Nijo castle, Kyoto...

We started our journey at 7.30 am after checking out our rooms near the Kyoto station. The Kyoto tower looks different in the day light.

We took a one day pass to travel in the kyoto city and started our way to Nijo castle via bus.

Nijo Castle.

 It was not allowed to take photographs inside the castle. The admission ticket worth 600 yens.

Entry ticket for the castle.

                After entering on the right there is a guard house with mannequins dressed as samurai guards. Following the wall around will bring you to the Kara Mon (Chinese Gate) which is the entrance into the Ninomaru Palace. Decorated by cranes, flowers, and butterflies on the outer panels and Chinese tigers,  lions and a dragon on the inner panels this gate is a splendid sight. 

At the entrance of Ninomaru Palace.

                  After walking through the Kara Mon we reached the main complex of Ninomaru Palace . The Carriage  Porch (Karuma Yose) is followed by the Tozamurai. It was in this building that visitors would wait for an audience  with the shogun. The next building is called Shikidai, followed by Ohiroma where several mannequins in traditional garb, sitting in on an audience with the shogun. The next building is connected to Ohiroma by a long chamber, Kuro-shoin, which was reserved for the friends and family of the shogun.  The last building, Shiro-shoin, was the shogun's residence, where only his wives and concubines were allowed.
                The shoin-zukuri style reflects the social heirarchy within the feudal period of Japan. The higher ranking and more distinguished a guest was, the further they got into the compound. Moreover, their position allowed them to be on a higher floor level. Each building has a slightly higher floor than the previous building, reflecting the social status of the guest. However, each building also had a raised platform on which the shogun would be seated during an audience so no one's head was higher than his.

              While entering in, beautiful sounds emanating from the floor can be heard.  This is called 'uguisu-bari' and was intended to protect the occupants from sneak attacks and assassins. The builders constructed the floors of the corridors in such a way as to squeak like birds when anyone walks on them. When we enter the ninomaru palace, we could see the emotionally-moving wall and sliding door paintings which all are really amazing.It includes paintings of nature,  birds etc.
             The Ninomaru garden is one of the main attractions of this place which is really wonderful with waterlilies, plants, and rocks. In the center of the garden is a large pond containing three islands connected by four bridges.

The pond of the Ninomaru Garden.

It was really a wonderful site of new experiences in this castle.

Nara - Kofukuji and Todaiji temples...

 The weather was really bad today, it was raining. Already its so cold. But we decided to continue our trip to Nara. From the Inn where we are staying, we took umbrellas and started our journey. Even through it as rain, it feels so nice to walk through the roads of Nara. As we reached the Nara park, we could see some deers wandering there even in this rain. I have already heard about the freely roaming deers of  Nara park, and I wished to touch them. The rain spoiled everything. Not much deers were found. But still, I played with some of them. Their wet fur sticked on to my hands and I felt bad. :(

Me with deers..

There were a lot of street vendors with Deer Biscuits. The deers  come around as soon as we bought some biscuits for them. These are wild deers which came down from the mountains to the park to feed on the grass and Shika Senbei (Deer biscuits).
We reached the Kofukuji temple. Kofukuji was one of the "Four Great Temples" of the Nara period. It features a tall five-story pagoda and many Buddhist art treasures. In 1998 Kofukuji Temple was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara" listing. Kofukuji Temple is the headquarters of the Hosso school in Japan.

Kofukuji temple.

The five storeyed pagoda.

From there, we moved to the Todaiji temple.We took our entry pass and get inside the temple.

Entry pass for Todaiji temple.

Todaiji ("Great Eastern Temple") is one of Japan's most famous and historically significant temples and a landmark of Nara. It was constructed in 752 as the head temple of all provincial Buddhist temples of Japan and grew so powerful that the capital was moved from Nara to Nagaoka in 784 in order to lower its influence on government affairs. Not only is Todaiji housing Japan's largest Buddha statue (Daibutsu), but it is also the world's largest wooden building, even though the present reconstruction of 1692 is only two thirds of the original temple's size. This gold and bronze Buddha is one of the largest bronze statues in the world at 16 meters tall. 

Todaiji temple.

The great Budha of Todaiji.

Inside the Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden) of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, towards the exit - right near the souvenir area, there is a very thick pillar with a hole in it, which is said to be the same size as the Budha statue’s nostril. The legend says that if you manage to pass through this hole, you will attain enlightenment in the next life. There were so many people waiting for trying it forming a big queue there.

