One day trip to Shizuoka by Shinkansen

Inside the Tokyo station, there are separate counters for the reservation and ‘today's booking’ of Shinkansen tickets. While spending 5 minutes in search of the counter for reservation, I approached the information center, which is near to the counters that sells tickets for today's travel.

Though Shinkansen ticket charges are expensive compared to the normal type of JR tickets, it is worth enjoying the luxury and speed. If we travel alone and does not matter when to start and when to come back home, JR or other freelance transportation methods may be the preferred choices. Elder daughter was insisting on travel to some place by Shinkansen and we decided to go to Shizuoka. We had decided to cover maximum spots of attractions in Shizuoka in one day with children. The ticket was reserved on the Hikari Shinkansen at 8:03 in the morning.

There are three types of Shinkansens based on the speed and number of stations they stop. The fastest is the Nozomi. Nozomi stops at very few stations (big cities) and runs faster than other shinkansens. It was the fastest train until we hear more higher speeds from China. The second fastest in Japan, the Hikari stops at limited number of stations. Since Shinkansen get more travelers from Shinagawa and Shin-Yokohama stations, The Hikari Shinkansen stops at Shinagawa and Shin-Yokohama on its way to Shizuoka being the third stop. It covers almost 180 kilometers in 73 minutes.

Rinkai Koen Tokyo sealife aquarium and diamond and flower ferris wheel

Though it was a sunny day, the Rinkai Koen was reasonably crowded. We preferred to visit there after the lunch. As the climate was not kind enough to allow for an outdoor walking we headed to the aquarium, which is known as Tokyo Sealife Aquarium.

Children enjoyed walking around inside the aquarium. We could see lot of tuna fishes and other sea creatures. The aquarium also have penguins and seabirds. At a specially made water tank, children can touch fishes with their hands.

Rinkai Koen’s Giant wheel, which is called the Diamond and Flower Ferris Wheel has been visible to us from our apartment. Ever since we shifted to the apartment in Edogawa-ku, we have been thinking of making a visit to Rinkai koen. The Diamond and Flower Ferris Wheel is believed to be the second tallest ferris wheel in Japan. Tokyo bay, Disneyland etc. are visible clearly from the top of the Ferris wheel. On a clear day, Mount Fuji can also be seen from the top.

Renkoji - A temple for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Japan

On June 18 we visited the Renkoji temple, where the ashes of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is believed to be kept. We have been thinking of making our visit to the temple ever since we heard of such a temple in Japan. It was a surprise to us to hear that Netaji is being respected in Japan, far away from his own country.

Netaji was a revolutionary freedom fighter who has a special place in the hearts of the youth in India. Though the history books in India have limitations in teaching about Netaji and his principles, people respect him as the most influential personality who could contribute the most to the Indian freedom fighting. He was the first to call Gandhiji as Mahatma. Mahatma in Hindi means the great soul. Due to the differences in approaches and opinions towards the methods adopted for India’s freedom movement with Indian National Congress, Netaji left India to seek possible help from other global partners like Germany and Japan. He succeeded to get the help from the then emperor of Japan during second world war and formed Indian National Army, INA by gathering Indians settled in Malaysia, Singapore and similar neighboring countries. Many Indians from the British India also joined in INA to fight against British East India Company rule.