Our Japan; Their Nippon

Dhanya Damodaran

Jan 10, 20202 min read

Updated: Feb 12, 2020

Visited in December 2012

Nihon e yōkoso!!

Japanese call their beautiful country - Nippon which means The Land of Rising Sun. Japan is one of those countries with which I have literally fallen in love with at the very first trip; and wish to visit again. If you ask me why, it is because of the beauty of the land, the amazing people, maintenance of the sites, uniqueness of each of what we get to see, feel, taste and explore and above all the charm and glory of their traditions and culture.

Our trip was during Winter and for 5 days - quite less to explore Japan! Also, the wish list to see Japan during her Cherry Blossom and Autumn remains in mind. However less, we did enjoy our stay in Japan and best utilized those 5 days.

Day 1 was to see the city sights of Tokyo - a quick peek into the Sumo wrestling sessions, Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace neighborhood for its majestic Japanese styled gardens and Ueno park. This park is especially famous for the cherry blossoms during Spring. In the evening, before winding up the day, we visited the Asakusa temple which is beautiful with lanterns and art works.

The pigeon chase moment of my son at the Ueno park :)

On our Day 2, we boarded Japanese Bullet Train - Shinkansen, followed by a local train to a beautiful place called Nikko. The weather changed from sunny to snowy and we enjoyed the snow and the chilly weather. We visited the Kegon water falls, Japanese Torri and lake. It was quite cold!! In the evening, it rained and we spent our time in the Ginza Street famous for Electronics.

Day 3 was to begin with a quick visit to Tokyo Sky Tree, second to the Burj Khalifa, and then we boarded our train to Disney Land! It was particularly exciting for all of us as this was our first Disney land experience. Our lil boy was thoroughly excited and was all set to shake hands and hug his all time favorite Mickey Mouse. The Disney castles and evening parades were amazing. We were at the peak holiday season, hence it was so crowded and had to wait long time in queue for every attraction. Whatever be the case, the moment of excitement of our son when he saw Mickey live in front of him, was priceless :)

The next day, we boarded the special tour train to Lake Kawaguchiko, where we can marvel the splendor of Mt Fuji. The scenic ride to the lake side was really delightful, crossing many Japanese villages and mountain sides. We did a boat ride to get the awesome views of the volcano.