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.