The exotic beaches and the warm hospitality of Japanese people at Shimizu

It was around 3:00 PM when we reached at the JR Shimizu station JR Shimizu station is approximately ten minutes journey from JR Shizuoka station on the way towards Hamamatsu in the JR line and is the third station from JR Shizuoka.

We were little confused after coming out of the ticket gate on the exit that goes to Kashi no-chi market, which is a fish market. After trying to locate the road by ourselves, we decided to approach some one local standing in the bus stop. He guided us to the west exit of JR Shimizu station by coming with us so that he might have thought the foreigners should not waste time again from enjoying the scenic beauty of his place.

We got down through the elevator to the ground and walked 5 minutes to reach to the Kashi-no-uchi fish market. As per our plan made after researching on the internet, we were supposed to find a water-bus service behind the fish market. Since we could not find it by ourselves, we asked an old woman standing in front of the fish market. Since she was not sure of the timings of the water bus that goes from the behind of Kashi-no-uchi market to the S-Plus Dream plaza, she took us to an Ojii-san who was guiding the cars going and coming from the parking lot. After explain where we want to go and how, the Ojii-san told the old woman to stay at his place and told us to accompany him.

We could see a water-bus leaving the barbor just a few minutes ago when we reached there. The water-bus stop (Water bus noriba) behind the Kashi-no-uchi market is a small place that it is difficult to recognize it as a place of boarding. The frequency of service is also less. We need to wait 40 minutes for another boat. So Ojii-san advised us to catch a taxi or bus from there to go to the S-Plus Dream plaza. He showed me the number to be called for the taxi and when I dialed it in the mobile, he talked on behalf of me to tell the location where we stand. The taxi charge we paid to travel from Kashi-no-uchi market to the S-Pulse Dream Plaza was 800 Yen. The Ojii-san and Obaa-chaan helped us generously to locate the place and get there without loosing much time during our one day exploration of Shizuoka.

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.

Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures

An interesting topic came out during discussion with friends recently was the right age for marriage. The discussion on this topic was particularly useful as it added more Japanese vocabularies that are associated with the culture and daily life. The first word learned was Tekireiki written in Hiragana as てきれいきand in Kanji as適齢期.

The old concepts of marriage and the right age for marriage might have changed or deviated in Japanese society. The concept of appropriate marriage age differs from country to country and even within the country intself. In India for example, where multiple races, multiple religions and multiple customs are being practiced, the concept of marriage age is not uniform. While it may be difficult or practically impossible to find an average age for marriage age in any country, it is possible to find the average trend in any society.

Ganbare Nippon!

The immigration officer at Chennai Airport asked me whether it is safe to go to Tokyo now. I told the situation is getting improved. That might be what anybody could have said on 26^th March. Things were uncertain when started to Tokyo. Uncertainty prevails even now to a ceratin extent. Today’s live radiation levels in Tokyo showed a higher value, but still well below the permitted safety levels.

More than three weeks from now, the disaster had shaken the world’s second strongest economy. The fear of nuclear radiation has not gone and an uncertainty prevails all over. The Japanese televisions presents the actual facts on a daily basis. There is bilingual service available in NHK that helps foreigners to understand the situations in Japan.

Looking back three weeks, it is a  pure coincidence that we planned our vacation on 11^th March to leave to India to perform my father’s 10^th annual death anniversary rituals. With kids we left Tokyo at 11:00 AM on 11^th March. We heard the news after landing at Chennai Airport and by seeing the scenes at the hotel television we were literally terrified. With teary eyes, we went to bed. Next day, while traveling on domestic flight to Kochi, we could read the headlines on a leading Malayalam daily about the earth quake and tsunami in Eastern Japan. The heading conveyed the magnitude of the tragedy happened in Japan, the country we left hours before. We could read the heading as ‘Japan was swallowed by tsunami’.

A unique way of teaching Japanese language to foreigners

It seems as if the thermometers in Japan recently are reluctant to rise more than 10deg C. Yesterday the iGoogle weather gadget was showing -1 deg C at midnight and as per the reports on Sunday a cold air wave is supposed to hit Japan that will lead to low temperatures. It has been snowing at the surrounding prefectures of Tokyo. Tokyo remained at low temperatures with cold wind at times.

Recently, I used to watch the weather reports in NHK after I learned the basic words and phrases being used in a weather report from Mana Suzuki-Sensei. Ever since there were reports of cold air wave thwarted the life in Europe and Northern America , Japan was also expecting similar climatic pattern this year. Japan Meteorological Agency had warned of strong winds and heavy snow and high waves, specially along the coast of the Sea of Japan that will continue through Monday. As per the weather reports a strong cold air mass and freezing cold pattern continues to stay around Japan.

From the third week of December and after the Japanese language proficiency test, Mana Suzuki-Sensei changed the style of teaching Japanese language from the conventional way of following a book. I experience her way of teaching Japanese very useful when students get many chances to hear and practice daily life conversations. It is almost impossible for fresh foreigners to follow announcements at public places and also words used at public places in day to day life in Japan.