Piczo

Nagoya Love

On the morning of March 29, 2007, my alarm woke up at 5. I followed my usual morning routine, with the addition of quickly packing some clothes in a backpack. Soon I was on the first floor, ready to go. My host father drove me to the bus stop at Harimayabashi in the center of Kochi, where I met up with Yurie. I got a very cold goodbye from Mr. Osaki. At first I was nervous as to what I had done wrong, but I realized that he was going to miss me. I'm really lucky for the Osaki's, as they are a great host family. Yurie had all the tenderness of a rotten cactus, and I later learned she was sick and not a morning person. To be honest, I was not excited at all. I realized that the next time I would see my beloved Kochi again was with my Mom and Nana, but it didn't matter. The trip was not starting off as I had hopped. After a bus ride to the airport in Nangoku City, we arrived. Yurie and I headed to the JAL counter to buy our plane tickets for Nagoya. I had my money all set, but suddenly she whipped out some paper and said that Rotary had given her money to pay for the fare. I was so embarrassed, but I couldn't do anything as she payed quickly. In the airport, Yurie bought a breakfast, while I quietly drank a coffee. Her mood lifted with food in the stomach, and soon we were laughing and joking around. Mostly we were joking around about Kochi airport. It's a really nice place, about 1/100 the size of Newark and Tokyo, built right in the middle of a rice paddy. And what really got us both was when they announced our boarding, we actually had to walk out onto the tarmack to get to the plane. Yurie and I got the front seat of the plane for the 45 minute plane ride. Yurie put on her Ipod, while I studied Japanese. When they announced our arrival, I eagerly looked out the window to see a real city! (Hey, living in the country makes people crazy sometimes) But the air field was just a small airstrip on the side of a farm. I thought Nagoya was supposed to be the 4th largest city in Japan. I felt like asking for my money back... haha. When we arrived, Yurie got her luggage and we headed for a Coach Bus directly to the Heart of Nagoya. The ride through what looked to me like Kochi with no mountains, Yurie kept telling me to shut up. I was making comments like where's Obiyamachi? This looks exactly like KOCHI. Okay so Kochi has 300,000 people as opposed to Nagoya's 10 million, but really who's counting? When the bus pulled in front of Nagoya Station, Sae Hirosue and her oldest daughter, Yuhko Hirosue waved to us. We got off and were warmly greeted by wonderful Sae in English. Actually for the whole day, Sae kept trying to talk to me in English. Now normally I wouldn't mind, but I'm starting to get better at Japanese. Yurie seemed to always be correcting Sae. Yuhko called for a cab, and the next thing I knew, we were heqading back to Yuhko's mansion. Just for the reference, Mansions are like oversized apartments, or penthouses, here in Japan. Yuhko's was no exception. It was a 4 roomed living area, which normally only houses one. It's also the top floor located in the best place to live, right in the middle of all the action in Nagoya. The only thing I could thing was, "Dear good these people are rich." I was given my own room at the end of the hall, where I put down my bag and readied a small camera bag for the days touring. The Hirosue's ate a late brunch and then, with the help of a Nagoya travel guide, picked out a few places to go for the day's activities. Our first stop was the ever amusing Nagoya Castle. We headed to the Matsuzaka department store basement, where the subway is located, and boarded a train for Nagoya-jo. 名古屋城 was built in around 1525. In 1610, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the various daimyo to help with the building of a new castle on the site. The castle's construction was completed in 1612. Until the Meiji Era, the castle was the home of the Owari clan of the Tokugawa family. On top of the castle are two golden imaginary tiger-headed fishs, called kinshachi (金鯱 kin no shachihōko); this motif is used as a talisman for fire prevention. They are said to be a symbol of the feudal lord's authority. During World War II, The castle was burnt down on May 14, 1945 by the air raid of the United States, and most of its artifacts were destroyed; many of the paintings inside, however, survived and have been preserved to this day. The rebuilding of the castle finished in 1959. Today the castle is a modern concrete building with airconditioning and elevators. I think the Tokugawa Shogun would be rolling in his grave if he knew that one though. In addition, there are plans to reconstruct the Hommaru Palace (本丸御殿 Hommaru Goten), which was also lost to fire during the war. They figure, better late then never, I guess. Anyway, we entered the enormous castle grounds, and first encountered some lovely Engrish. A sign that meant to say, "This is dangerous, keep away," actually had, "You are dangerous, keep away." Soon we were outside