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).

KARAOKE!!

We were all starving by the time we arrived back in Nagoya after our day in Shirakawa-go.  After we ate dinner at a local izakaya, we crossed the street and karaoked for a couple of hours.

How to karaoke in Japan

Step 1: Once you and your friends are in your rented karaoke room, select a song using the song book.

Step 2: Wait for the song to queue up and appear on the television screen.

Step 3: Pick up a microphone and start belting out some tunes.

Yuri and Greg

Note that no one cares about how good or bad a singer you are.  In fact, you will be able to hear a bit of other people's performances through the wall.

Massa, Elaina, and Greg

 Step 4: You will get a phone call on the in-room phone when your allotted time is almost up.

Yuri, Massa, and I

 Step 5: Put down the microphone, get your stuff together, put on your coat, and walk out the door.

Yuri, Greg, and I

 And there you go, how to karaoke in 5 easy steps.

Shirakawa-Go in Pictures

Today was such an awesome day! G and I spent the day with Yuri and her friend Massa. They rented a car and drove us to Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO world heritage site.  Shirakawa-go features traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses.  "Gassho-zukuri" means "built like praying hands."  Some are more than 250 years old.  

The village is so picturesque!  Every photo I took turned out well.  So rather than using words to explain, I'll let the photos do the talking. 

Greg

Greg

Me

Me

Greg and I

Massa, Greg, Elaina, snowmen

Massa, Elaina, Yuri, Snowmen

Me

Greg

We left the village and took a route that led us to a vista point overlooking the village.

Yuri, Elaina, Massa, Greg

Yuri and I

We left the vista point somewhere around 4pm and headed back to Nagoya to find food and entertainment.

Kanazawa to Nagoya with a Stop in Hikone

This morning we woke up and checked out of the hotel early with the intention of stopping for a few hours in a city on the way to Nagoya.  We asked a woman in the train ticket office how to get to Nagoya.  She told us to take a limited express train from Kanazawa to Maibara and then the shinkansen from Maibara to Nagoya.

We didn't have any plans for where we would spend the day, so while Greg slept on the train, I pulled out the Lonely Planet Japan and scoured the maps and information to find an appropriate city to spend a few hours in.

I finally decided that we would go to Hikone.  Hikone was only one stop away from Maibara, where we were required to change trains anyway.  The guidebook suggested Hikone Castle as an alternate to Himeji Castle, which was, as we discovered, under construction and not visible.

Hikone Castle is one of the most preserved castles in Japan.  Some castles were ruined by fire, many were dismantled during the Meiji era, and others were destroyed during World War II.  Few castles have survived.

Hikone-jo Castle.

Because much of the castle is original, Hikone-jo is our favorite castle.  Castles rebuilt as museums (like the Osaka Castle) are less interesting.

Hikone Castle

We explored the stable first, where we fed some hay to a pretend horse.  We then walked over the moat and  proceeded to walk up the hill towards the castle.

Me feeding the "horse" in the stable.

The view next to the castle from the top of the hill was amazing!  We could see Lake Biwa and in the distance some snow-covered mountains.

Lake Biwa with mountains in the distance.

We entered the castle.  The stairs were the most memorable part of the castle itself.  The stairs were very steep and a little scary to climb, even with a handrail.

Steep castle steps.  

This castle was not used as a museum.  In fact, the castle was mostly empty.  The construction and architecture of the castle were more on display than any other feature.

Greg reading about the castle.

After we finished seeing the inside of the castle, we consulted the map.  From the castle, we walked to the old town where we went into a couple of little shops.

Old town Hikone.

Old town Hikone.

It was about 2pm, so I called Yuri, a friend I met several years ago in Belgium, and we agreed to meet later in the evening for dinner.

Greg and I walked back to the train station where we took a train back to Maibara, and then the shinkansen to Nagoya.

We finally arrived at Tsuchiya Hotel to check in.  The hotel seemed nice, but we weren't actually staying at the hotel.  We were staying next door at Business Inn Tsuchiya (owned by Tsuchiya Hotel).  I had spent an awful lot of time trying to find a hotel in Nagoya, but for whatever reason, nothing nice was available.  I literally combed all of the hotel and travel websites and found availability at only 3 establishments, two of which were far from the train station.

So we ended up staying at Business Inn Tsuchiya in a smoky smelling room with cigarette burns in the carpet. Worse than the smell was the bathroom situation.  All the toilets were Japanese style (AKA hole in the ground) and the only women's restroom was upstairs on the 4th floor.  This "inn" was definitely meant for late businessmen who missed their last train.  Nobody else would want to stay there!

We met up with my friend Yuri around 7 at our "hotel" and walked with her to a more traditional Japanese restaurant establishment.  Even I was able to eat the food!  Greg and I both tried several dishes we would not have had the opportunity to try otherwise.

Amazingly, Yuri already had everything planned for tomorrow.  Even more amazingly, she had planned to go to a place that I had really wanted to visit!

As we go to sleep in this hole of a "hotel," at least we know that tomorrow we are going to see some really awesome sites.

Planned Itinerary

We fly into Tokyo and plan to spend New Year's Eve in the capital.  On January 1st, we'll take the train to Kyoto.  From our Kyoto base, we will visit Nara, Osaka and Himeji.  From Kyoto, we'll take the train to Kanazawa, and then continue on to Nagoya.  After spending a couple of days in Nagoya, we will return to Tokyo.  We will finish sightseeing and daytrip to Hakone to check out the views of Mt. Fuji.  And from Tokyo, we fly back home to San Francisco (area) January 11th.  And that's our whirlwind Japan trip!