Outings and Day Trips

We haven't taken any trips outside the city yet. Our first will be to Tokyo by Shinkansen (bullet train), next weekend for my birthday. We won't be in 'Kansas' anymore. I have looked at the Tokyo subway map and it is easily 4X as big as Nagoya! We racked up enough Marriott Rewards points to cover a long weekend at the Marriott in Ginza! Maybe Gary will buy me a Louis V for my birthday present? (Ha...I think not!) I'll be sure to post highlights of our train travel and trip.

That aside, I have had loads of time to explore Nagoya and have found wonderful and interesting places worth a mention. Here are a couple of my faves, so far.

The town of Osu was first established in 1610 with the temple of Osu Kannon at the center. This area was the hub of theatre and entertainment  (sumo, kabuki, noh) Many playhouses were built in the late 1800's and early 1900's in this area. In the 1980's 6 streets were covered with high awnings (like Fremont Street in LAS) and a shopping 'arcade' was formed. These streets around the temple are lined with hundreds of unique "Mom and Pop" shops, nice second hand shops, veggie, fruit, & fish stalls, discount kimonos shops, an array of ethnic food stands and cafes, and more shoes than I have ever seen in one place! On the 18th of the month there is a 'temple fair' where hundreds of vendors set up booths on the temple square. There is a daily chant in the temple at 0900, 1100, 1300, 1500. In addition, the area has 5 or 6 mechanical puppet clocks that act out historical stories.

Osu Kannon Temple

One entrance to Osu shopping arcade

I also really enjoyed visiting Noritake Garden near Nagoya Station. This is the original location of the Noritake China factory and kilns from the early 1900's. The grounds now contain a garden, restaurant, meeting center, craft center (where you can design and paint your own piece of china), museum, industry center, retail store and outlet store. 

I was surprised to learn of the array of contributions that Noritake has made to many other industries such as; computer micro-chips and motherboards, motorcycle paint schemes, dental porcelain crown process, micro-filaments for communications technology- by sharing the technology and processes they first created and refined to adhere metal and paint to their china. Very interesting exhibits and most were in English! Best of all...it was all free to walk through and browse.

I didn't buy any china, as I had a 2 km walk back to the hotel. Maybe next time!

Main entrance

Original red brick factory building

Tree planted in commemoration of the visit of someone important 

(sorry, I forgot who though!)

Settling In

It is a very rainy, gray day here in Nagoya and a perfect time to give some attention to my blog followers who I have been regrettably ignoring for way too long. Suddenly I am very busy and having trouble finding time to sit down and write.

We moved into our apartment 9 days ago. Even though I DO have to make my own bed and clean my own bathroom, I am very much enjoying being able to grocery shop and cook. I am getting used to my 'camp stove' and mini grill and I have learned how to use some settings on my oven. Luckily the instruction book has pictures, so I just find one that looks like what I want to make (muffin = cupcake) and use the setting and cook time it shows then make adjustments, if needed. So far, I have made grilled steak and baked potatoes, spaghetti, soft chicken taco with fresh pico de gallo with lovely fresh veggies I got at a side street open air market just one subway stop away! Last night I made my first Japanese dish, Soy Pork with Carrot, from a recipe book of a Japanese cooking show host, Harumi. It turned out fabulous! Two hours later Gary was still commenting "That was a really good meal!"

How do you like my dinner plates? Got them at the 100 Yen store. Of course, we had to try to use our chopsticks too.

We have received all our furniture deliveries and the house is coming together. It still needs a few more decorations though, as it looks quite bare. I am having difficulty finding a very wide selection of accessories like rugs, sofa pillows, throws, etc. What I am finding is...shall we say, not very mature looking. Almost cartoon like flower patterns and very bold neon colors. I have my U.S. shopping scouts out ( Mom and Sister-in-law) and I am counting on them to know my taste and send me a 'care' package soon. ; ) Here are some apartment pics for all you non-FBers, who haven't seen them yet.

Master bedroom

Main area - Living, kitchen, dining

Kitchen

Guest bedroom

It is still scorching hot here..30C-32C lately and really humid. After 9 days with only having A/C in two areas, we went and pleaded our case due to our apartment size and layout and got approval for 2 more units for the other bedrooms. If we open all 4 doors, we think it will cool the 2-story entrance hall, as well. So potential guests, start planning your summer visits NOW... first come first served!