the gates, which were covered in Sakura, or Cherry Blossom. We were all shocked to see the flowers in such beautiful bloom because it was SOOOO early. Kochi, which is alot warmer than Nagoya, hadn't even had Sakura blooms. Sae Hirosue mentioned just how lucky this experience was. Entering the castle, and I couldn't help but feel shocked. There were so many gaijin. And since I haven't seen them in so long, couldn't contain my excitement. Yurie pretty much had to smack upside the head to remind me that I am in fact a gaijin myself. I really did forget there for a minute. Though I had to admit, I wasn't very impressed with some attitudes of the gaijin. One German woman, who heard Yurie and I speaking Japanglish, pushed me out of the way to ask Yurie a questions. And then when Yurie did not know the answer she huffed away and said something about people being no help. Another family was talking about what they wanted to eat for lunch, and the older boy started talking about the wooden box that they cram food in. I nearly shouted, "BENTO!" But they wouldn't have understood. I really felt lost for a little bit. Lost in a way that I knew so much about Japan to not sound silly or ignorant of the culture, but not enough to be Japanese. I'm just a Henna Gaijin (Strange Foreigner) because I really do try here. Around the castle, we did the touristy stuff, like take hundreds of pictures, ride the plastic dolphins, pretend to be interested. Then afterwards, everyone's stomach grumbling loudly, we took a cab back to the main department store and walked to a famous restaurant. By famous, I really mean it had a Nagoya classic dish, only served in the city, and known throughout the country. Hitsumabushi, which translated into English is Eel over rice. Absolutely delicious. I mean once you can get over the whole, wow this thing could sting me and it was once slithering over the ocean, it tasted delicious. Man I'm so weird. haha. By the end of lunch, Yurie began crashing. Sae felt her forehead, and discovered she had a fever. After the bill was paid, Sae gave Yurie the key back to the mansion, and sent me and Yuhko shopping. Yuhko showed me her favorite clothing line, Barbie, you know like the little blonde doll? When Sae returned from putting Yurie to bed, we all went back on the Subway heading this time to Atsuta Shrine. Atsuta Jingu (Atsuta Shrine)is one of the greatest centers of worship in Japan from ancient times. Visitors to the shrine, now count nine million annually. The enshrined deity Atsuta-no-Ookami is Amaterasu-Oomikami as represented by the sacred sword Kusanagi-no-tsurugi, one of the three sacred treasures that symbolize the Imperial throne. Atsuta Jingu was originally founded about 1900 years ago, when the sacred sword Kusanagi-no-tsurugi, one of the Imperial symbols, was enshrined. The geographical character of the fertile Owari Plain has fostered a faith in Atsuta Jingu as protector of agriculture. The shrine buildings were maintained by the effort of devout generals of successive times, such as the Shoguns of Muromachi and Edo Shogunates, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and the Tokugawas, ruling family of Owari district. During the World War 2, however, more of its buildings were destroyed by fire. The shrine was as sacred as I had thought. Butlucky for me, the religion in Japan is really open to anyone doing the practices of Shinto. I walked into the vast forest land, accompinied by Sae and Yuhko, did the obligatory prayer, and watched how everyone else did it. When it was my turn to throw in a 10 yen coin, I bowed my head and prayed for my Japanese to get better. It seems everytime I go to a Shrine I'm praying for that same thing. Maybe it will come true one of these days. When I looked up, Sae and Yuhko were laughing at me. Apprently my prayor was longer than the usual. Oh well. As we began to walk away, Sae spotted a Shinto priest and two assistants performing some sort of ceremony. We then watched as this priest blessed new cars. It was weird to see such a religiously dressed priest drapped in the mystery of tradition waving blessings over a line of Toyota cars. I thought I'd seen it all, and then I came to Japan. Afterwards, we headed back the way we came from the subway, and back through the big department store. Before heading back to Yuhko's mansion, we stopped in a Tarte store and bought fruit Tartes, and chocolate cake for me. Then we got a Starbucks and finally headed back to the apartment. Poor Yurie was asleep and slumbering away, while the rest of us enjoyed Blueberry's, Lemon, and Chocolate Tarte with WHite Chocolate Mocha. After the little snack, I got onto the computer to email my mom and ended up showing Yuhko pictures of my entire life. And it seemed like 3 hours passed very quickly, as Sae soon called us in for a Curry Rice dinner. Yuki, the Hirosue's youngest daughter, arrived about an hour after dinner. She quickly took to the cake we got her. But sleep came fast that night, because of what a long and tiring day it was.

