Tokyo Imperial Palace

The current Imperial Palace (Kokyo) is located on the former site of Edo Castle. It has a large park area surrounded by moats and massive stone walls in the center of Tokyo, a short walk from Tokyo station. It is the residence of Japan's Imperial Family. The palace buildings and inner gardens are not open to the public. The Imperial Palace East Gardens are open to the public throughout the year except on Mondays, Fridays and special occasions.
Outside the Imperial Palace Tokyo

Places to see in Tokyo

Tokyo- Akihabara

Akihabara is a major shopping area for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods, including new and used items. New items are mostly to be found on the main street, Chūōdōri, with many kinds of used items found in the back streets of Soto Kanda 3-chōme.

It is located less than five minutes by rail from Tokyo Station. Its name is frequently shortened to Akiba in Japan. While there is an official locality named Akihabara nearby, part of Taitō-ku, the area known to most people as Akihabara (including the railway station of the same name) is actually Soto-Kanda, a part of Chiyoda-ku.


Places to see in Tokyo

Tokyo - Odaiba

Odaiba (Daiba), literally meaning "fort", refers to some of the man made islands in the Bay of Tokyo, which were constructed in the end of the Edo Period (1603-1868) for the city's protection against attacks from the sea.
During the extravagant 1980s, a spectacular redevelopment of the islands into a futuristic business district was started, but development was critically slowed down after the burst of the "bubble economy" in the early 1990s.
It was not until the second half of the 1990s, that Odaiba developed into one of Tokyo's most interesting tourist spots and the highly popular shopping and entertainment district, which it is today. Further development of the area is still underway.
Directions :
Access to Odaiba can be an attraction by itself, as the views of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo's harbor and waterfront area from the Yurikamome (un-manned, elevated train with rubber tires, which connects Shimbashi Station on the JR Yamanote Line with all of Odaiba's attractions and Toyosu Station on the Yurakucho Subway Line)or boat are quite spectacular as it uses the rainbow brige to get to Odaiba.
Picture taken from Yurikamone- unmanned train

Cost :A ride from Shimbashi to Daiba takes 15 minutes and costs 310 yen in the Yurikamone. If you ride it more than twice, a one day pass for 800 yen is likely to come cheaper than single tickets.
1.Fuji TV Building - This is the headquarters of Fuji Television, one of Japan's private, nationwide TV stations.
2.Museum of Maritime Science - Housed in a cruise ship shaped building, the Museum of Maritime Science displays seafaring related exhibits from the past and future.
3.Decks Tokyo Beach - Decks is a shopping mall featuring various stores, boutiques, cafes, and restaurants
4.Aquacity Odaiba - Aquacity is a shopping mall featuring various stores, boutiques, restaurants, cafes and a 13-screen cinema complex
Decks Tokyo Beach and Aquacity Odaiba

5.National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation - This well done, highly interactive and bilingual science museum includes exhibits about environmental issues, robots (starring Asimo among others), IT, biology and space exploration
7.Palette Town - This shopping and entertainment complex consists of Venus Fort (is a shopping mall in the style of a 18th century South European town), Sun Walk, Mega Web(Toyota showroom), a Ferris Wheel and Zepp Tokyo, a large concert venue.
At the Venus fort

At the Venus fort (painted sky)
At megaweb(Toyota showroom)

6.Telecom Center - The Telecom Center is a major hub on the information highway with several large satellite antennas on its observation deck.
8.Odaiba Kaihin Park near the Rainbow Bridge includes an man made sand beach.
Performance at the man made Beach
Sunset at the manmade beach
Access to Odaiba can be an attraction by itself, as the views of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo's harbor and waterfront area from the Yurikamome elevated train or boat is quite spectacular.
Picture taken from Yurikamone – fuji tv building, Ferris wheel
From Yuricamone-Rainbow bridge

Places to see in Tokyo

Tryst with Tokyo

Japan
I had been to Tokyo, Japan on work for 3 months . To say that the country needs adjustment is an understatement! Every thing in the road, supermarket, train station and restaurant is written in Japanese! Not very tourist friendly if you compare it with some of the European or Asian countries. Having said that, if you know what to expect there and are prepared for it; you will fall in love with the country, I did!
Tourist attractions in and around Tokyo include:
Odaiba
Akihabara
Tokyo Imperial Palace
Tokyo Tower & Zojo-ji Temple
Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) season
Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya (Yamanote Line)
Day trip trip to Kamakura
Day trip to Hakone

Long time!

I have not been updating my blog recently. Guess with an 8 month old and work pressure I am being a bit over ambitious. Anyway, partner was leaving to Johannesburg SA and I was trying to browse the net on what to see there in the evening. Couldn’t find much easily so thought I would do my bit to write about the places I have seen. That way can be useful to people who might want to know what to do when they are there. Also I guess it will be nice to go back and read about the trips at a later date. So the next few blog updates will be on places seen.

Shopping among terrorists

Read the Amit Varma blog and found his open letter on security at malls very interesting!
Find the excerpts from the letter copied below and u can find the full letter here.

“I enjoy visiting you, and I support your new initiatives to tighten security in the wake of recent terrorist attacks. I don’t mind being frisked or having my bag checked: the few extra seconds we all wait individually are worth the collective safety we gain.
But why do you think that terrorists enter only from front entrances?
If someone drives into the parking lot and takes the lift up to the mall, there is no check on him at all. …”

How true.. Go to the Inorbit mall in mumbai and no one checks u if u come from the basement.I hope these terrorist jokers dont get any ideas from this post!

The million dollar question..

The relationship between a married woman and her mom in law has always aroused my curiosity. I have often wondered why MILs are always looked at wearily the world over and more so in India. I had a chat with a close friend who just couldn’t understand why her MIL treated her and her SIL differently. While I was empathizing with her I wondered if this was a common problem or something which was unique to some families.
It was one of those usual busy mornings when the only breather you get is during your travel to work, I broached this topic with my partner (who had this ‘oh no, I don’t want to get into this’ look on his face).Guess what ..as usual luck favored him, what better timing to get a call from work! He gleefully excused himself from the conversation, but that did not deter me from this particular line of thought...

Do mothers have separate rules for their own daughters and separate ones for their DIL?

I threw this question at the coffee table at work and judging by the nods I got I realized that it did look like a problem majority of women had! After listening to all the discussions and possible explanations what struck me was one explanation from a friend.Her theory was that mothers always think that their daughters (poor dears..) are always adjusting in the new homes/husbands after they get married. The same logic is not applied to the daughter in law as the home in question is their son’s and in this case the DIL becomes the lucky woman to get such a husband!(i know what u r thinking girls..ya right!)
I found this particular explanation totally understandable as moms do tend to think their kids are the best things that can happen to mankind! I have seen it at my own home, seen it at my husband’s home, seen it at friends/neighbor’s homes and the more I think about it the more I am convinced that I have cracked the proverbial question! What do u think? do let me know!