji Trip. There is no point in travelling all the way to Mount Fuji only to view the mountain. Mount Fuji is open for climbing on July and August.

A first time visitor will definitely get excited by seeing Tokyo and its surroundings. The technological development Japan could achieve is amazing and significant. A short time visitor will be interested to watch the Japanese discipline and obedience to the law. The pin-drop silence at many of the crowded railway stations is another noticeable thing in Japan that a first time visitor will get astonished. Japanese people are silent due to the disciplined nature at public places like railway stations and bus-stops. They are even silent inside the train also. Most of the times we later realize people talking inside train and public places are foreigners!

Visiting Japan itself is an experience for foreigners! Probably we can not see a place like this at any other part of the world except here! Let me confirm once more that Japanese people are unique! We have many things to learn from Japan. The places we visited are not many, but everywhere we could observe some of the common things like discipline, silence, Obedience, Politeness, Smiling faces etc.

Today, we are planning to go to Imperial Palace. Tokyo Imperial palace is a great place to visit in Tokyo and it is the residence of Japan royal family. Imperial palace was built during the 250 years long Tokugawa Shoguns rule at the center of Tokyo as a fortress for protection. East Gardens of the Imperial palace is open to public daily except on Mondays, Fridays and on national holidays and this is the only par to the palace that is open for visit. For a visit to the imperial palace, we need to book in advance. If you plan your visit to Imperial palace click on this link and book in advance. Imperial Household Agency Homepage

Now, I can suggest some of the places to visit in Tokyo during your short trip next time.

1. Tokyo Tower

2. Mount Fuji

3. Hakone – Gora – Sounzan – Togendai – Ashi Lake trip

4. Odaiba

5. Kamakura

6. Ueno

7. Shinjuku

8. Shibuya for shopping

9. Akihabara Electric city

10. Yokohama China Town

11. Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea

12. Asakusa Sensoji Temple

13. Harajuku

14. Tokyo Imperial Palace

15. Ginza

The list goes without ending here with just 15 places, but I have just listed some of the major attractions in and around Tokyo, which we have visited with the advices of our friends. Just do searches in google or yahoo. They will give you more insights about the places to visit in Tokyo. However, I think, the above places in Tokyo cover a good trip to Tokyo.

Tokyo is a unique and wonderful tourist destination. Tokyo is not only to be read, but also a place to be experienced by walking and riding throughout the length and breadth. It is curious to learn how the ancient Japanese culture transforms slowly to modern technological advancements.

Vibrant Harajuku and Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine in Tokyo

It was a huge crowd outside Harajuku station when we came out. The crowd was moving slowly but gently. The purpose of the visit was uncertain when we started from Higashi Ojima. I did a google search for ‘Places to see in Tokyo’. Some of the search results guided me to see Fuji mountain, Kamakura, Tokyo Tower, Shinjuku, Odaiba, Ueno Park and zoo, Ginza, Yokohama China town etc.

Even by repeating the searches in Yahoo and other search engines I got the same places in the search results. I was eager to get something different from general search engine recommendations. The same thing happened for the first few pages of search resuslts, when I changed the search keywords to ‘Must see places in Tokyo’, but this time I got a place ‘Harajuku’ in the list recommended by an American tourist who had visited this place on his trip to Tokyo.

That was the motivation to visit Harajuku today. We could see live animation characters outside the station, lesbians and some groups of gays. I am not sure whether this is the normal view of Harajuku station. There were groups of young Japanese girls and boys sitting on the nearby stone benches which seemed to me as a mere casual meeting.

I have been taking my brother to different places in Tokyo now a days on his short trip to Tokyo. We walked to the direction of the crowd. It helps many times in life when we move with the trend. There will be always something towards which the crowd goes. The psychology of the mass or crowd is also motivated by the determination of those who move on the front. When we turned left, right after the Harajuku Yamanote line station, we could see a forest, virtually more beautiful than the real forest and a historical style entrance.

Before entering, we could collect leaflets that described about the place and its importance. To our surprise, it was ‘Meiji Jingu’ which is a Shinto shrine. Shinto is Japan’s religion, which has no founder, no holy book and no concepts of traditional religions. Shinto is a way of Japanese living with high values respecting the nature and living things. The Shinto shrine which we visited accidently is dedicated to the souls of Japanese emperor ‘Meiji’ and his consort empress ‘Shoken’. It was interesting to know that their tomb is in Kyoto.

