Nagoya Castle

Calidghe and I woke up at the crack of dawn to board a bus that would take us to Nagoya City in central Japan. The bus ride was long but bearable. I must say though that the rest stops in Japan are quite nice. They have anything and everything you could ever want in them and plus many of the toilets even in the public restrooms are those fancy singing toilets that do all kinds of fancy stuff.

Nagoya Castle was beautiful. To get there you had to walk through beautiful gardens and trees. The first glimpse of the castle is a magical one. It just peaks out through the trees and it's robin's-egg blue sloped roof makes you remember that you're not in Kansas anymore. The inside of the castle is a museum which talks about the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Edo period in Japan's history. The Edo period is the period of the Samurai and the strict class hierarchies. Very cool. One of the popular and recognizable features of the Nagoya Castle is the two golden tiger-headed fish things that top the castle. They are everywhere and are super popular in the gift shops.

After that Calidghe and I went to an Indian food restaurant in downtown Nagoya and then went window shopping at all the high-end store they have there. The Louis Vuitton Store was very beautiful and a doorman in a tuxedo and white gloves stood at the front.

After that we went a Shippo Cloisonne Art Village and made some enambled glass jewelry. The art of Cloisonne used to be a very profitable trade and the jewelry and fine pottery artworks that they made sold like hotcakes. Nowadays a trade that was practiced by 800 is now down to 70. So to carry on tradition into the genrations to come, the Shippo Art Village was created for those who want to learn the art in a more artsy-craftsy way. It just goes to show how times are changing in Japan where tradition is being more and more pushed to the side and the younger Japanese find little appreciation in these trades and tradition. The employees and volunteers at the Village were so nice and polite and patient considering that basically none of them spoke an ounce of English. Those that did were so cute in their attempts.

The trip was a blast.