Rainy, One Day Trip at Nagoya

July, 2012

After my tiring but wonderful trip at Hida area, I took a quick day tour at the 4^th largest city in Japan, prior boarding the bullet train to take me back home.

The weather not in favorable condition for sightseeing, I was still sleepy from waking up too early to catch the Nohi Bus from Takayama and the non-stop rain as expected, proven to be a challenge on taking as many as blog-worthy photos I could possibly do. Nonetheless, I soldier on and with the help of my transparent umbrella, I managed to see Nagoya even on a glimpse.

Nagoya is synonymous to the leading Japanese auto-manufacturer Toyota. The headquarters and several assembly plants of the company are located in the city, together with several tourist-related facilities.

I read that the most recommended way to learn about Toyota is to participate in the free plant tour but requires an advance reservation. But for those like me, who didn’t manage to book the tour, a good alternative is to visit Toyota Techno Museum (Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology).

I learned that Toyota has its beginnings as a textile manufacturing company.

The first manufactured car is called “Toyoda”, using the family name of the founder Kiichiro Toyoda.

Toyota’s version of car of the future looks like a cross between lazy boy and an arcade gaming seat.

ASIMO of Honda has some tough competition. He needs to learn to play any musical instrument fast or else the walking-trumpet playing Toyota Partner Robot will beat him for the title of most advance humanoid.

Over-all, the Toyota visit was really enjoyable, particularly seeing the school children on a field trip, writing notes, trying to grasp and enjoy all the information at the same time.

If you have kids in tow and planning to visit Nagoya, put Toyota Museum on your list.

Proving further that Nagoya is an industrial city is the presence of Noritake, located within a walking distance from Toyota Museum. With a history dating back more than 100 years, Noritake is a leading ceramics company and the former red-brick factory grounds are now converted to a recreational garden.

Nagoya classic brochure-shot is the castle building mixed with cherry blossom. Like many others, I was drawn to explore the city because of the promise of this amazing shot. Even without the sakura, the Nagoya Castle is a view to enjoy.

Lunch break at the downtown area of Sakae. The weather was still bad and the Nagoya TV Tower without the lights is not a fun sight.

For my final stop, I boarded the subway bound for Nagoyako Station, to see the port area. Seeing the ferris wheel, the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium and the boats makes me want to rush back home to Yokohama. The resemblance is obvious; I guess this is common for most port city across the country.

One thing interesting at the port area is seeing the orange-ship called Fuji Ice Breaker,  the same ship used by Japan during their 1960- 1980 exploration of the Antartic Ocean.

This is the first trip that I have taken on a new city where I completely missed out temples and shrines. I guess I missed out a lot in Nagoya. Hope to be back on a better day.

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