This forest was made by Japanese people by donating trees from different parts of Japan and from all over the world. It is now the history that there are 100,000 tress total in the forest and it was established on November 1920. The artificial forest in the middle of concrete forest looked more than the natural forest.

We could see a collection of rice wine barrels on the side of the path towards the shrine. The visitors were eager to take snaps of the traditional Japanese customs and architectures around the main shrine. In Shinto religion, divinity or diving spirit is known as ‘Kami’. Unlike Christian religion which talks about one spirit, Shinto religions has no limit in the number of divine spirits or Kami. There are unlimited number of kami. Kami can be observed in Nature, mythology or in human beings. It is said that from times unknown Japanese people have felt awe and gratitude towards such Kami (divine spirit) and have built shrines to such Kami.

This kind of belief is similar to the believes in Hindu religion, the most widely practiced religion in India. In fact in India, these divine spirits became Gods over a period of time and they also got one or several shrines according to their popularity.

We could see Japanese traditional style marriage being held inside the shrine premise. Many visitors were taking photographs of the ceremonies. Meiji Jingu Gardens or Gyoen was the part of Meiji Jingu Shrine that has been existing long before building the Meiji Jingu. Emperor Meiji designed this iris garden, small paths and fishing spot for Empress Shoken.

“Although we may feel Overworked and burdened,

Our human hearts should go on remaining filled with an open calmness” is the Waka poetry written by Empress Shoken. The wisdom of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken were handed over to the generations next through these Waka poems. Visitors can draw a poem from 30 selected poems from the ‘Omikuji’ box, which exists in front of the main shrine.

Now not exaggerated to say, our visit to Harajuku was really worth. It took us to a different world in the middle of modern Tokyo. I can strongly recommend now to visit Meiji Jingu and Harajuku for those who plan a short visit to Tokyo along with their visit to Shinjuku. It is just two stations away from Shinjuku station on the JR Yamnote line. Harjuku is also a place for fashion and we can see many live animated models walking on the road! Have a nice trip to Harajuku!

Onam festival celebrations in Japan

Onam, the festival of flowers and colors being celebrated for centuries in Kerala, one of the states in the southern part of India, brings nostalgic feelings to all expatriate Keralites. Onam comes in the last of week of August or first week of September every year.

Being an Indian descended from Kerala, I was also passing through with a nostalgic past memoires during the first week of September, far away from the motherland. Hundred thousands of literature and online content will be available about Onam and its mythical and historical reasons and hence there is no point to narrate those stories here once again.

Being the common festival without having any particular religious blemishes, Onam festival days present great opportunity to recall the golden past years of Kerala and its people under the rule of a mighty king Mahabali.

This year we had the rare opportunity to attend the Onam celebrations organized by Nihon Kairali, the Japan Kerala community at Yokohama on 5th and 6th September. It was two exciting days for us with family to enjoy at the Nishi center in Yokohama, 10 minutes walk from the Yokohama station.

This time the festival was named as Kerala festival 2009. This year’s Kerala festival was organized by Nihon Kairali in co-ordination with GRIP Kerala and Kerala Travels Interserve Ltd. Due to my own physical limitations, I could not actively involve in any of the organizing activities of Nihon Kairali during the rehearsal time. During one of the rehearsal days I could meet one of the prominent figures among the Indian expatriates in Japan, Mr. Suresh lal.

Suresh lal, an Indian by birth is a permanent resident of Japan is also president of Nihon Kairali. He is an influential personality possessing great organizing skills. The number of families from Kerala living in Japan is approximately 500. It is a tough job to unite all the families to meet and exchange cultural activities that also to dimension of a big festival like the one we witnessed on 5th and 6th September.

On 5th September, we were lucky to see the Mizhavu melam presented by Abhinaya Labo, which is a group of researchers and performers based in Tokyo. They organize events and performances of the traditional arts of South India. A group of dedicated Japanese artists who have immense knowledge and interest in Indian performing arts undertake vast research and training in classical Sanskrit theatre, Kutiyattam and Nangiar Koothu, a female solo dance of Kerala.

