Nagoya is a very big city, and not known for being a tourist destination. However, that did not stop Kristi and I from being tourists, cameras in hand, intent on being what Ezzie calls "happy snappy".
The first day was a little scary if only because the bus tried to drop me off at some random bus stop in the middle of nowhere. I begged, and pleaded, and managed to get to my real destination: Nagoya Eki, the busiest place I had ever seen. It's not a secret that I don't do well with crowds, so being in Nagoya was, indeed, a very trying experience. The rest of the day was spent learning how to use the subway system (people are right, once you get used to it, it's really easy), and looking for a place to have dinner. We chose Outback Steakhouse. It's funny, in the States, I never liked the place, yet here in Japan, it was surprisingly tasty. Go figure.
Saturday was far more eventful.
Kristi and I made our way to the Tokugawa Art Museum, which was surprisingly less interesting than the garden that was right next to it. However, it was entertaining enough to see the recreations of artwork whose colors faded long ago, even if they looked like they were painted by an amateur. Photos were prohibited, which is a shame, because there was an awesome map that had landmarks facing any which direction. I would loved to have walked into that word, walk through a forest and then on top of it has it flipped to face the South, swim the river with th
I forgot my camera, so here's a picture I took on Kristi's camera of the garden.
Check out how symbolic I am. Nature and modernity.
Too cool of a shot to miss. The koi were phenomenally large, and therefore a little disconcerting. I spent most of my time looking at them accessing my memory banks for any koi related deaths.
I have more photos that I will post later. On the way to the Asuta shrine, we stumbled upon a placed called the OZ Mall. On every radiator (called so only because they looked it), there was a statue portraying a scene from the wizard of OZ. Why? I haven't the faintest idea. The shops had nothing to do with OZ, which was somewhat upsetting because I wanted to buy some emerald glasses. If you want to see all of the statues, just email me.
I'm not sure why my face is so sour looking, but clearly that danish roll I was currently eating was vile.
Next, we went to the Atsuta Shrine, which we walked the entire length around before we could find the entrance, only to find that if we had just turned the right at the beginning, instead of left, we would have found it within three steps. I have no pictures, unfortunately, but I'll describe it the best I can.
There were three weddings being held. Two were traditional, with the bride sitting demurely under the hat that supposedly hides her horns, and the other western, with the bride smiling brightly. The guests were all dressed in somber blacks.
Also, there were women presenting their babies on the second month after their births, smiling happily for the camera while their husbands stood by, looking impatiently at their watches. They, and the brides, stood out amongst the cold steely gradients of people who swirled around them.
While I was there, I did the proper tourist-y thing and bought some charms. One will protect me from evil, supposing that I didn't lift its protection when I curiously looked inside the bag to see if they had actually written a charm, and another one that was marked "charm for news." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but armed with the knowledge that that they wouldn't sell anything extremely bad, I threw caution to the wind and bought it. After that, we went to Sakae and wandered around. I found a copy of Horatio Hornblower at the foreign bookstore, but could not get myself to spend 20 dollars on it when I know I could get it at a used bookstore when I go home.
While we were looking for a restaurant, we stumbled upon this creature. Cool as he was, he did not successfully entice us into the his restaurant.
Sunday, my last day, we went to Osu Shopping District, which is right next to Osu Kannon, a Buddhist temple. Like a good tourist, I bought a bull charm since I was born in the year of the bull. As always, it did not look as cool as the other charms, but I decided that no bull charm will ever look as good as the others. A bull simply cannot be a rabbit, a rat, a tiger, a sheep, or a dragon. I have to accept my Chinese zodiac as is, I realize. I wondered, and still wonder now, which charm sells the most.
You could smell this temple for miles, the incense was so strong.
Right next to this is the shopping mall. It's really quite a nonsequitur. The shopping was the most enjoyable of all the shopping I've done in Japan. Also, it was the best food I had eaten, which was entirely too much. I had karaage (fried chicken), okonomiyaki (a sort of egg, cabbage pizza), a cheese soufle, a vanilla milkshake and french fries, and takoyaki (a sort of octopus dumpling that is DELICIOUS!). Wow! And I was full after the karaage!
In Japanese, the word betsubara means second stomach. It's said when you will still eat something even if you're full. For example, amaimono no betsubara means you have a second stomach for sweet things. No matter how full you are, you will still eat some sweet things. The people at the office joke that I have tabemono bestubara which means I have a second stomach for food. Funny, but a little cruel, I think.
After Osu, I went home after a four-hour bus ride, an hour train ride, and an hour car ride. I fell asleep long before I knew that I had even gotten into bed.
Lunch was: Chicken Fried Rice and Anpan
Class was: so-so.
I'm listening to: King of Pain by The Police
I'm working on: 1-1's listening test.
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