Its been on our bucket list but didn't know God will make it happen so soon. 

The land of the Rising Sun, really wakes you up so early with bright sunshine !! and I am not complaining !

So, I started researching on places to visit, food & culture, weather, transport etc. , A lot of blogs were helpful and also a few friends who had visited earlier, and I made lots of notes. The first thing we did based on research was to book the JR pass which is the most important as it allows you inhibited travel through places including the bullet trains. All you have to do is to apply for JR pass on Klook ( recommend to download the klook app ) , at least 15 days before travel. You will receive a voucher by mail which you have to exchange at any of the JR ticket offices in Japan for a pass. If you visit Japan during any of the peak seasons, you may have to wait for 1 hour+ in the queue for the exchange. We visited in Spring this year and stood in the queue for 2 hrs. It was worth it because the travel within Japan becomes easier.

Stay in a nice hotel near a Railway station because most of the hotels then have a shuttle service to and from the station every 20 mins. We stayed at Hilton Tokyo in the Shinjuku area which is the heart of Tokyo. The best customer service despite it overflowing with guests. For us it was important to stay in an International hotel because of our food restrictions of not eating pork, beef, crab etc. We were happy with fish and chicken and preferred veggies. Can't eat non veg everyday :) Hilton has excellent restaurants, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and a nice patisserie. In the basement is a shopping centre with a lovely coffee shop , Japanese and an Indian restaurant.

There is the gorgeous Shinjuku park across the street with Cherry blossoms, Tulips, Azeleas, roses, pansies and many other flowers. It was a treat to my (a gardener's) eyes !!! 

We started our 10 day trip from this exquisite park . We decided to stay in Tokyo for 10 days and do day trips to other places. We didn't want to tire ourselves so took a 7 day JR pass starting on the 3rd day of our trip. We explored Tokyo by taking a hop on hop off bus. It was so convenient. We visited the famous Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in the World, they say. Outside the Tower, the Cherry blossom trees were gorgeous !

After that we visited the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. It is the seat of spirituality, very nice . We saw Geishas and hand pulled rickshaws to ferry people across. 

There is a lot a lot of walking in Japan so please take your walking shoes as you don't need anything else. Walking is also the best way to explore a place. We came back to the hotel, had good Japanese food and went off to sleep. The next morning was again bright and sunny. We decided to explore Kyoto. The Bullet train is so convenient. The Bullet train starts from Tokyo station not Shinjuku, so we took a cab till Tokyo station for Shinkansen (Bullet Train ). The train ride took 2 hrs and was very smooth. You can buy coffee and snacks inside the train and enjoy the ride. One important point to note is to reserve seats before your journey. Its very simple, just go to any JR office , show your JR pass and reserve. On the way to Kyoto you can see Mount Fuji standing tall.

Kyoto is very pretty. We saw the beautiful Kinkaku-ji Golden Temple , which is situated in pristine hilly surroundings . It is a Zen Buddhist temple whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. After that we went to see the Imperial Palace which was closed unfortunately but we strolled in their beautiful gardens with exquisite cherry blossoms in pink and white. We used the hop on hop off bus again as we had to head back in the evening to Tokyo. Kyoto has a beautiful market place too .

Next day we stayed in Tokyo and went shopping ...found a very different Barbie doll for our granddaughter . The shopping at Shinjuku is pretty good esp the Keio Deptt store. We also visited the Ginza shopping district in Tokyo which is an International market bustling with activity. We found a lovely Bar where we had Italian food. 

 In Tokyo there is the Shinjuku Gyoen Park which hosts a magical night viewing of Cherry blossoms in that park. Its called NAKED Sakura Night Garden. We bought tickets on Klook and decided to go there and OMG ! what a spectacular show it was. We were given a lantern each to walk in the park. No amount of pics can do justice to what you witness there. It is out of this world ! We had never seen anything like that. The trees shone in different coloured lights with lounge music being played in the park, you could just walk and walk and walk. By the way, we did almost 12000 steps a day in Japan.

The day after, we headed towards Osaka, its ahead of Kyoto on the same route. By now we had become seasoned travellers :)

 The clouds over mountains on the way to Osaka look so ethereal. On the way, we saw Solar farms at Hamamatsu. Osaka did not have a hop on hop off. You could only hop on and stay in the bus. So, we decided to take a cab to the Osaka Castle . The Castle is beautiful and outside of the castle is prettier. We took a boat cruise (Aqualiner) , from the Castle instead of the hop on bus and really enjoyed the sight seeing with the people waving at us, like you see in the movies ! Then we had yummy lunch at one of the pretty restaurants at Osaka Castle , walked around the lake and came back. It was lovely . The most emotional moment was when we were outside the Castle, trying to find our way to the pier, an old Japanese lady came up to us and asked, 'May I help you ? ' This is the Japanese culture of helping others. She couldn't understand English so well so didn't know how to help and felt bad that she couln't. She apologised to us in Japanese. We were so touched .

Japanese tea ceremony was on our list of 'To do' things so we booked a Tea Ceremony at  Jidaiya in Asakusa. You have to pay in advance. It was raining in Asakusa when we reached there after taking a train from Shinjuku station to Ueno to Asakusa (seasoned travellers by now). There were 16 people in our group for the tea ceremony. We were divided into 4 groups. It was quite an experience . The lady in kimono told us how to make matcha tea and how to drink it too. I didn't know it was such an elaborate, immaculate and precise process. You do not sip tea from the side the pic is on the cup, this is to show respect to the pic. you turn the cup slightly towards the left and the sip. Once you finish, you again turn the pic towards yourself and bow to finish.  One thing she said to us will remain etched in our minds forever that ,'This is once in a lifetime experience because we will never be in the same room with the same people, sipping tea, ever again '. 

Majestic Mount Fuji was next on our list. So , we had to take the train from Shinjuku to Otsuki station From Otsuki we had to change into the local train to Kawaguchiko for Mount Fuji.  Kawaguchiko is one of the five Fuji lakes, the prettiest. From the train and from the station you get an awesome view of Mount Fuji. We had preponed our trip to Mount Fuji after checking the weather. Am I glad we did ? We got a clear view of the mesmerising Mount Fuji. One could just gaze at it without blinking an eye. We took the hop on hop off bus and walked almost all of it. It is one place where we thought we should have stayed at least 2 days. Coming back the same day seemed incomplete. There are beautiful cherry blossoms lined around the lake and a pretty restaurant where we had lunch. This place is awesome. We also saw the Music Forest Museum which was so unique. We didnot do the Ropeway as there was a few milelong queue there and we had to get back. 

People & Culture

Japanese are awesome people. They are so helpful , that they will go to any length to help you. We wanted to find our way to the Shinjuku Gyoen Cherry Blosssom night show and happened to enquire from two girls . They walked 45 mins to an hour with us to show us the place, happily. In Osaka, we asked a young man, way to a particular restaurant . He left his group of friends and walked with us about 20 mins to show us the restaurant. They help unconditionally which is so rare. We asked someone direction to the platform at the station and he walked us to that platform. The staff at the hotel went all out to help us in making reservations, finding about trains, recommending restaurants and even locating a shop to find Barbie for my granddaughter, etc etc. You dont't feel lonely and helpless amongst such helpful people. They discourage you to talk on phones in public places for convenience of others. They dress up so well and in a dignified way. They are very polite. 

We want to go back and visit Hokkaido, Mount Fuji again and so many other places we missed. We wish to thank the Japanese from the bottom of our hearts for their hospitality and warmth. We are full of Cherry Blossoms and the warmth of  the Japanese people. Arigato !!!