I was up VERY early. Well by very early, 9:00 on Spring Break. I got dressed, straightened my hair, and then went out into the main room, where Sae greeted me warmly. She then tried to force me to eat breakfast, but I really just can't eat in the morning. Yurie woke up shortly afterwards, still nursing a little fever. Suddenly, Sae's cell phone rang, and she scurried back into the room to tell me that my counselor, Sakioka-sensei. Apparently my main Rotary counselor failed to tell him him my whereabouts, so he got really worried about where I was. Especially since somewhere in Japan, a beautiful English Cram School teacher was viciously murdered. The murdered was caught, but everyone in Rotary suddenyl remembered to check up on me. But it all worked out in the end, after I explained my schedule. Yuhko woke up with all the ruckus, and soon Yuhko, Yurie, Sae, and Me, were leaving the house. I wore capri pants and a tee-shirt, and nearly froze to death. Sae kept trying to give me her jacket, but I was far too embarrassed at myself to take it. We walked through little Shrines and across Princess Street, which was the former Red Light District of Nagoya before World War II. We then walked through a 'cheap' shopping center and onto Osu Kannon Temple. First though, we watched a little show about some famous flamboyant Nagoyan from the Edo period. Japan never ceases to suprise me. It's a popular temple in central Nagoya. Originally located in neighboring Gifu Prefecture, the temple was moved to its current site by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1612. The current buildings are 20th century reconstructions. To me, it looked very Chinese, but it was nice. What I didn't like was the horrible pidgeons. From the sidelines I watched some idiots get mauled by pidgeons. EVen I could read the signs that said in perfect Japanese, "Don't feed." But as I was walking out, some moron was continuing to feed them, and it looked like I was the one throwing the food. Needless to say those damn flying rats went after this gaijin. I hate birds. On our way back through the shopping area, Yurie had a fit and demanded a new Burburry dress. So we went into an outlet store. I had mentioned I needed a new pair of jeans earlier in the day, so Sae made it her mission to find me a pair of jeans. It was humiliating. They are always remarking how skinney I am, but I'm not Japanese! It is true that I am very thin up top, but not on the bottom. Still the girls forced me to keep trying on jeans, until I snapped and walked out of the store. They were all very cautious of me after that. Sae took Yuhko to look for a new Louis Vuitton bag, while Yurie and I walked down a long shopping street. Soon it was time for lunch, and it was decided that we would eat at one of the most famous restaurants in the city. I don't actually remember the name, but it was the Nagoya famed food of Miso Katsu, or Pork covered in Bean Sauce. The wait to get into the restaurant was long ans we had to wait in all sorts of lines. I really didn't think a food could be worth this much annoyance. Usually I hate Miso soup with a passion, but I couldn't deny that the dish was delicious. I pretty much cleaned the plate. Yurie and I both got Miso Katsu with rice. OISHII! After lunch, we walked down to the shopping district and met up with Yuki, who had just woken up from sleep. Then we hailed a cab and headed for the Tokugawa