Summer is a great time of the year to visit (if you can stand the heat), as there are lots of festivals and activities going on then! I had to laugh at an article in the English version of the Japanese Times the other day. It was about the heat and humidity and how foreigners are surprised at how hot it is here. Although the translation went something like this. "Foreigners to Japan need to become accustomed to their own sweat. They must realize it is not something that just happens at the gym, but all day, every day in Japan in summer!" Ha ha. That says it all.

After walking at least 500 miles by now, and lugging bags of groceries and household goods through the subways like a homeless person, I finally have a set a wheels! School bus yellow was my color choice, just so I can be seen really well by oncoming traffic if I happen to enter the cross-walk at the wrong time. Gary is a bit paranoid about me crossing streets. (Ash, remember London?)  I liked the bikes with smaller tires, so I can maneuver around pedestrians on the sidewalks with more precision. As I will now have a greater radius of distance I can travel, I will be able to make it the 2.5km to the 4 story shopping complex without being so hot and tired by the time I get there, that I don't even want to shop! Also, a good alternative to driving and paying for parking on nights when we feel like having a couple of drinks at the local ex-pat hangout about 3km away! (Which is not easy to get to on the subway.) Gary also got a bike. His is the same model in blue. So Ash, we will have 'wheels' when you come to visit. Our shopping will only be limited by the amount we can carry in the really cute matching basket (and what will fit in your suitcase home)! 

Well, I got on quite a roll and I still have more to tell about my Japanese lessons and some outings I took around the city. So, look for that post soon. I promise to be more consistent with my blogging now that we are 'Settled In'. Amy 

Leaving Nagoya Station and heading to Kanayama

Today marks 5 weeks in Japan and in the Marriott at Nagoya station. After many deliveries and installations and multiple calls to our relocation specialist to translate our needs to the delivery men, we finally have our apartment in a close to move in condition. Just one more delivery with all our chairs, followed by a trip the grocery to stock the fridge and we will be able to move in. I guess it is time to make my own bed and start cooking again!

Nagoya Station will only be a quick 5 minute JR Chuo Line train ride away, but we will be spending most of our time in our new neighborhood of Kanayama. After eating out at least 50 times, I think I almost qualify as a restaurant critic, so here are a few of the culinary highlights of the Nagoya Station area (which include places we will be sure to take visitors to dine).

View of the main entrance to Nagoya station from the Concierge Lounge on

36th Floor, where drinks are always free!



Hub British Pub is the ex-pat hangout. The patio is great for people watching. 

Pa'ina Aloha Table - great ribs, ahi rice bowls and 350 yen happy hour drinks!

Our personal favorite. Sukontha Thai. Amazingly oishii (delicious)!



Summer of Festivals

Just like in the states, summer is the time for festivals in Japan as well. The ones I remember from my childhood tended to be traditionally centered around vegetables and livestock. My home town festival in Ohio included much anticipated events like the "cow chip" throwing contest and the "tractor pulls" and the Boy Scouts roasting fresh picked local sweet corn.

Each festival in Japan celebrates one specific thing. For example, a particular kind of drum (taiko). or dance, weaving (tanabata), the moon or fire. They really focus on this one element being the reason and meaning for the celebration.

I attended the Domatsuri (dance festival) in Nagoya last weekend and was mesmerized by the performances, the music (even though I couldn't understand the lyrics!) and the costumes. It included 210 teams and over 23,000 dancers. Performances were all around the city, but one stage was right here at the Marriott main entrance terrace. The main goal  of the festival is to demonstrate that all generations can enjoy the fun and fitness of dance and body movement. The ages on the teams ranged from 3 to at least 83. Some teams were very large and so well synchronized that they had to have practiced for months and months reach that level. I don't think it was a competition, as I never saw any scoring or awarding of prizes or ribbons. I think it was just for the fun of it. Imagine that!

Here is a video of one of the best groups that I saw.



Off to pick up our Alien Resident Cards today. Applied a month ago and now  they have been processed and approved. We are officially residents of Nagoya! 4 weeks down, only 100 to go!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, There has been quite a bit of activity taking place. On Friday, we spent over 5 hours completing the purchase of our appliances. Many things are so different here it is sometimes hard to determine what will and won't work.

