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Mithun Divakaran

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Yodobashi Akihabara building Tokyo Japan

Japan: Going to Akihabara, and spending way too much time in Yodobashi Akiba

By Mithun Divakaran
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Sep 17, 2015
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Japan, Travel

Date: March 21, 2015

I woke up at around 8AM. I wanted to sleep some more since it was cold and all, but I was excited to go to Akihabara, the electronics and otaku district!

Kinuya Honkan hotel lobby Ueno Tokyo — I had to come down to the lobby to get my clothes as I had to leave my big suitcase in the room opposite the reception. No big suitcases allowed in the dorms due to lack of space. It was a little inconvenient, but… oh well.

Kinuya Honkan hostel Ueno Tokyo — This is the entrance to Kinuya Honkan

Ueno street Tokyo morning Japan — This street and the surrounding areas are choc full of bars and small eateries

Ueno lane Tokyo Japan — Saw a lot of people riding bicycles, which was nice

Cyberspark pachinko Ueno Tokyo — A few pachinko arcades on this street

Pachinko queue morning Ueno Tokyo — There was a queue forming outside this pachinko arcade. Some new game based on the Ultraman franchise was launching today.

Ueno shops Pachinko lane Tokyo — This is the entrance to the street Kinuya Honkan is located on

Pedestrian crossing Ueno Tokyo winter — Right across the road is Ueno station, one of the largest hubs in the Tokyo train network and a major interchange station. I always choose my hotels and hostels near a metro station.

7-11 food Tokyo Japan — I went to a 7-Eleven to pick up some breakfast and coffee. I was amazed to see the variety of ready-to-eat meal boxes on shelves!

Pedestrian overbridge Ueno station Tokyo — I climbed up a pedestrian over bridge to get a look around

Ueno station train Tokyo Japan — Trains, it’s how most people get around in Japan

Smoking bays Ueno overbridge Tokyo — Those were designated smoking bays

Steps pedestrian bridge Ueno Tokyo — I went back down and entered Ueno station (the black cars are taxi limousines)

Continue reading “Japan: Going to Akihabara, and spending way too much time in Yodobashi Akiba” »

Japan: Landing in Tokyo… and using a communal bath for the first time

By Mithun Divakaran
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Sep 07, 2015
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Japan, Travel

Finally! It happened! I made it to Japan!

Ever since I was a small kid I was fascinated with Japan. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, Japan’s influence — especially its pop culture — was quite strong on me. Be it Macross/Robotech being the very first anime/cartoon I remember watching, to the ‘Made in Japan’ products we so revered in those days. Heck, even a pencil box I had with the bullet trains on the cover is still etched in my memory to this very day. And to think, nearly three decades later, I would actually ride the shinkansen this time!

I planned my journey around the sakura season, which in itself was a challenge. It’s hard to predict when the cherry blossoms would fully bloom. I went by this sakura calendar, and decided to travel late March. At the same time, I couldn’t afford to stay in Japan for too long. For the simple reason being… Japan is expensive! Yes, because of the value of yen right now, it’s cheaper, but it’s still a pretty damn expensive country compared to its neighbours.

None the less, this being my first time in Japan, I obviously wanted to spend more time in Tokyo. Outside of Japan’s capital, my initial plan was to go to Hiroshima, but everyone recommended Kyoto over it. So it was going to be Tokyo -> Kyoto -> Himeji -> Tokyo. I just hoped the sakura would bloom in full by the time I got back to Tokyo.

But I had to get to Tokyo first!

Date: March 21, 2015

My flight to Haneda airport was via Bangkok, which meant I was going to be flying Thai Airways.

Thai Airways chicken meal — I have taken enough photos of flights from Bangalore to Bangkok and at Suvarnabhumi Airport so don’t expect anymore photos from this route. But here’s what I ate on my flight to Bangkok.

Thai Airways pork meal Haneda flight — And on the flight from Bangkok to Haneda

I was okay with flying to Haneda because my return journey was going to be from Narita. This way, I would get to see both airports that service Tokyo. In a way I was happy I got Haneda for this flight due to the late arrival at Tokyo. Haneda Airport is located in Tokyo itself, unlike Narita which is quite far out.

