Nagoya City and Back to Tokyo

After the awesomeness of karaoke last night, we slept a little later this morning.  Because check-out time was 10am, we still didn't get to sleep too much later.  We hadn't yet seen Nagoya, and I wanted to see the castle at the very least.  We checked out and left our bags at the hotel, then walked to the castle.  

Nagoya Castle

The Ninomaru Palace was under construction, so we were only able to see a small exhibit explaining how the the palace is being rebuilt. The castle and the rest of the grounds, however, were open to visitors.  We explored the grounds, bought a banana chocolate ice cream cone, then entered the castle (after the ice cream was consumed).

Nagoya Castle

The castle featured various exhibits on different floors.  One floor was devoted to hand-painted door and wall panels, one showed replicas of the castle at different stages, and the top floor boasted many windows and a view of Nagoya city.

Nagoya Castle. The guys who built the castle wanted to 

make sure they got credit for each stone they carried, so 

they carved their symbol into their stones.

  Nagoya Castle is most famous for the pair of golden dolphins located on the roof.  One is male and the other is female, so the measurements and specifications of the two are different.  

Like most of the castles we visited, Nagoya-jo had been rebuilt.  The castle had been destroyed during World War II. Everything burned, including the dolphins. The dolphins were recast and placed atop the rebuilt castle, only removed twice since for expositions.

Replica of one of the golden dolphins. 

People were lined up to pose for pictures with this golden dolphin replica.  There were replicas in other parts of the castle as well.  There was even one inside the castle that people could sit on and have their photo taken.  The line for that dolphin was huge.

The time was getting late, so I said goodbye to the dolphins and Greg checked the map for the nearest metro station (which happened to be a kilometer or two away, not so near).  We still had to travel back to Tokyo. 

Yuri met us at the train station and we said our goodbyes.  We left Nagoya on the 2.33pm hikari shinkansen.  I didn't think it would take very long to get back to Tokyo on the shinkansen, but it actually did take us about two hours.  I had remembered that it took about 2 1/2 hours to get from Tokyo to Kyoto, and this time we were traveling less distance. 

By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was almost dark.  We stayed at the Grand Arc Hanzoman on the west side of the Imperial Palace.  After the inconveniences and problems of Business Inn Tsuchiya in Nagoya, Grand Arc Hanzoman was amazing.  The 14 floor elevator ride was smooth, the toilets had warm seats, and we had an incredible view of the city. 

View from our hotel room in Tokyo.

After unpacking a few things and trying on the slippers and robes the hotel provided, we discussed how we were going to spend the evening.  Greg had been wanting to go to the Akihabara district, so after resting for about an hour at the hotel, we set out for the nearest train station (because our rail passes would cover the cost of the rail journey and because the rail line stopped at Akihabara).  According to the hotel website, the nearest station was a 10 minute walk.  They must have meant a 10 minute run, because the walk took us at least 20 minutes.  

We made it to the train station and onto a train going toward Akihabara. We left the station through the "Electric Town" exit and were greeted by the lights of the multi-storied Sega arcade, manga shops, and electronics stores.  Greg commented that this is where his people are.

Akihabara, Tokyo

Akihabara, Tokyo

Akihabara, Tokyo

Akihabara, Tokyo

Unfortunately, Akihabara is not a part of Tokyo that stays open late. Many of the stores started closing down shortly after we arrived, but not before I acquired a couple of new cutesy Japanese toys.  Cell phone charms and key chains are all over shops in Japan and are always cute.  I ended up with a mole inside a mushroom cellphone charm and a kitty cat key chain. Greg bought a couple of character key chains.

After picking up some dinner at a 7-11 (you can play the 10 Second Game with convenience stores as well as vending machines), we walked back to the JR station (Japan Rail) and boarded the next train going north.  One stop later, we got off in Ueno.

Since it was late, we didn't venture far from the train station.  The zoo and a couple of the national museums are located in Ueno, but the area we explored near the train station was a bit seedy.  There were a lot of shops, restaurants, pachinko parlors, and a few massage halls.  Pachinko is a form of gambling that is something like pinball combined with slot machines.  Homeless people, invisible in most other areas of Tokyo, were visible there.

Only the pachinko parlors and massage halls were still open, so we didn't spend much time in Ueno.  Near midnight, we entered the metro station adjacent to the train station and took the metro back to the hotel (since the metro station is closer to the hotel than the train station is).