Blogs from Sakae, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Asia

Saturday, 16th September 2017 Chubu Airport >> Nagoya (44.5km, 53 mins, 870 Yen) The sky was drizzling away when my flight landed at Chubu International Airport. The rainy weather would continue throughout the day as Typhoon Talim was expected to make heavy landfalls in Japan that same evening. From the airport, I took the Meitetsu Train (870 Yen, JR Pass not eligible) to Nagoya Station. I then transfered to the subway to Sakae district for my final destination where my hotel, Meitetsu Inn Nishiki was located. After leaving my luggage at the reception, I headed for lunch at the nearby underground mall before starting my subway DIY tour. The weekend pass cost an amazing value-for- money 600 Yen which provided unlimited rides on the city's subway lines. I had allocated 2 nights in Nagoya even though ... read more

I started writing this a few days ago but have been super busy so not had a chance to finish it. But here you go. We arrived in Tokyo without any problems, and won at working out the train timetables. Because we gave ourselves plenty of time for getting lost and missing trains, we arrived in Nagoya about 4 or 5 hours earlier than necessary, and spent some time wandering around near Nagoya station. It's not a particularly interesting place, but we did meet a sleepy Japanese man who showed us how to properly address a shrine before heading off to check into Hostel Ann, a nice wee place whose only fault is the only one shower for 24 guests. The highlight of the trip so far (and let's face it, probably the next 6 months) ... read more

We arrived in Nagoya and took the train to our hotel. I found out very quickly that many Japanese really did not speak much English. They were exceedingly polite and usually became very flustered when they could not help me with my request just because they do not understand me. I felt incredibly bad. Subway rides are expensive! About 230yen per one way ride. We found out too late that we could actually purchase one day subway passes for 760yen and felt like kicking ourselves after. We arrived at the hotel and was told that we were at the wrong one. Apparently there are two hotels with similar names and it was obviously a common occurrence for tourists to end up at the one we ended up because the receptionist very quickly whipped out a map ... read more

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 ... read more

So really this event took place a month ago now it seems. Everytime I get on the computer I get distracted and do something else and never end up updating this wonderful blog. I am sorry to all my ex loyal readers who have moved on to Greener more updated pastures. Any way I have about 3 or so major updates. I will put them out this week. This one is the first and it is about my quest. The title of this entry comes from the poem that Stephen King's Dark Tower series was based off of. I picked it because I went to Tokyo over Obon week to find my Dark Tower. So if you are a fan of the Iron Chef show you will know who the best Iron Chef was. Iron Chef ... read more