Nagoya

September 14, 2023

Nagoya

I arrived in Nagoya three days ago. On the day of the arrival, I was so tired from traveling that I stayed in the hostel for the rest of the day. I was happy to see my favorite Japanese fast food restaurant, Sukiya, near the hostel so the next morning I had a beef and eel rice bowl at Sukiya.

I walked for about 45 minutes to Hisaya-Odori Park. It's a thin strip of park on the eastern side of the city. The Mirai Tower is located there. It seems like all major Japanese cities also have a tower. After the park, I went to Nagoya Castle. It didn't open until 9 AM and I was a bit early. No visitors are allowed in the castle due to the renovation so the ticket was only for the castle grounds.

I was so tired of walking, but I had to go back to the hostel. On the way, I stopped by Noritake Garden. There is big mall there so I decided to get lunch inside and take a rest. By the time I got back to the hostel I was so tired that I ended up sleeping early.

I had learned about the Daido Industrial Robot Exhibition Hall so the next day I decided to visit there. However, the place is inside an office building and no visitors are allowed. I was disappointed because there are supposed to be robots at the exhibition hall. The next stop was Osu Kannon Temple. I have never prayed at a Japanese temple because I don't know the procedure and this temple is probably my last temple I'll visit. I made a prayer in my own way.

The Nagoya City Science Museum is near the Osu Kannon Temple so on a whim I bought a general admission ticket to the museum. The museum catered more to kids, but some of the hands-on experiments were very interesting. I learned about the earthquake technology used in Japanese buildings. There was also a 9 feet tall man-made tornado inside the museum. I would say this museum was the highlight of my Nagoya tour.

In the afternoon, I came back to the hostel and met a 51 years old Chinese woman in the common room. She told me she's an investor and helps her friends with money. I'm not sure how she makes money when the stock market in China is flat. We ended up talking for the rest of the afternoon, then we went to get a take-out dinner. She suggested misokatsu, which is fried pork cutlets with some dark sauce on rice. It was pretty good.

I had drank some tea and didn't feel sleepy so I ended up taking a walk with this woman around the neighborhood after the sunset. I got to practice my Chinese by speaking to her. I still didn't catch her name.

This morning, I will take the Shinkansen bullet train to Tokyo.