After I had taken a look around Sakae, I realized Nagoya Castle, Nagoya's most famous landmark, wasn't very far away, so went ahead and visited. Why not get two of the city's biggest tourist attractions done with in an afternoon? More pictures at the botttom of the post.

I'll try to be brief with the following history lesson... Nagoya Castle was built by an important military figure in Japanese history, Ieyasu Tokugawa, in 1612. After World War II, a lot of the site had to be rebuilt, due to fire damage. Today the castle and three smaller towers are part of a large park-like section of downtown Nagoya (it even gets its own lake!), a pretty dramatic contrast to the office buildings nearby. Nagoya Castle is also well-known for the golden dolphins on the roof. Although, after looking at a version on display, shown here, they look way scarier than my usual mental image of dolphins.

Inside the castle are a lot of displays of life in Japan during the Tokugawa Period. I only managed take a few pictures before I saw the "no photos" signs, so I'm afraid I don't have any good examples. At any rate, it was all very educational, so I remember very little and didn't find it too interesting at the time.

The top floor of the castle is an observation platform, where you can see some pretty great views of the city. So many tall buildings! The pictures I got don't really do it justice, but here are a couple anyway.


I stopped at the giftshop after exiting the castle (of course there's a gift shop--and one in the observation platform as well), but managed to resist most of the Nagoya Castle keychains and other random bits of souvenier junk, including several magnets featuring Hello Kitty posing by the Castle, and Astro Boy riding a golden dolphin. Outside, however, I did meet a group of Japanese elementary students who were very excited to practice saying "What's your name?" and "Where are you from?" in English, and I had to shake hands and say "Pleased to meet you," to at least a dozen of them. All in a day's work for a Westerner in Japan.

This is one of the smaller towers that surround the castle.


Gratuitous shots of the castle again. From up close and from the entrance.


The castle and east tower on approach.


One more of the castle.

posted by No_Fluff_Reviewer @ 8:27 PM