Birthday

Wife's first birthday after marriage. Should be special, rite?

That's why, it's a Baskin-Robbins cake, Bailey's IrishCream Cocktail and Ao-yama flowers

All about Google

Interesting presentation on Google’s business strategy, how they buy traffic,business levers, how do they plan to take on Facebook, why do they not monetize all their services etc.

All about Google

Shinkansen

Shinkansen is the Japanese word for the high speed trains in Japan. It is actually Shinkan -sen, where 'sen' means line and 'Shinkan' means bullet. More commonly, the shinkansen was known as the Bullet train for this reason.

The Shinkansen is very reliable, and in 2003, JR Central reported that the Shinkansen's average arrival time was within six seconds of the scheduled time. This includes all natural and human accidents and errors and is calculated over roughly 160,000 Shinkansen trips completed. The previous record, from 1997, was 18 seconds.

An amazing network of trains crisscross the eastern border of Japan connecting all important cities and towns.

There are three different services on the Shinkansen. They are the Kodama, Hikari and Nozomi. It's categorized on the lines of Express, SuperFast and SuperExpress respectively.

Nozomi is the fastest which stops only at major stations along the route. It stops at all three stations inside Tokyo Metropolis which are Tokyo, Shinagawa and Shin-Yokohama.

The speed is never felt while on board a Shinkansen. There is absolutely no wobbling of any sort. Even the start and stop of the train are done so smoothly that it's absolutely safe to walk inside without holding!

The trains run at an average speed of 300 Kms/hour. It can cover a distance of about 1000kms from Tokyo to Hiroshima in about 4 hrs.

Competition with air:

Compared with air transport, the Shinkansen has several advantages, including scheduling frequency and flexibility, punctual operation, comfortable seats, and convenient city-center terminals.

The Shinkansen system and airlines often compete with each other for the business of city-to-city domestic travelers. If the Shinkansen connects two cities in less than three hours, most passengers choose the Shinkansen, but if it takes more than four hours by Shinkansen, the majority choose air.

Tokyo – Osaka (515 km): Shinkansen is dominant because of fast (2 hours and 30 minutes) and frequent service (up to every 10 minutes by Nozomi); however, air travel has a certain share (about 20 – 30 percent) because of the availability of discount fares.

Amazing experience and wish India could have such a network which will boost the economy by uncountable times.

Amazing Autumn

Autumn and it was at Kyoto this year!

Dogashima

Went on a trip to the Izu Peninsula. It is a resort area about 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, popular for its hot springs, beautiful coastlines, beaches, mild climate, scenic mountainous interior and views of Mount Fuji from its western coast. Our's was a short trip and we could cover only one place called Dogashima, famous for it's carved rocky cosatline.

The dark color of the rock near it's base, is what the water rises up to during high-tide.

That strip of land connects a small island with the mainland is what we r heading to next. We need to make it to there well before noon, else water level rises n the strip submerges.

The coastline of Dogashima in Western Izu is famous for its dramatic stone formations, cliffs and caves, formed by the lava flow of past volcanic eruptions and the erosion by the sea.

Entirely fearless it was while clicking these shots. It was later the next day when we think of it, that fear grips you!!! The water was neither silent too, always restless and splashing against the rocks.

The last leg of the journey involved travelling by bus. This is because, we've got to cross over a mountain. Defenitely a windy ride. Got to see a small but lovely stream on the route.

29 Years on this Earth.

First b'day with the wife!

Excellent mouth watering dishes and an amazing day.