It's time for Sakura (cherry blossoms) in Japan. ANd what have I been doing? Got started with full josh from Hirama - and reached final destination in an hour - Kudanshita Indian Embassy in Japan. They promized all the South Indian Food that I was longing to have - that includes Masala Dosa too.
Only with a difference - by the time we got there - it seems the food was over. All that I could do was take some coupons, hop around the different stalls for over 15mins and finally - tired of looking around for some good food - returned the coupons to the stall. He gracefully accepted the coupons as if he knew that this was going to happen. At least, I got the complete refund. Alas! We shouldn't have chosen April 1st for this kind of thing, maybe.
With my infalliable thoughts that such things are bound to happen, I had taken enough lunch so that I would not feel exhausted when it was time to go around.
Then we strolled along the completely crowded road for a while. After which, none of the members had an idea of what exactly was to be done next or where we were all headed to.
Finally, Ebin and me made up our minds to visit the Yasukuni shrine (of great fame now-a-days due to Koizumi-san visiting the temple with controversial thoughts to bringing peace with China). The shrine was by itself all wonderful to visit.
Above is a glimpse of the kind of crowd at Yasukuni shrine last weekend (1st April). Of course, even in the maddening crowd, I could feel comfortable enough provided with enough personal space.
Sakura trees were all over blossomed and I could see the romance blooming all around the place. Here is a still from one of those moments. 
Whats so special about Sakura? As anywhere else on universe - it is the food! The most enjoyable aspect of Sakura is the drinks and the food. I always used to say that there is nothing that can make a (wo)man more happier than priving her/him with stomach full of food with all kindness.
There are so many shops setup around the shrine today. I guess festivals and carnivals are the same all around the workd - set up shops in tents and provide food and drinks to the crowd around (at any maddening price you can imagine to burn your pockets outright).
I remember those days when my father used to take me to Katteriammam thiruvhzha near Ooty. All the same scene recreated over here with enough glamor and hype about Sakura.
But yes - it was a good experience. I am not a lover of crowds, but I did like those few hours that we spent around the shrine. Constantly remembering about the Japanese culture et. al.
Here is Ebin - we are a good company to each other since we seem to have similar interests (travelling and nature of course - sometime later let me mention about our trip to Takao-san).
And now, let me come back to the Japanese food.
Below are some of the Japanese food that I had seen. A lot more, I haven't captured in my lens. Japanese food is closer to Indian food than that of the English is what I seem to understand from my experiences, though yet far from the spiciness of the Indian food.
I hope I will learn more about Japanese food as time goes by.
I dunno what that is. But Ebin had a try and told me that it was nothing but a donut filled with sweet beans. Its hard to imagine anything that does not either contain meat or fish in Japan for me.
I would upload more photos and continue with this story soon.
