Gaijins in the city
10/05/2006
Here it is, my first visit to Nagoya ! Let me remind that I live in Okazaki, about 40 kilometers from Nagoya. There were nine of us and I just followed the group because I hadn't gathered any information about the city (to be precise, there was only one girl who knew the city and she guided us all). As soon as we arrived, we splitted in two groups, some went to visit a traditional ceramics workshop, but some others (like myself) were hungry and went to Takashiyama to have lunch and do some window shopping. Takashiyama, like Mitsukoshi and Daimaru, is one of the major Japanese department store. And it's indeed really huge: 13 floors of shops and restaurants, plus other restaurants with a panoramic view on the 51st floor of the building!
Not much to say about the restaurant we chose, its atmosphere was rather artificial and the food was average. We should have chosen the ceramics option...
We also stopped by Bic camera because one of us needed a plug adaptor. Bic camera, another very famous shop in Japan, is a large electronics store and it just has so many things that it's almost impossible not to find what you're looking for!
Although it may not be that easy if you don't understand Japanese:
Then we all gathered and went to Nagoya castle, which was built by Iegasu Tokugawa, one of the most important figures in Japanese history. Although he was not the first shogun, he was the first to actually manage to unify the country. He founded a dynasty that ruled Japan for about 250 years (Edo period, approximately from 1600 to 1850)! To avoid confusions, let me precise that the shogun was not the emperor. He was the military chief while the emperor was the head of government, but the actual power was held by the shogun.
The castle and view were not totally up to my expectations, sure the haze didn't help but still...Here are a few pictures so you can see for yourself:
We finally went back to Okazaki around 5PM. It was a rather short visit, I didn't see much but I plan to go back within the next 3 months to see more of the city. Actually, there's a major festival next week-end to celebrate the coming autumn, we definitely want to go and check it out!
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