15th July 2016: Nagoya express (I) {Japan, summer 2016}

I spent the best part of the morning studying. I later has a quick lunch with T. who was going back to Spain soon, and departing for Osaka. I strolled down the rain to the Benten temple in Ueno and then headed off to class.

In the evening, I rushed to Tokyo station to catch the Hikari Shinkansen to Nagoya, a city I had never visited before. As there was a huge festival the prices for sleeping over Saturday to Sunday were crazy but what I organised worked well. When I arrived I walked by some pretty fun buildings, namely the Oasis 21.

Then I visited Nagoya TV Tower or Nagoya Terebi To [名古屋テレビ塔], which claims to be the first tourist tower in Japan. The Tower was running some special on fish as far as I understood and you could watch the scenery and little koi carps. The tower has been designed ‘Lovers Paradise’ so there were lots of young couples. The Tower yielded to some cool sights of the city skyline, including Nagoya Castle, Nagoya-jo [名古屋城] and Hisaya Odori Koen [久屋大通公園], where the Tower and Oasis 21 stand.

After the tower I took the train to check in my hotel and then took a stroll down the area. I wanted to get to the castle, hoping that I’d be able to see it up close at night, but no such luck and I found myself staring at a blank wall. But on my way back I found my way to Aichi Shrine and Nagoya & Toshugu Shrine (back to back) before going back to the hotel, taking a shower and zonking out (( _ _ ))..zzzZZ. But not before tracing a careful plan ( ̄Д ̄)ノ Even if we know plans rarely come together…