Nagoya, aka NuhGOYuh

It's been a long time, I know, but nothing ever happens these days.  Even when I get to travel, I end up going to just another big Japanese city, which isn't that exotic to me anymore.  This time around I went to Nagoya for a few days, and I feel the need to document the trip before I forget it--no pictures this time, just the beauty of my written word.

Nagoya is located about halfway between Tokyo and Osaka on the Tokaido line.  I've flown out of there before but have never seen the city from outside a train or plane.  According to somewhere or someone, it's the 4th most populated city in Japan, I think.  Many factories of Japanese companies are located around the outskirts of the town, and it's known as the industrial center of Japan.  Toyota's main factories are located near Nagoya, for example.

Overall, it's a pretty nondescript city, I guess, compared to other Japanese cities I've been to.  Tokyo is the giant metropolis, Osaka is its grittier, tastier little brother, Kyoto is the traditional elitist, and Fukuoka is the cosmopolitan.  Nagoya is just a big city but a nice one.  The streets seemed wider and the city itself seemed more spacious and less cramped than others I've been to.

Nagoya Castle is the major symbol of the city with its golden smiling "shachi," or dolphins, perched on its roof.  It was destroyed during the war, of course, but rebuilt in subsequent years.  It was a picturesque albeit very touristy place to see.

Other than the castle, there really aren't many other tourist attractions to see, and that was a good thing.  It's been a while since I traveled and actually explored a place on foot instead of carting back and forth from a hotel directly to famous sites.  Sakae is the central shopping district of Nagoya, and there were many fancy stores to walk by, and the International Design Center was there, too.  I read about it in an outdated tourist guide and thought it was a big museum, but it turned out to be a couple of rooms with some posters on display.  Still, it was interesting to see some of my favorite things all pictured on a wall together: Nintendo Famicom, Mini Cooper, Honda Super Cub, Ford Mustang, Sony Walkman, and many, many others.  Apparently all of these things are appreciated for their industrial design.

Nagoya's food isn't that famous in Japan, especially compared to Osaka, but I ate some great stuff there.  First there was "tebasaki," or Japanese style chicken wings.  Not too much unlike buffalo wings, they're fried and basted in a spicy soy sauce, but not too much sauce.  I also ate what is supposed to be the "Best Margherita Pizza in the World," according to the results of a competition in Italy.  I happened upon this restaurant called "Cesari's" by complete accident because I just wanted to eat pizza that night.  I had no idea that the best pizza in the world was in Nagoya.  Anyway, I went there, and it was pretty good and very reasonable--10 bucks for a personal pizza and a coke.  I'm no expert on pizza, but it was definitely worth 10 dollars.

The area in which Cesari's was located was also a really cool place.  It was an old shopping arcade that probably had been much busier in the past, but now the store spaces are occupied by used clothing and hip antique toy stores, and best of all, international restaurants.  I was too full of pizza to try any of the other food I saw, but there were Turkish, Brazilian, and even Mexican restaurants there along with their smells.

I also took a side trip up to the small town of Inuyama to see the oldest original castle in Japan, in other words, the oldest one that hasn't been destroyed by wars, earthquakes, or fires.  There wasn't much to see there, and it was under renovation, but it's cool to be able to say I've been to the oldest castle in Japan.  I also went to Meiji Mura, an open air museum that houses a lot of buildings from the Meiji era.  The most famous building there is Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel lobby, which was moved to the museum from Tokyo.  I didn't take many pictures there, but do a quick search and you can see how amazing it is.

I hope I can go somewhere a little more exotic and exciting this year, but I'm planning on returning back to the US for a pretty long time in the summer, so I don't know if I'll get a chance to go anywhere else.  I still haven't made it to Okinawa, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and much of Kyushu, so maybe I can go to one of those places this year.

Speaking of this year, it's now 2014.  I tried to make a list of resolutions the other day, and I only came up with two: pass the JLPT N2 (it's about time I actually took the test), and don't stress out too much.

I'm excited about Stephen Malkmus' new album which came out this week.  I was thinking today that his solo albums have all come out around major events in my life: graduating from high school, meeting my wife, my wife moving to the US, getting married, moving to Japan.  There are no major events happening at this moment, but with his track record, maybe something (good) will happen.  I hope so.