Ja-Paan

...Kon'nichiwa!!!

Japaan!!! Land of Mt. Fuji, Castles, Temples, Shrines, Cherry Blossoms, Industries, Green Tea, Mechaa, discipline, culture,i can go on n on...and one cant do justice to it within just a couple of days.

We went via Hong Kong where we had a good 7 hours transit and we  utilised the time by having Aloo Paranthas and Kochoris and went around the electronic market. Well thats where i'd end up with a bunch of 15 guys!!

We landed in Nagoya that night around 9pm and headed off to our hotel (Nagoya Tokyu hotel) which was completely wi-fi enabled and very comfortable. Next morning being the F1 races, some of the groupies chose to go for that and most of us decided to explore, hence we shot off in the bullet trains for Kyoto and then Osaka. After a good one of hour of effective communication at the ticket counter we finally got our journey planned and tickets booked. Kyoto is a lovely place and has a lot to see so we decided to take the city hop on n off tour, Kinkaku-ji Temple & Nijo Castle is where we took good amount of time. We reached Osaka by evening and were moving around the city and had dinner in this wonderful Indian restaurant called Chandani which is run by some Nepalis.

As this was a pleasure trip clubbed up with some industrial visit we went to the Toyota factory, the Nagoya University and the Asahi Beer Plant. The Toyota Plant was extremely interesting as we were able to see a step by step manufacturing of the vehicle. The industry was quite a marvel as we saw self-functioning vehicles (like mini trains) carrying goods from one unit to another and many such innovative machine which we had only read about and seen at bay. The University is a leading university in research works related to health sector where they research and develop unique and innovative Prosthetic equipment almost on a non-profit basis. The Asahi Beer Plant was quite an experience as it is the 4^th largest brewery and the magnanimous beer processing towers were believable only cause we were there to see it. The fun part there was the free tasting session which catered to the beer lovers, wine lovers and the teetotallers. The same evening we were off to Hakone. 

Now Hakone, is popular for the hot springs and its hot water baths which is there in most of the hotels and if its not ther then its not a good hotel for sure. The Hot Springs is d best de-stressing n unwinding experience. 

the next day we started our day early with the cold breeze and the starting of the winter chill and took off to one of the UNESCO's marvel - The Mt. Fuji. we reach the mid-level of Mt. Fuji and some of us chose to go trekking until the next level. It was an alluring feeling to stand up there amidst the various different shades of the autumn trees, on the rough black floor of the mountain and to forget the chilled clouds brushing our faces. From there we rushed to the Nissan Factory followed by the Nissan showroom. The new age electronic mini cars plus the new sports series of Nissan cars engulfed all of us. It was a pity we couldn’t drive in one of them to our next stop which was Tokyo.
The next day we had reserved for sight seeing and had a great time looking around Tokyo. We went to the Asakusa Shrine which is so grand and the exquisite art work on the ceiling and the decorations are just marvelous. and stood long just to get to the ticket counters of the Tokyo Skytree, although a bit expensive but then u gotta pay if u wanna b on the top of the world. from high above in the sky to cruising on the the Tokyo Cruise having a yummy Falafal from the near by little shop. This was the end of our day and we were pretty tired to think of anything else that involved walking or burning any form of energy.
On the last day we had a flight at around 3pm and we decided not to let go of the opportunity to shop a bit more to exhaust the last remaining Yens that we had on us and ended up going to another mall in Odaiba as it was a direct train stop.
It was indeed a good experience to visit Japan and visit all the top notch industries which we only read about and watched on documentaries. The citizens are extremely disciplined but int he whole trip i must have seen about 10 children which I found really strange. No wonder the population is going low there. 
Besides the fact that it is considered to be very expensive Japan is totally a worthy place to visit. 

Fourth day of our trip started with the Tokyo Stock Exchange which was a step inside the virtual world of trading for me where in we had the chance to take a tour and also have a mock trading round wherein we won a lot of fun. From there we headed to the Tokyo Steel Plant which took us back near Mt. Fuji and an unexpected fun filled roller coaster ride. The Tokyo Steel Plant was extremely warm in welcoming us and they took us around their plant wherein I saw machines the size of forts, around 80ft high and 1 Km long. Truly seeing is believing. The main person there was an Indian and they had eminent business and business training in India. There is Fuji-Q theme park which has some crazy rides and is full off fun things to do like small rides, yummy food n shopping to do in addition to the crazzy rides. after resting for a bit at the hotel we hit the famous Ropongi street where night fall is the last thing that will stop the place from bustling. The bright lights n the busy roads at any hour of the night is unbelievable. 

The Fifth and the last day of our Work Mission we had a choice between the Tokyo Pack fair and the Township. We opted to visit the Tokyo Pack Fair and it was relatively a smaller fair but was huge enough to get us tired in the brief time we had. It was inspiring to know what all innovative and unique techniques and ways the packing industry has evolved to. Post The Pack Fair we headed off to Rengo Yashio factory which was like an extension to the first half as one of the large stall at the fair was of Rengo. Post a presentation and an interactive session with the Rengo heads we had a guided tour of the factory which was highly impressive considering the fact that it was self sufficient, eco friendly and had a sense of social responsibility. From there we headed to the last belt of our Mission – closer to home – The Indian High Commission (Tokyo)  where we had a the opportunity to meet and interact with the Indian Ambassador – Mrs. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa who was not only humble but also very encouraging, which made the perfect end to the Mission. We extended a day to have a sight-seeing tour around Tokyo. That night we took off to the World famous fish market wherein some of the most expensive fish and other sea life turned seaa food is auctioned and sold. The Market was quite clean for a fish market and was well organised. The cart drivers r on a roll zipping around. We got to c some live and not so alive marine life and was once in a life time thing for me as i am certain not to go bak to a fish mkt being a veggie. 


The  but second last day was reserved for splurging. We went shopping to Shibuya which has a mall with literally everything u can think off but u need to be patient enough to find it and once you do you need to have the energy to select what exactly you want. Ginza shopping area is one of the premiere shopping places with every brand that you can think off (not necessarily affordable). And then the unassuming Odaiba area which has a couple of malls with very interesting decors. Since we were there before the Halloween the whole place was lit up and there was this huge statue of the Transformer which had lights glowing on one side and the Leaning tower of pisa on the other side and both were quite a marvel in their size. Since we missed the station exit of the Mall we had to walk quite a bit to the next station which was quite a blessing in disguise considering we got closer and closer and eventually got on the Tokyo Ferris Wheel, which though childish was almost like a wish come true. The Godiva Chocolate shake kept us going.

Arrigattooooo n Sayonara for now!!!