Our apartment only has a 60 amp breaker, so we can't run more than three 20 amp A/C units at a time (if nothting else in the house is running.) Based on this (and the cost of A/C units), we opted to not to put A/C in the guest bedrooms. Sorry guests! My suggestion is to not come in June, July or August! As an alternative, we thought we would put ceiling fans in those 2 rooms instead.  This is what the outlet in the ceiling looks like. We are hoping that the metal hooks mean it can support a ceiling fan, but no one really seems to know. We bought them anyway and hope that the guys who comes to install will know.

Next major snaffoo was the using the corporate credit card. Well, it seems when you buy something other than meals and hotel rooms on a corporate credit card... like say 40" flat screen TVs and refridgerators --there is evidentally a big red fraud flag that gets raised. It took no less than 3 calls to Citibank to finally get the charges approved and processed.

While Gary was on the phone for hours I kept myself busy translating every sign in katakana around me for practice. The biggest mystery sign, was for ma-ga-na-ti-zi-n-ga glasses, which after using my powers of deduction, I realized they really meant magnifying glasses... aka readers! (but without lights). Also, decoded a-ro-ma te-ra-pi. Diffusers for aroma therapy!

More to come about our Arabic Food Club night and the Domatsuri (dance festival), but have to run now.

Nagoya Castle

So, as I eluded to in my last post, we did have a fun evening out last Sunday. We went to the Summer Lantern Festival at Nagoya Castle.

Entrance to Shiyakusho Station near Nagoya Castle

Women in kimono's waiting in line to enter the festival

For only 800 yen a piece we were able to tour all 5 floors and an observation deck of the castle and attend a festival that was being held on the grounds. We did enjoy seeing the history of Nagoya Castle, the original structure dating back to 1612, although most of it was rebuilt after what they politely refer to as the "air raids" destroyed all but the gate towers in 1945 during WWII.

 

Nagoya Castle

We also saw a 'Bon Odori' or Bon dance, which is a dance to welcome the spirits of the dead during Obon, which is this week. Japanese travel back to their hometowns to visit family and remember their ancestors. Most wormen wore kimonos and performed the dance in unison. It was similar to line dancing and I had an urge to get up and give it try, but I didn't know if it would be appropriate for a gaijiin or not. In turn I could have taught them all 'the cotton-eyed Joe'. : )

Bon Odori



As we were about to leave through the gate, we saw a man holding a sign that said 18:40 with a big red arrow pointing up a hill to the left and a bunch of Japanese characters we couldn't read (as usual). It was 18:39, so we decided to see what was going on. About 8 Samurai, bearing flags of their clans, were up on platforms and in position to fire old Japanese style matchlock guns. They proceeded to shoot and reload 6 times. I've included some live action footage for your enjoyment!

Moving on Up

After 10 days on the 33rd floor, Gary found out that Boeing authorizes stays on the concierge level. So we packed up and moved to the 47th floor on Friday night. Room is basically the same, but with turn down service and chocolate every night! Also included is access to the Towers Spa and Exercise Club which has a fitness room, group classes, pool, whirlpool, sauna and cozy quiet room with actual comfy sofas and chairs(really excited to sit somewhere other than the bed in our room). All of this comes with just a few rules that are posted and STRICTLY enforced for the good of all. Needless to say, we both inadvertently broke some rules. Gary got in trouble for swimming without a cap. I was asked to remove my eye makeup, then made to leave the pool area to take off my wedding rings (no jewelry in the pool). Good thing neither one of us has a tattoo. Can't even come in with a tattoo. Kind of reminded me of being on Gary's boat in Alaska. Now that we have it all down, I think we will do fine.

Also included on this level is the full American breakfast every morning and happy hour appetizers and drinks every evening from 5pm to midnight. First day at cocktail hour we ran into an old colleague (Kevin)of Gary's from 6 years ago in Everett. It was refreshing to participate in a conversation in English (with someone other than Gary). ;)


Well, with all this access to free food and drink it is a really good thing that I can now go work out daily, which is where I am headed now!

Stay tuned for an exciting post with video of our trip to the Nagoya Castle Evening Festival...coming soon!