Every once in a while, I like to take a trip to a different place – to see things, put myself in a new context, meet people I have never met before, and experience situations that are not the ordinary. I used to do this a lot earlier, but this has reduced a lot over the past few years. In large part, it is because I don’t want to be away from Abhishek for too long. And perhaps, I am simply less adventuresome that I used to be a decade ago!

When a friend from the US mentioned to me that he will be in Tokyo and could help with some introductions with different people to explore business opportunities in Japan, it didn’t take me much to say Yes. That old spirit of adventure was rekindled.

I had been to Tokyo with Bhavana in early 2004 (pre-Abhishek days) en route to the US. That was a three-day sightseeing trip since I didn’t have any business contacts to meet. We had stayed at The Capitol in Akasaka. Getting to Tokyo was quite exhausting – there were no direct flights from Mumbai, and so we had gone via Bangkok.

This time around, everything was different!