The hole on a pillar near the Budha statue of Todaiji temple.

We saw another ritual there. People write their prayers to the lord on wooden plates and hang it on a board at one side of the temple. I think we have similar practice in some temples of India too.

We saw an Asoka pillar located at the east of the Tōdai-ji temple. Felt so happy seeing some piece of Indian culture in this land.

A lamp tree near the Todaiji temple.

It was still raining as we walked towards a shrine up a hill near to the Todaiji temple. On the way there as a large bell inside a roof which can be rang by pulling off a big wooden rod hanged infront of it.

The huge bell of Todaiji temple.

It was also like a temple and there we saw a tub with water and laddles placed on its walls. We have to wash our hands and feet before entering the temple. We did so and enter inside .

The shrine near Todaiji temple.

Water tub and laddles.

A golden plant inside of the shrine.

Once we left the shrine, the rain stopped. And in the park, deers grown in number, also the visitors . We again had a nice time with deers.

 
It felt sad while leaving the deer friends of Nara park as I like the place so much mainly because of them.

Tokyo sky tree, Akihabara and the tokyo tower...

The Tokyo sky tree was not at all opened while we visited Tokyo in April. It will be opening next month only. We saw the tower many times as we traveled via Tokyo metro. After visiting the Imperial palace gardens, we went to Kinshichō Station and walked towards the tower. But even after walking for 10 minute, we couldn't reach near it. We were confused and hence asked a traffic police there. He told us that if you are trying to access by foot, then walk forward some more minutes looking at the top of the tower so that you can understand when you are near to it. We felt fun in his reply, and it highlighted the fact that we have to walk a lot to reach there. We have already started walking and are half the way from the station, so we decided to continue. At last , as the man told us, we walked another 20 minutes to reach the foot of the skytree. 

Tokyo skytree from the foot

It was really amazing to see the tower from its foot. As its name depicts it extends upto the sky, the jet planes passing above it seems like touching its head.

A jet plane passing over the skytree.

 It has a height of 634 meters. It is actually a new television broadcasting tower of Tokyo and is now the tallest building in Japan and the second tallest structure in the world. A large shopping complex with aquarium is there at its base and there are to observation decks too. If we have visited here next month we might be able to reach there and enjoy the sight from there. Anyway we missed it.

From there we walked towards the station, but couldn't reach there even after walking long. At last we reached  a park. Its hanami in this place today and the park is rushed. We were too tired walking such a distance, so we spent half an hour in the park enjoying the beauty of the sakura trees. There were so many people there.

Cherry blossom.

A building of Tokyo.

Reflection of the skytree on a
building near the park.

At last we reached the station with the help of an old lady who accompanied us all the way to there. Then we went to Akihabara - the district of electronic goods.

 From there, we purchased some electronic equipments and left there after our dinner.

Our last visit in Tokyo is to the Tokyo tower. But we become so late as we reached there after our shopping from the electronic city. From the Hamamatsucho Station, we walked to the tower foot. The tower as visible in the darkness as if it is ignited.

Tokyo tower.

Tokyo tower.

 

Then we returned to the Shinjuku station from where our return journey begins at 10.30pm.

Tokyo Imperial Palace...

Early in the morning, after having our breakfast from the Toyoko Inn ,w e started our journey to the Imperial Palace.  We took a one day pass or the Tokyo city travel and hired the train to Tokyo station.

We walked towards the Imperial palace which can be accessed by a 5 minute walk from the station according to the information that we have collected.

We crossed a park while walking to the palace which looks so beautiful with trees surrounded with flowered bushes and fountains. In 7 minutes we reached the east gardens of the Imperial palace.

 The current Imperial Palace is located on the former site of Edo Castle, a large park area surrounded stone walls. It is the residence of Japan's Imperial Family. The palace buildings and inner gardens are not open to the public. Only on January 2 (New year) and December 23 (Emperor's Birthday), visitors are able to enter the inner palace grounds and see the members of the Imperial Family, who make several public appearances on a balcony.The Imperial Palace East Gardens are open to the public.There are two bridges that form an entrance to the inner palace grounds called the  Nijubashi.

Nijubashi.

Imperial palace.