Mizhavu melam performed by Abhinaya Labo virtually took every one of the audience to a level of ecstasy. The stunning performance of Mizhavu and Edaykka, the two traditional instruments used in the classical performances in Kerala, forced the audience to stand up at the end and respect the performers. Mizhavu is a kind of drum, which is used in the Kutiyattam dance. A large pot with the mouth tightly covered with leather, when beaten with hands sounds in the air with its harmonic overtones. Edaykka is an instrument used in Hindu temples in Kerala while performer sings the devotional songs. It can be compared with the Tsuzumi drum in Japan with the difference that the Edaykka is played with drum stick.

Two days went fast with a feast of cultural events and classical dance performers from Regatta, a professional dance troupe from Kerala. Really exciting two days far away from the land of flora and fauna, but with all the vigor and thrill of Kerala’s own festival Onam! Thanks to the Nihon Kairali, especially to Suresh lal.

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

Again on the living expenses for a foreigner family in Tokyo

On March 22nd I wrote a simple article on living expenses for a foreigner in Tokyo. As I told in this blog and other discussion forums, cost of living in Tokyo is much higher compared to other East Asian and European nations. When I was writing that post in this blog on March, I was living alone and my family was in India. Almost three weeks after writing that post, they joined with me along with my mother.

It will be interesting to compare the cost of living in Tokyo for a bachelor and for a family, especially for foreign people. I think this will be a helpful hint for at least some of the Asians planning to come to Japan for work.

In order to tell how big the difference in expenses will be for a family in Tokyo when compared to the bachelor life, I would like to narrate the real incident. One day in May, I got a phone call from my wife saying that, one of the Japanese woman has come to our home telling something. As my wife was new to Japan, she could not understand even a single word, but could guess it is something related to the bill for gas.

As I also did not have confidence to speak in Japanese especially over phone, I requested help from one of my Japanese colleagues. My Japanese colleague after talking over phone explained to me that the Gas bill has suddenly shoot up to 13340 Japanese Yen (JPY) for the last month. Compared to the March month’s bill of 1600 JPY, that was more than 8 times high! The Japanese staff from the Tokyo Gas company was surprised and doubted for some leakages inside home. She wanted to enter the home and check! When I heard from my colleague, I thought of the promptness and alertness of Tokyo Gas company’s staff. It is really appreciable. They are not only for billing the customer, but also to educate and alert them of a sudden change in the billing amount.

My colleague explained that my family has joined with me from last month and that was the reason for sudden change. Taking the high cost of living in Tokyo with family, we could control the Gas bill for the subsequent months by putting restriction on the usage of gas heaters and water heating system.

The same thing happened to the Electricity bill during summer seasons, when we switch on the air conditioners almost throughout the day. Compared to the bachelor life, the bills for Gas, Electricity, Water and sewage, has more than tippled on average. Yahoo BB bill is same and there is no much change. The Softbank mobile bill has increased a little to reach something around 3600 JPY per month. Putting all the bills together, it comes around 30,000 JPY per month for Water and Sewage, Gas, Electricity, Mobile, Internet connection, Cable TV etc.

The drastic increase in expense is on the education. The school fee and the bus fee for children is the biggest contributor to the high cost of living for foreigners. The education is free in Japanese schools. The fee in international schools in Tokyo is too high for an average paid foreigner especially in Japanese companies. Japanese companies mostly have no separate rules for giving special allowance to support the education of children of foreign staff.

We are paying 60,000 JPY per month for the kid’s fee and 15,000 JPY for school bus. The miscellaneous expenses for the children relating to education may vary from 10,000 JPY depending on the schools. Since my kid is going to Indian International School in Tokyo (Morishita), she has to go by school bus.

To summarize, the living expense for one month on an average for a simple living family will be around 300,000 Japanese Yen. This expense does not include the House rent, tax and other deductions. Including the house rent, travelling expenses, the expense will be around 450,000 JPY per month if the whole amount of house rent is to be paid by us. Many Japanese companies pay 70 to 80% of the house rent to their employees. This is a great support for employees. Since the tax depends on the basic pay, I don’t want to make a comment here.

In short, living in Tokyo is not simple! There are very few chances in Tokyo to live simple and save a lot of money from our salary, compared to many other major cities. This makes Tokyo unique. One of the biggest cities in the world, where more than 12 million people reside at the heart of the city and more than 30 million people including the surrounding areas. The cash flow in Tokyo is high…….and still Japan has been the second strongest economy in the world!