Benzaiten (弁才天, 弁財天) is a Japanese Buddhist goddess, who originated from the Hindu goddess Saraswati. The Shinobzu Pond at Ueno Park has a temple of Saraswati. Floating on the water of the pond, it is a Buddhist temple dedicated to Saraswati the goddess of the arts, knowledge and wisdom. Japanese of todays generation, pray to her
Walking in the Ryogoku area on a Saturday morning a white T-Shirt hung outside a shop caught my attention. It was really huge, was sure that atleast three of me could fit in!!! Checked the shop name it was Lion-do or ライオン堂 with the words “King Size” or キングサイズ meaning extra large sized clothes store.
Travelling between Tokyo to Yokohama on the Tokaido Line, nearby Kamata, I had seen a park filled with tyres. I had not planned to visit this place though but it certainly intrigued me every time I passed on my way to Yokohama. Last month, accompanying my daughter to the Japan Open 2015 Rubik Cube Competition at
For work related travel, I have started using Haneda for two reasons. The international terminal started operations a couple of years back and the opening of the newly built Tokyo Gate Bridge which makes it a 25 minute drive by a car from the Edogawa Ward. The airport has many a currency exchange counters, but one
It was common belief that mobile phones can interfere with pacemakers. The perceived fear of electromagnetic interference from the mobile phones have seen stickers like the below on Yamanote Line trains near the priority seating asking the passengers to keep their mobile phones turned off in that area. Announcements also used to repeat this on JR
THOSE WERE THE DAYS : My first visit to Japan in 1998, I collected many SF Metro Cards as memories to take back to India. I ended up staying in Japan on a long term basis, but I carried on collecting the Cards which were issued by the Eidan-Chikatetsu which today is known as Tokyo
Stories, symbols and rituals are the primary way to transmit ideas across generations and the Hindu religion uses symbols in form of idols extensively. So to represent Wisdom, you can look at a few attributes like, WIDE EARS – Ability to assimilate a lot of input or listen SMALL MOUTH – Talk less FLEXIBLE TRUNK –
Why do people go to an airport? One reason, they maybe working at the airport. Oh, more importantly, yeah to board a flight and travel. For me, the things started a bit differently. International travel from India in my childhood days of the early 80s was “RARE”. Staying close to an international airport in Mumbai,
If getting a visa every few years is painful, or you want to do work beyond the status (like ENGINEER) allocated, you have been around for 10 years (average) in Japan, need a home loan, getting a Permanent Resident status in Japan might be an option to consider. Last year I completed 15 years in Japan,
Milial Resort Hotels, the company which operate the various Disney Hotels in Tokyo including the Disney Ambassador Hotel have announced plans for a fourth hotel to be built in Shin Urayasu neighborhood by 2016. The idea is to provide for reasonable rates for customers visiting the Tokyo DisneyLand and DisneySea. The rates although are not
Original news in Japanese : Sponichi Annex News The proud moment of Tokyo, the Olympics in 2020 has been in news for all wrong reasons recently. From the exorbitant cost of the stadium leading to curtailing of the plans to the emblem which was announced exactly five years to the minute before the Olympic opening
The tallest building in Japan presently is not in Tokyo, but in Osaka. Abenobashi Terminal Building Skyscraper (Abeno Harukas) at 300 meters nearly matches the Tokyo Tower at 333 meters. The Mitsubishi Jisho construction company is all set to best that record by a whole 90 meters at 390 meters and build a skyscraper near the
When : Nov 1 – March 31 Winter and Christmas equals illuminated evenings at famous tourist locations in Japan. There are many famous illumination spots in Tokyo city, like Roppongi Hills or Midtown although they get restricted due to the available space that commercial establishments attempt to decorate. My personal recommendation is Sagami Resort Pleasure Forest, just an
An Indian resident in Tokyo, I frequently go to Kudanshita, where the Indian embassy is located; for passport matters, celebration of festivals and IT forum meetings etc. Just next to the embassy is Yasukuni Shrine which I have frequented many times for the Antique Market held here every Sunday. I like to skim through things, just go around checking for
The Rainbow Bridge connecting Odaiba to the rest of Tokyo, has a toll expressway on the top,a toll free road one level below and a railway route for the Yurikamome Line to pass through. But, that’s not all Rainbow Bridge also has a walkway on either side of the bridge too !!! You can cross