Art Museum. During the Edo Period (1600-1868), Nagoya served as the seat of the Owari, one of the three major branches of the ruling Tokugawa family. The Tokugawa Art Museum preserves and exhibits the belongings of the Owari, who in terms of wealth were surpassed by only four of the nearly 200 feudal domains of the Edo Period. The exhibits include warrior armors, swords, tea utensils, no masks and costumes, poems, scrolls, maps, as well as a national treasure, the "Picture Scroll of Genji Story". The belongings are exhibited within the surroundings in which they were used, to illustrate the beauty of arrangement and the beauty of assortment, the traditional concepts of beauty in Japan. After the cab dropped us off, we got out and were surrounded by hundreds of lush and beautiful Sakura trees. Inside the heavily guarded museum, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the items. Instead I had to just look. I really wish I could read the difficult portions of the Kanji, to read the history of some of the items. To most Japanese people, these things are sacred keys to the past, to me, they are just items that I can not understand. The Hina Matsuri room was very interesting though. Basically it was a room covered in the dolls from the Tokugawa Shogun rulers Hina Matsuri festivals. When we were finished with the museum, we walked through the garden and saw a Japanese wedding. Sae wanted me to take pictures, but seriously, I don't think they would want their pictures taken. It was too cold for me, especially in such summery clothes, to really enjoy the garden, so instead we headed back to the SHopping district. Yurie, feeling sick, returned to Yuhko's mansion, while the rest of us went for cake. I wasn't really hungry, but Sae made me get this fruit cake thing. Next we went to the various shopping centers in the main of Nagoya. This shopping mall has three zones. "Central" is beneath Hisaya-odori and consists of three lanes. "Sakae Chika-gai" is located between and below Nishiki-dori and Hirokoji-dori. "Sakae Chika" is directly under Hirokoji-dori. There are about 300 shops selling various items. And they are all underground. A country with more earthquakes than any place in the world has such a comprehensive subway and underground shopping center. haha. AFterwards we went up to Sakae,the liveliest shopping district in Nagoya. It is an area south of the intersection of Hirokoji-dori and Otsu-dori. Here, four department stores compete against each other: Mitsukoshi, Maruei, Matsuzakaya and Parco, for the attentions of shoppers. Now I love the Hirosue family, but I wished they would stop pushing me to spend money. There really wasn't anything I wanted except for jeans, and Japanese jeans just don't work well with my body. Sae left us a little early to check back on Yurie, and with Yuhko I discovered a pair of Blue Moon Blue jeans that I sort of fell in love with. And the largest size fit me. They were just an ordinary pair of pants but the top had a blue and purple flannel second pair, making look like my undies are hanging out. They were perfect, especially when the Hirosues expressed their dislike for them. But I had to think about buying them first. At about 6:30, Yuhko, Yuki, and Me trekked down Princess Dori and back to Yuhko's apartment for dinner. Sae prepared a delicious meal. The day ended similiar to the day prior's with me falling asleep rather quickly.