The Imperial Palace East garden is open to the public. They are the former site of Edo Castle's innermost circles of defense, the honmaru ("main circle") and ninomaru ("secondary circle").
None of the main buildings remain today, but the moats, walls, entrance gates and several guardhouses still exist. A wide lawn and the remaining foundation of the former castle tower can be found on top of the hill, where the castle's innermost buildings once stood.

The foundation of the former castle tower.

 In place of the former buildings in the secondary circle of defense (ninomaru) at the foot of the hill, a nice Japanese style garden has been created.

We walked up to the foundation of the former castle tower. From there we could see the palace building.

Then we walked through  the garden infront of it, there were so many cherry trees with full of flowers.

We left the palace garden area after walking  around there for an hour.

Tokyo - Odaiba...

We went for a two day trip to Tokyo on April 7,Saturday by bus. We were five people and  reserved seats for the journey two weeks before. Me, my husband, his colleague and our only Malayali friend of Tajimi , Mr. Saji , his wife Mrs. Sanitha and their three year old son. There was about 4.30 hours of travel from Tajimi to the Shinjuku station.  On the way, we saw the Mount Fuji, with a white cap of snow, just as I have seen in pictures earlier. It looks so nice.  It was very cold outside, but we saw a lot of bloomed sakura trees here. After walking through the streets of Tokyo for an hour we decided to go to Odaiba. 

In Tokyo city.

 We took a one day pass worth 800 yen from Shimbashi station and reached the Daiba Station of Odaiba in 15 minutes by Yurikamome which is an automated, elevated train with rubber tires. It carry us to all the attractions of the Odaiba island. We can use the one day pass for bus, train and boats in this island.

We had our lunch with us from home. We ate it sitting on a rock in the  park near the beach, where we saw people enjoying their food beneath the sakura trees - it is called hanami. It is a Japanese culture of picnicking under bloomed cherry trees. It seems so interesting for me as I  am seeing this for the first time.After finishing our meal we walked forward to the attractions of Odaiba. There is a replica of the statue of Liberty on the beachside. I didn't understand the relevance of the statue here, may be just an attraction.

The Statue of Liberty replica.

 Opposite to the statue, we could see the Fuji TV building - the headquarters of Fuji Television, one of Japan's private, nationwide TV stations. There are some exhibits on popular programs conducted here at certain times, also people could buy Fuji TV goods at a shop and access the futuristic looking building's observatory deck housed in the sphere shaped part of the building. We didn't enter inside as it seems very rush and it is getting late for we have to enjoy the other attractions of this island.

Fuji TV building.

Then we entered the Aquacity ,  a shopping mall with various stores, boutiques, restaurants, cafes and a 13 screen cinema complex.  There are nice views of the Rainbow Bridge from the wooden deck in front of Aquacity and neighboring Decks. Walking through the park around the building was so interesting - there were different colors of tulips and other flowers which all have just started blooming.

There we saw a giant Gundam statue in front of the building which is under construction. It is some shopping complex that will be opening in April only. So many people including us took the photos of the statue eventhough it was difficult to click the shot through the fence ahead.

The Gundam statue

After that we decided to have a small ride in the boat of the island . During our ride, we went the the upper deck of the ship, but it as so cold and we couldn't tolerate it for more than 10 minutes. The boat crossed the rainbow bridge during it's ride. And we could see all the attractions of the island around us during that ride. 

Again we crossed the Rainbow Bridge by the Yurikamome and reached the Toyota Mega Web which is a giant Toyota showroom that shows off all of Toyota's latest models, car accessories and technologies.

 Then we reached near the Ferris wheel. This 115 meter tall ferris wheel is one of the world's largest and offers nice views of Tokyo Bay and Odaiba below. Each cabin seats six and the complete revolution takes about 15 minutes.  Me and my husband were not interested in a wheel ride as we have a 30 minutes long ride in the giant wheel of Singapore some days back. Our friend and family entered the wheel while both of us spend our time in the entertainment center at the foot of the wheel. 

It turned dark and we left Odaiba enjoying the beauty of the island lit with colorful lamps all around. The Ferris wheel , the rainbow bridge and every bit of places of the island glowed in different colors. It was quite a nice experience to see the island during the time. Everything seems more beautiful than we saw during the daytime.

We reached the Kamata station and walked towards the Toyoko Inn where we have reserved our rooms for today's stay.