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Published: October 10th 2008
Me and the Shaolin Temple Boxing school
Each one of those kids could probably kill me without a second thought. But very nice.Well I can honestly say that Nagoya is probably going to be the highlight of my entire trip. Yoriko-san and I traveled to the Inuyama area, about 1.5 hours by train. After arriving there we grabbed lunch and checked out the Shinto Shrine there, Atsusa Jinja. It's a very important Shinto Shrine, dating back to the 3rd century I think. Back in ancient times this would be a destination for people on a spiritual journey. After that had some traditional Japanese sweets at a nice little traditionally styled area, then headed back. That evening went to an aussie bar, nice quiet little place. Ran into a guy that is doing a documentary for the Discovery Channel for a really cool production of Romeo and Juliet.. this production has been years in the making as Romeo is English and Juliet is Japanese, or vice versa, so the whole thing is done bilingually. Took them a long time to get it right so it makes sense. Anyways chatted with him some more and turns out he's an ex-science teacher from the US, and now lives in Japan teaching English, documentaries for Discovery Channel and running his own rock band. How crazy is that?
Nagoya Center
Center of town they have a really nice area... wide avenues, big tower you see there and some nice fountains and trees, quite nice. Really cool guy, might head back to Nagoya on Sunday to watch one of their shows.
The next day was spent mostly at the Toyota Factory located in... Toyota City. Yes, the city was renamed in the 50s to Toyota, that's how big they are on Toyota. Working there is a way of life, not just a job apparently. BIG facility, sadly no pictures where allowed. Impressive use of automation, even the supply carts are fully automated moving along to where the workers need them. the robots welding were impressive to watch as they move in unison. We got there via their Company Car, of all things... pretty amazing people!
From there went to a pretty impressive art museum of various painters in Japan from the early 20th century. Beautiful portraits, really impressive art work. Finished the "tour" part of the day up at the Tokugawa Museum, it's basically all about the Tokugawa Shogunate, the ruling family between 1608 and 1868. Impressive display of armor, swords, daily house ware, etc. Pretty fancy stuff, lots of imported ancient Chinese items too that they used.
After getting back to Nagoya, Kenji-San took me over to his school he runs
Nice River near the Shrine
The whole area is quite green and tranquil. Every year the Diet (Senate-ish) gathers here to relax and prepare for the year's work. of Shaolin Temple Boxing, he's a grand master in it and has taught over 800 students. it was very impressive watching, ages ranged from 4 to over 50. He showed me some of the moves, they focus on pressure points, and trust me when I say it's QUITE effective. He also gave a demonstration between him and a black belt, that was amazing! Finished up with a photo of me and the students, then went to a small little Sushi place he likes to eat.
I took the train back from there and decided to end the night back at that Aussie bar I went to the previous night. There was a soccer game on and the guy I met the previous night said I should really give it a shot. While finishing up there I got invited to a table with a bunch of, again, really really nice people, all in their 20s. An American guy, Aussie girl, couple Japanese Girls and two Japanese guys, all in their 20s. The Japanese guys were about as opposite as you could get, one guy in a full suit, the other looked like he stepped out of a rap video, but
Me on a Bridge
This Bridge had an importance, related to the Emperor... but forgot the details!! man I've never felt so welcome there. They found out it was just recently my birthday, bought me a drink. Found out it's my last night in Nagoya, bought me a drink. I can't believe this city. Had a blast, ended up missing the last train back to my Ryokan (only a 30 minute walk though)
Ok I think that covers Nagoya... lol I'm trying to see if I can't make it back there sometime before i leave just had a blast. I'm in Tokyo now, definitly a different city that's for sure. Going to check a club out tonight but I have pretty low expectations, too over crowded probably and too.. big cityish. Spent the day cruising the trendy shopping areas today, went to a pretty cool cafe called Wired. Below the cafe they had a simulator of a Toyota (of course) Race Car you could try out, which I did, was fun.
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Sharon
non-member comment
Fun fun fun!
Wow! What a fun time! I can see why this would be your favorite part of the trip. You may be interested to hear that Anna picked you out of the picture with the boxing students, despite the fact that it was tiny and far away from her. "Uncle T!!!" She loves seeing you in the pics - so more self portraits, please :-)