I had been planning for a long time to go to the capital of the land of rising Sun. but every time, I tried, I failed for some mundane issue arising in office.

Finally I thought of giving it a try one more time and decided that even if any issue comes up, I would be in Tokyo. So I booked my ticket 2 weeks in advance and told everyone that I would not be available for the weekend.

When in Japan, one should (or rather I should say must) try out shinkanzen (Bullet train). But I found that trains are costlier than the flight (the ratio being 3:2 for the deal I got for the flight). So economy ruled over tourist and I decided to catch a flight instead.

When I caught the flight, I asked for a seat with leg space. Comparing it with the flights we have in India, I opted for a window seat near emergency exit. But even that seemed quite less to me. but what really made me feel at home was the ‘Kit-kat’ chocolate offered by the air hostess. Till some years ago, this used to be the favorite chocolate of Batulda and on every visit this place, we used to get this chocolate. Now the chocolate has been replaced by coffee and snacks at his place but Kit-kat has a nostalgic feeling, so much so that, I picked up two of them, keeping all etiquettes at bay.

My friend had been telling me that there had been no snowfall in Tokyo this season and I used to tease him by telling him about snowfall in Fukuoka. Though the snowfall in Fukuoka had been so less that you cannot enjoy snow at all, it hardly made a difference as Nanda would not have known this fact. Moreover by the news that there had been no snowfall, I was very enthusiastic to find a clear sky and a bright day.

However the moment I reached Tokyo, rain welcomed me and I was given the news that the next day would see some snowfall. and lo! the next day saw the highest snowfall in Tokyo in the recent years. Whole day, the sky was full of clouds and air with snow.

My friend and I started our outing for the day Snow kept on playing spoilsport throughout the day. Our trip to places like Akihabaro, Odaiba etc was all spoilt by snow and cloud. The Rainbow Bridge was not lighted up and the view of replica of statue of liberty was not at all clear. but then that did not dampen our spirits. We had a good outing at Toyota showroom looking at new models and a good walk in old car garage museum. The walk in ‘Sunwalk’ and ‘Nightwalk’ arenas was also charming.

But above all these, what we enjoyed the most is the company of each other. We kept on laughing whole of the day and spread the laughter around. It so happened that a Japanese old man was sitting next to us and did not get any head or tail of what we are talking about, but our laughter caught the better of him and he also laughed along. Seriously, laughter is contagious.

To add to all these, there were Sambhar Rice, Dosa and Idli, made by my friend’s wife. All these made me enjoy the trip in spite of bad and damp weather. And all of this was possible because of my good old friend.

Really there is a similarity between friends and wine…the older they become, the more you can enjoy them.