Day 12: Traveling Japanese style

Monday March 7th, 2011 by Mike Wilmer

We spent ten days of our time in Japan in Tokyo. We visited quite a few places in Tokyo and although there is much more to see, it was time to continue our journey in Japan to Nagoya.

Since it is a sheer impossibility to travel with a group of 32 people including luggage, we needed to split the group into smaller groups, traveling separately. As the first groups arrived at Tokyo station the Shinkansen (bullet train) was already waiting. This N700 series Shinkansen was a comfortable train to travel with, but more importantly, it was speedy. The ride from Tokyo to Nagoya (about 350 km) took a mere 1 hour and 44 minutes. After storing our luggage in the back of the car we tried to find a place at the right window. Unfortunately these seats where already taken since everyone wanted to see mount Fuji, and so we chose other seats. Another group was lucky enough to obtain a nice spot near the window on the right side. This resulted in some nice pictures of marvelous mount Fuji. Upon arrival in Nagoya, we had to wait for 30 minutes until the whole group was complete again and we could travel to the hotel. After checking in to the hotel everyone was free to explore Nagoya by themselves.

It’s almost midnight as I am writing this post, still enjoying the view from the 14th floor of our hotel. I have not yet heard all of today’s stories from the participants - some of them might still be out - but the next lines present a summary of the stories told by the people who have already returned to the hotel.

Most of the participants left the hotel to visit Nagoya castle. This castle in the center of Nagoya houses a museum and an observation deck. From the small windows of the observation deck a large part of the city can be seen, especially since Nagoya does not have as many skyscrapers as Tokyo does. While the museum told us more about the history of Nagoya and the castle. It also displayed some of the original parts that were saved from the bombings during the second world war.

For a much better overview of Nagoya it was also possible to enter the JR central towers. This headquarters of the Japanese Railway Company was open to the public. The sights were not as good as some of us had hoped for. The top floor was filled with offices and stores. Our quest for the best view led us to Midland Square. This building, even higher than the JR central towers,  had an outside observation deck from where you could look out over the city. Nagoya is seven times smaller than Tokyo but also from this point you could only see buildings. Too large to comprehend.