Haneda Airport night landing Japan — I landed in Tokyo past 9PM

I didn’t spend too much time taking photos from inside Haneda airport as all I saw was halls and halls of travelators. Being the second largest airport serving Tokyo, Haneda is still pretty huge! Immigration had a queue but it moved fairly quickly, and they had English-speaking staff on hand to assist visitors. Continue reading “Japan: Landing in Tokyo… and using a communal bath for the first time” »

Indiblogger meet in Bengaluru hosted by Flipkart’s Image Search

By Mithun Divakaran
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Aug 06, 2015
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Indiblogger

Date: 1 August, 2015

It was time for another Indiblogger meet in Bangalore! This time it was hosted by Flipkart, who was using the opportunity to introduce to bloggers their new Image Search functionality in their mobile app.

Hard Rock cafe Bangalore — The venue was Hard Rock Cafe, on St. Marks road

Indiblogger band Flipkart meet — The ‘show’ began with the Indiblogger guys coming together and jamming to covers of Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right” and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”

We then began with the usual blogger introductions and some laughs courtesy of Anoop Johnson from Indiblogger. I stood up to introduce myself and then answered when we were asked if we had posts that were more popular than what else we write about. It made people laugh when I told them how my post on how to roast chicken in a convection microwave is now my most popular post when everything I else I write about is my travels. And guess what, I won a Flipkart voucher worth Rs.1500 for my answer! 🙂

Flipkart Indiblogger meet Bangalore — It was now time for the Flipkart guys to take over the show

They began by presenting a video and then demoed the image search functionality by taking photo of a guy who was wearing a black t-shirt and then using the Flipkart mobile app to find similar t-shirts. It’s a nifty idea based on the concept of “Point -> Shoot -> Buy” and an obvious one based on our real world shopping experience (in today’s times). As of now, the tech is still early and Flipkart is currently focusing on fashion, some accessories and shoes.

We were then asked to try it ourselves.

Yellow polo tshirt Flipkart image search — I tried it with a nearby blogger who was wearing a yellow polo neck t-shirt. As you can see, the search results aren’t perfect.

Striped tshirt Flipkart image search — I tried again and this is what I got. It’s not perfect and I guess the search results will vary based on what Flipkart has in stock to match the photo. Also, we were told lighting conditions matter — a lot!

After the demos, we were then given a chance to ask questions to the team at Flipkart behind the image search functionality. Very few stuck to image search-related questions and instead used this opportunity to ask about Flipkart’s recent announcement that they are going app-only! Judging by the tone of the bloggers, they didn’t seem to be be too happy about that move. Neither am I, but this was not the venue to discuss that. That said, there were some silly suggestions amidst some good ones. The Flipkart team assured us they are constantly working on adding improvements to the image search functionality.

Hard Rock Cafe bar Bangalore — After the Q&A session, we hit the bar to get some drinks and munch on the starters they were serving

Indiblogger meet Bangalore — During the break, the Indiblogger guys introduced two authors who contributed to ’10 Love Stories,’ the first book published under Indiblogger’s Get Published initiative

Group activity Indiblogger meet — We then all re-grouped for a team activity. As usual, we were all divided into large teams and then asked to play game.

After we formed into large teams, two members from each team had to use the Flipkart mobile app’s image search to take photos of clothes, shoes and accessories of bloggers all around and get as many matching products in Flipkart. It was a challenge, but my team managed around 22-24 matches (it was validated by Flipkart staff). But we lost to other teams that managed over 30.

Lunch Hard Rock Cafe Indiblogger event — After the team activity, we all got to eating lunch

Pasta mashed potato chicken Hard Rock Cafe — The buffet menu wasn’t vast, but at this point, I was okay with a light lunch. Garlic bread with mash potato, roast chicken and pasta. For dessert, it was brownie and ice cream.

YMCA dance Hard Rock Cafe Bangalore — The staff at Hard Rock Cafe then came together to perform their signature “YMCA” dance

And that was it. By 3pm, the bloggers slowly started to disperse. We said our goodbyes, and after I wished the team behind the image search functionality “all the best,” I left too. This was another successful, fun and engaging Indiblogger meet, so thanks to Flipkart and Hard Rock Cafe Bangalore for hosting it!

Now about Flipkart going app-only….

Just kidding! 😉