I spent six month in Japan studying at the Nagoya University. It is quite some time ago (2005/06) but I still want to share some of my experience with you. This is the first of hopefully many articles about this trip.
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The Nagoya region is comparable to the industrial regions of the Ruhrgebiet in Germany or Detroit in the US. So it offers not a lot of beautiful sites. Most nice places were destroyed during bombings in WWII. I would not take the time to write an article if there was not something to write about.
The city offers some nice parks and some even nicer temples which are well worth a visit. The public transportation is great since the Meijo Subway also connects the port area with the rest of the city. The only hotel I have seen is the JP Hotel above the central train station. Nice but a little costly... I lived in a student dorm on the Nagoya University Campus.
As I will write about my favorite spots below here some things or places not to visit. Save your time for the beautiful spots:
The Nagoya Zoo. For European standards this is considered a cruelty to animals.
The Nagoya city center. If you are in Japan you will have visited Tokyo or Kyoto and seen city centers there. Nagoya's downtown is plain ugly.
The Nagoya Castle. It is a replica of the ancient castle. If you want to see a nice one visit Kyoto or Hikone (another report will follow).
The port region. A big hype is done about that region but it is truly not worth it. A little amusement park and an aquarium is all to see there. The harbor tours are very expensive.
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Here I will present a small tour of the city. Sites I think one should see when you are there: The Tokugawa art museum near the Shiyakosho Station of the Meijo Metro Line. For the 10 Minute walk form the station just follow the signs. You will experience a truly amazing collection of Japanese art there: http://www.tokugawa--art-museum.jp/ The garden next to it one also one of the two most beautiful I saw in Nagoya. Then go to the Atsuta Shrine where the sacred sword Kusanagi-no-tsurugi is kept. The park and the buildings are nice but the museum with a lot of Japanese swords is amazing. Only little entrance fee for the museum if I remember rightly. At and around the Ohsu Kannon Temple is a antique flea market on the 18th and 29th of each month. If you are shopping for some higher quality souvenirs go there. It is a place where a lot of Japanese people go shopping for antiques, too.
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My favorite site in Nagoya was the Toyota Museum. I do not mean the auto museum near Nagoya but this one: http://www.tcmit.org-/ Not a lot of foreign tourist find this place and some signs are only in Japanese but since the exhibits are just great. If you want to see a bit more than cars it is well worth a trip. You learn that Toyotas first products were weaving and spinning equipment which are presented there together with the tools to manufacture them. They also have a car section but it focuses on the production of cars not so much on the vehicles themselves. So again you will experience a lot of tools and machine used in the production.
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Best curry in town is near Motoyama Metro Station: The Curry House. To get there exit Motoyama Subway station on one of the North exits. On the same block as the Matsuzakaya Store on the left side of the road is the Curry house. Dishes are 850 Yen. I only dared to take three stars for hot food.
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Published on Sunday March 15th, 2009
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Sun, Mar 15 2009 - 10:14 PM
 by mistybleu
| Interesting report, thanks for sharing. Do you know how far is from Kyoto? Just curious. |
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