I was lucky enough to visit Japan with my parents this winter. As it was December, the weather was freezing cold as it had already started to snow. We stayed in Khamidabashi.

We started our expedition the very next day. We went to Sunshine City — the oldest building of Japan of 60 storeys and the Tokyo tower from where we were able to watch the beautiful night view of Tokyo, Sea Paradise in Hakezema, Sinjuku Gyoen in Sinjuku and the Imperial Palace. We visited UENO zoo where we saw animals like pandas, gorilla, tiger, lion, owl, elephant and Japanese birds. I got to learn a lot about the animals as they had kept all the information there. We even went to Shinobazu pond and the five-storied Pagoda inside UENO zoo.

On Christmas night, we went to see the Tokyo Millennium. It was amazing to see Christmas widely celebrated in Japan and with great pomp and show. Thousands of people had gathered in Tokyo to observe this festival. Asakusajinja Shrine, also known as Sensoji temple, near the Asakusa station, is one of the oldest temples in Tokyo, which is said to have been built in 628.

Then we went to Odaiba on a waterbus passing through Sumidagawa river where we saw the Rainbow Bridge — bridge that was built recently and right above the sea.

On the first of January, we went for a picnic to Ushiku Daibutsu which has a huge statue of standing Buddha — 120metres in height in the middle of the jungle. This statue is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest Buddha statue in the world. It is said that it took 10 years to build this statue.

The Tobu World Square is a theme park exhibiting world famous architectural work and ancient monuments where we can see 102 architectural structures from 21 countries including 42 World heritages declared by UNESCO.

We went to Hakone by ‘Romance car’ — the fastest, comfortable and expensive train, cable car and ropeway to Owakudani hill, which was formed due to volcanic explosion.

Disneyland is one wonderful place in Japan. I enjoyed a lot there. We also visited Kamakura to see the great statue of sitting Buddha and the beach.

I learnt a lot from this trip. I had heard Japan is an earthquake prone country and I experienced it myself twice. That is why the houses there are made of wood and are very light and the tall buildings are made earthquake resistant.

The local transportation in Japan is train and we got to taste some of the best sushi, ramen, green tea and fish.

I made many Japanese friends and got to learn a lot about their life and culture.