My views

Last week, My family and I went on a week long trip to Kanazawa with some of our family friends. Kanazawa is a city in Ishikawa prefecture which is located near the coast of Japan.  I was very excited for this trip as I had not gone for a vacation to a place outside of Tokyo for more than a year. Furthermore, I was very excited to be going there with my friends and family.  Day 1 I got up at 5:00 in the morning, and left our house at 6. For the trip, we had booked two Toyota HiAces, in order to fit in all 17 of us and our luggage. As we drove along the winding roads and majestic mountaintops, my friend and I settled down to watch a movie(We watched 5 in total by the end of the week!). Our first destination was Kurobe Dam which is Japan's tallest dam. Sadly however, we didn't get the opportunity to visit it as we could only reach the dam by taking a train and the last train had just stopped running 15 minutes earlier. Nevertheless, we continued our drive, exploring the be...

Yahoo! I am going to visit the famous Underground Flood Control Channel in Japan. This exuberance was the result of a long wished desire being fulfilled. A year or two back, I had first heard of t he world's largest flood diversion facility  being built underground in Japan, to help drain areas which are prone to flooding. Awed by these facts, this was the first spark for my wish to visit the amazing technological marvel. Recently, one of the t eachers in my school got tickets to visit the Underground Flood Control Channel for about twenty five students and staff of my school. As the number of tickets were limited, we were asked to sign up fast if we were interested. The moment I recieved the mail, my eyes popped out and I ran shouting gleefully towards my parents and immediately asked them to sign me up. I was on cloud nine when I heard that I was one of the students selected for the tour. About the Underground Flood Control Discharge Channel Completed in 2006, it is a ...

The sounds of the flora and fauna aroused me from my deep sleep as I woke up on the fourth and final day of my school residential trip to Moriumius , Oshika and Kinkasan .  Following an amazing starry night in a tent, we ran helter-skelter in packing our suit-cases, getting ready for the day, and happily munching on a mouth full of breakfast!! After we finally sorted ourselves, we boarded our bus and drove to our activities site in the Oshika area where I learnt that we were going to learn how to decipher maps and compasses!  Using the same groups that we were put into in day 3, we were first given a map with each team having a different trail(route) to follow. The map contained different symbols to represent the landmarks alongside the trail and it was our job to figure them out. Highly enthusiastic about our map skills, we started our walk, only to realise fifteen minutes later, that we had gone the wrong way!! Though we were exasperated with ourselves, a quick...

  In this blog, I am going to be writing on the third day of my school residential trip to Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan. After an amazing two days at Moriumius, we rose up early in the morning and bed a fond farewell to the Moriumius staff and thanked them for the wonderful time we had there. Half-dragging, half-lifting our suitcases behind us, we somehow managed to hop onto our buses and headed out to our next destination, Kinkasan !!. In our three hour drive from Moriumius to Kinkasan, we passed through many mountains situated right next to the sparkling coastline. These mountains contain a variety of flora and fauna. As I casually glanced out of the window, I gasped in awe as I saw a spotted deer with huge antlers running away from us. Though I was sad that the deer did not come any closer, little did I know that I was in for a treat later on in the day.  Kinkasan is a small mountainous island off the coast of Japan. In Japanese, Kinkasan means " The Gold...

Belinda the Goat The rooster crowed as I slowly stretched my way to wakefulness. It was five in the morning, and I was looking forward to my second day in my school residential trip to Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan after an amazing first one (Check out the link!!).  A chilly breeze blew alongside us as we commenced our first activity  for the day, cleaning . It was a wholehearted experience as we used brooms and mops to make the activities centre squeaky clean. Whilst cleaning, we spotted Belinda the goat , who was to my surprise, gigantic !! As she slowly made her way around chewing both grass and cud, we could see an expression of peace and contentment on her face, even allowing us to touch and pat her. After a hearty and sumptuous breakfast made by the Moriumius staff, we grabbed our jackets and towels and headed out to do kayaking in the sea!! I was  very excited as, though I had done kayaking before, this was the first time I was going to do...

The month of september was a very busy one for me. My sincere apologies for the delay in posting the blog. I had commenced my new school after a five month break; and in the space of four weeks, I have taken part in many activities, the highlight of them being my week long trip to  Moriumiu s , Oshika and Kinkasan . In this series of four blogs, I will be writing on my experience of my first residential trip in Japan. In my school, each residential trip has a unique theme. Each trip focuses on its theme but brings light to it in a fun way. This time the focus of my residential was giving back to the nature . Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan are all situ ated in Miyagi prefecture, which is high up in the north of Japan. These places are situated in the area where the 2011 Tohuku Tsunami unleashed its fury. As a class, we were to start our trip on Tuesday and reach back home on Friday. As I am a new student in my school, I did not know what to expect out of this jaunt a...

  In this blog, I am going to write on one of my favourite outdoor activities, " White   Water Rafting". White water rafting takes place on a river which has fast flowing water(rapids) and huge rocks. Sitting on a raft with  each person holding  an paddle, we have to navigate our way through the rocks and occasionally, have to steer away from a mini whirlpool!! As each raft consists about six people and a guide, team-work and alertness is need for safely paddling to the end point. When my parents broke out the news that they had booked White Water Rafting for the three of us, I was overjoyed as I had heard how fun and amazing it is. We were going to raft on the  Tama river  in a town named Mitake in the Chichibu area. Mitake is located on the west of the Tokyo Prefecture and is two and a half hours away from my home. We commenced our journey early in the morning and reached Mitake station at 9 am. As we were walking towards our rafting point, we h...

Few blogs prior to this one, I wrote on one of Japan's matsuri (check the link!!). This blog is going to be focused on another very significant tradition, the Obon !! About Obon  The Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honour the spirits of one's ancestors. Obon is a three day period which takes place  around August 15th each year. During these three days, everybody goes back to their ancestral house and visit and clean their ancestors's graves(thi s is called "Ohakamairi") The spirits then enter the house riding on a horse(so as to arrive  fast ) and feast  along with the family.  After an enjoyable three day period, the spirits leave riding on a cow, so as to go  slowly  back to their own realm. Though Obon takes place all over Japan, Kyoto's Gozan No Okuribi and lanterns along the Sasebo river (marking Obon)   are prominent. Obon has been celebrated for over 500 years now and is one of Japan's oldest cultural traditions. F...