My last day in Nagoya, started like the day before, with me waking up especially early. Yurie was still very sick, and Sae told me that if the illness kept up, Yurie wouldn't be coming to Osaka with me. This day, I was better prepared clothing wise, and wore warmer stuff. AT about 10:30, we set off for Nagoya STation by SUbway. When we arrived, Sae directed us into the really fancy department store. In fact it was so well-to-do, we weren't even allowed in some of the designer stores. Another funny thing was the convenience store Lawsons in the building. Usually they are just regular buildings filled with cheap but tasty food. The Lawsons in this particular building was like lined with diamonds, filled with food four times the price, and had fancy dressed cashiers. I'm not really used to this high class stuff. Our first stop was the Toyota show room, since Toyota factory is close to Nagoya. I got to see all the new top-of-the-line cars on display as well as see the history of the maker. But personally my favorite part was the bathroom, the toilets were pretty much lined with gold, and all that jazz. After the car stop, we went into a Tiffany's Jewlery store, where I got in trouble for touching the hanging stones. It was really a museum which held pieces from princesses and other famous people throughout the century. Not to say that that wasn't interesting, but it just wasn't my kind of thing. Probably because I was the only one wearing jeans, and with no intention in the world of buying a silly piece of jewelery for a trillion dollars. After the shopping crusade, Yurie and Yuhko had to leave. Yuhko's University was having an "Open University" for perspective students, and Yurie wanted to check it out. So Sae, Yuki, and Me went for lunch at a Soy Restaurant. The menu looked extremely edible, but I can't stand Soy and Tofu and that crap. I ordered a Curry Rice, which is like the ultimate party food. I think I was beginning to rebel against the rich system... haha. While we waited, and later ate, Sae toldme how well my Japanese had progressed. I have to admit, it isn't bad, but it certianly isn't very good. Then she told me that April of last year, the American girl in Japan only spoke English. That was shocking for me, because I only speak Japanese here, even though it is never well. AFter lunch, Yuki ordered a Green Tea Pudding, while a I got Soy Mocha Coffee. How weird is that? Back in the station, we jumped a train line bound for the central part of the city. We got off just below this enormous metal space ship thing covered in water. I had seen pictures of it, so I asked Sae to let me check it out. Backgrounded by the Nagoya TV tower, this odd shaped building/fountain thing was a very interesting place to walk around. Sae informed me that at night, it became the perfect date spot with the romantic view of the city. Our next planned stop was the Robot Museum. Now call me crazy, but having a Robot Museum is just a little bit ironic, no? I mean how long have they been around that they need a museum.. haha. Yuki and I took lots of pictures as we walked around and looked at all the robots. One robot was a Guiness World Record holder for being the most tender robot in the world. When you say it's name it resonds and acts like it loves you and what not. I thought it was scary, and I couldn't help but notice that it's Japanese far surpassed that of mine. haha. In the Star Wars area, Darth Yuki and I had a light saber fight. I'm pretty sure I got smoked. WHen we had walked through the entire place, we next went to the giant ferris wheel located right in the middle of the city. The ferris wheel is actually on the side of this huge shopping area, and in the area is a Ramen Village and the very first Pachinko Parlor in Japan. I couldn't help but feel lucky about being able to see the very first Pachinko place, after all there are about 300 places in Kochi. Yeah for Gambling on slot balls! haha. The ride was extremely slow, and we only went around once. But I got to look out the beautiful city of Nagoya. It really is alot like Kochi plus 9.7 million more people. But seriously both cities have a city look with a country feel. This is because Nagoyas prefecture, Aichi, and Kochi prefecture, Kochi, are lush countrysides outside the main city. As we got to te higest point of the ferris wheel, Sae pointed out Yuhko's mansion, an the immense shopping area. So that when it was finished, we headed back for some more shopping. At the shopping center, I made a decision, in irder to get the Hirosues to stop trying me to buy everything, I bought the Underwear jeans. And now 2 weeks later, I don't regret it all. They made me look and feel great, and I was content buying them. Yuhko eventually met up with us, while Sae left to check on Yurie back at the mansion. Yuki and I, who had both purchases, were eligible for one of those silly shopping lotteries. The ironic part was that I actually won! Well, I won a box of chocolate balls, but it was still pretty lucky. I stayed wth Yuhko and Yuki as they continued their shopping, and then trekked back with them when it was time for dinner. I wasn't really all that hungry, mostly just nervous. Looking at the clock, I knew that my Mom and Nana had just boarded the plane bound for Tokyo. Uh oh. haha. I didn't sleep very well that night because I was too excited. The following morning I would be going with the Masakis to Universal Studios, and then meeting Mom and Nana in Kyoto. You can't tell me that's not exciting.