You know it as the Land of the Rising Sun. The nation that excels in inno vation. CDs. DVDs. Walkman. Nintendo. Instant Ramen. Bullet train. They invented it all. A nation of cherry blossoms. Of terraced paddy fields. Of austere monks and avid gamers. And pagodas. The nation that produced a filmmaker called Akira Kurosawa and a writer called Haruki Murakami. A nation where people are incredibly punctual and immensely polite. Japan straddles the traditional and the modern with supreme ease. There's niceness in the Japanese air. Oh-so-contagious niceness! Here are 5 Japan must-dos...
TOKYO SKYTREE
The world's highest lookout piercing the sky at 634 metres, the Tokyo Skytree is often called the world's highest lookout. Hold your heart as the elevator whooshes up 600 metres per minute! That's going up a 181-storeyed building before you can sing half a song. You can not go up to 634 metres, but peer through the 5-metre-high glass windows of Tembo deck (350 metres) for a spectacular view of Tokyo's skyline. On a clear day, the view stretches to 70 miles. Spiral another 100 metres up to Tembo Gallery that consists of a sloping spiral ramp which gains height as it circles the tower. That's the world's highest skywalk. Look carefully for a cheeky sign: World's Highest Toilet. Perhaps calls for a piddle in the sky!
SEE, EAT, USE GOLD
In Kanazawa, everything that glitters is gold. Literally. In the city that produces 99% of Japan's gold leaf, you can buy candies with a hint of gold flakes in it; a mask made of gold that would probably turn a Medusa into Cleopatra in a jiffy; edible gold flakes packed in tiny boxes that can be sprinkled on cake or added to a drink.There's a storehouse with walls embellished with gold leaf. If you want to get arty, learn the 400-year-old gold-leaf art. But don't be fingers and thumbs. The Kanazawa gold leaf is 110,000 mm thin. That's 10 times thinner than a strand of human hair. Try holding that with a bamboo tweezer!
SNOW CORRIDOR
Carry your snow boots and pack some adrenaline. In the 56-mile-long Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route, also known as Roof of Japan, adventure acquires a new meaning. The Alpine Route is not merely about snow and the surreal landscape, it is about the journey that includes 7 forms of public transport with 5 modes funicular, bus, trolleybus, aerial tramway and walking. In summer, the big joy is walking through a 500-metre snow corridor flanked with snow walls as high as 8 metres. Make a gigantic snowman, glide through the slopes and etch your name in snow.Keep an eye out for ptarmigan, the rare snow goose.
TOYOTA MUSEUM
Did you know that the first Toyota passenger car rolled out on the streets in 1937? The model: AA. Colour: Black. The price: 3.350 yen, equivalent to four years of a fresher's salary in 1930s Japan. The first Toyota truck tyres came attached with brooms so that the pedestrian was not inconvenienced. The Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya narrates the story of the group's textile and automotive innovation and creation. In the Museum, you can spin yarn out of cotton. Make a car. And watch a robot play the violin. Mellifluously.
GASSHO ARCHITECTURE
Ever seen thatched roofs that look like human hands raised in prayer? In the World Heritage Sites of Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture and Gokayama in Toyama Prefecture, architecture melds seamlessly with nature. Slanted at 4560 degrees, the Gassho roofs can withstand heavy snow. Walk through the village with 300-year-old homes, where only the ground floor was used as living quarters. The two-storeyed attic was purported to rear and store silkworms. In the 300-year-old Wada House which is open to public, pay attention to the lacquerware and hay boots and clothes.
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