2014.08.13 | 北海道夏(2A)

[Volume 9 Issue 8, #1929]

Hokkaidō Trip Summer 2014 - DAY 2A of 8 Half A Day in Nagoya (名古屋)

中文讀者請注意: 因為篇幅問題, 這一系列日本遊記只有英語版本, 敬請見諒..

i hope you enjoyed reading the previous post of this series, and are actually looking forward to more posts, haha!! you may wonder why i called this a Hokkaidō trip while i also went to Nagoya (名古屋).. well, it was actually just a stopover since there was no direct flight to Hokkaidō, and we actually had just half a night and then half a day spent in Nagoya.. day 2 of the trip was a brief explore of Nagoya before we headed to Sapporo (札幌) in the late afternoon, and the remaining days thus all spent in Hokkaidō itself..

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#2A-1 ■ ■ in day 1, by the time we stepped out of the station, it was already dark at night.. to me, one thing about sight-seeing is that, i prefer to do it in the day, though night views can be more fascinating with all the lights, somehow i still think we see things in their "real" colours rather than colours from the lighting.. for example, this Hisaya Odori Park (久屋大通公園 Hisaya Ōdori Kōen) and Nagoya TV Tower (名古屋テレビ塔 Nagoya Terebi-tō), certainly look more "macho" than being a little "sexy" at night huh?? errr, i hope you get what i mean with my rather vague descriptions.. :D #2A-2 ■ ■ if you know me well, i don't usually want to pay to go to every touristy place up close, but just happily snap photos from afar.. and this is Nagoya TV Tower (名古屋テレビ塔 Nagoya Terebi-tō) viewed from inside the Oasis 21 (オアシス21 Oashisu 21), which is said to give the best view of the tower.. and something interesting about the oval glass deck on top - it's filled with water (just imagine because i know you can't see from the photo) for an interesting visual effect and at the same time to cool down the temperature of the place, smart and practical huh?? anyway, i was more attracted by a capsule toy (ガチャポン gachapon) machines booth 50m away [click here] but too bad, i could not find anything on Doraemon :( #2A-3 ■ ■ okay, here it is, our first stop the Nagoya Castle (名古屋城, Nagoya-jō), about 5-minute walk from the Shiyakusho station (市役所駅 Shiyakusho-eki) on Subway Meijō Line (名城線 Meijō-sen).. completed in 1612 on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) to ward off attacks from the direction of Ōsaka (大阪), it has been the residence of the Owari lineage of the Tokugawa family (徳川尾張家 Tokugawa Owari-ke), until the Meiji Restoration (明治維新 Meiji Ishin) in 1888, used as a palace for the Emperor.. a major part of the castle, including the Hommaru Palace (本丸御殿 Hommaru Goten), were burnt down during the WWII, however under the plead of the people, the castle was soon restored and rebuilt in 1959.. [Reference] #2A-4 ■ ■ digress a bit, we also found something interesting there.. we saw flocks of sumo wrestlers (相撲レスラー sumou resurā) heading to the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (愛知県体育館 Aichi-ken Taiikukan) next door.. being curious we followed, but don't ask me for photos because it will be disrespect to "paparazzi" them lah!! we ended up finding there was this annual Grand Sumo Tournament (大相撲 Ōzumō) held there, and these were the flags representing the wrestlers lined up outside the gymnasium.. excited but even if we wanted to pay to go in and watch, all tickets were sold out, we could only watch it on TV later :p #2A-5 ■ ■ okay, you were scrolling up and down for more photos of the Nagoya Castle (名古屋城, Nagoya-jō)?? and i'm not pulling your legs if i tell you photo #3 is the only one, haha!! i may just grab a few photos from the internet, post them here and fake like i've been there.. but no, that is not my style.. the fact was that, we decided to give it a miss for two reasons, the entrance fees of ¥500 and we only had a few hours to spent before heading to Sapporo (札幌).. so we just continued to the next stop, having seen the Nagoya City Hall (名古屋市役所 Nagoya Shiyakusho) from afar as well as the roof of a building (on right of the photo) that looks like Nagoya Castle, haha!! like that also can lah~~ :D #2A-6 ■ ■ next, we made a visit to the Atsuta Shrine (熱田神宮 Atsuta Jingū) which is about 5-minute walk from the Jingu-Nishi station (神宮西駅 Jingunishi-eki) on Subway Meijō Line (名城線 Meijō-sen).. founded 1900 years ago (read again, not year 1900 but 1900 years ago!!) enshrining the sacred sword Kusanagi (草薙の剣 Kusanagi no Tsurugi), one of the three sacred treasures of Japan, together with the Five Great Gods (五神 goshin) of Atsuta.. this shrine is revered since ancient time, and now ranked second to the Great Shrine of Ise (伊勢神宮 Ise Jingū) [Reference].. standing at the entrance was this gate (鳥居 torii), a simple identity of a shrine and symbolically marks the border between the profane and the sacred.. to be exact, there were three in total all the way to the main shrine, so how many levels have i been cleansed?? :p #2A-7 ■ ■ so this was the furthest we would walk into the area of the shrine, the main shrine (本宮 hongū) which is located behind the trees on the left is not opened to public unless you had prearranged some special activities (for example, wedding) with the authority, if i am not mistaken.. on the right, looks majestic as well huh?? that's the souvenirs shop, haha!! impressive huh?? at least they have built something that looks in-sync with the shrine and not some funny looking touristy thing with cute mascots moving around :D #2A-8 ■ ■ don't get over-excited at the souvenirs until you miss this Karuga Palace (神楽殿 Karuga-den) which is quite hidden behind the souvenirs shop.. this is one very majestically looking structure which is a prayer hall (拝殿 haiden) to serve your prayers for safe delivery, good luck and so on.. outside this prayer hall, you will see many wooden plaques written with individual prayers (絵馬 ema), sold at ¥600 a piece if not mistaken, hung on a dedicated rack where the god (神 kami) receives the wishes (願意 gani) [click here].. #2A-9 ■ ■ were you searching high and low for my signature pose?? no lah, this is a shrine, a sacred place, so i must pose decently also, agree?? hehe.. anyway, here's another photo taken at Atsuta Shrine (熱田神宮 Atsuta Jingū), i just love these rice wine (酒 sake) barrels stacked up neatly as decorative containers (飾り樽 kazaritaru).. like i said earlier, things are done with a reason here unlike the Bolehland mostly for the sake of "superficial appearance".. this started as supplies of sacred wine (お神酒 omiki) to the shrine for religious (神道 Shinto) purification rituals, but as the supplies of wine in barrels got overwhelming, brewers now supply only a bottle of two with a symbolic gesture of donating an empty barrel instead.. #2A-10 ■ ■ i don't remember we had proper breakfast that day, but some snacks bought from the convenience store last night.. it was late morning when we were at Atsuta Shrine (熱田神宮 Atsuta Jingū) and after doing a bit of walking, the urge to eat came without warning!! we went to an air-conditioned cafe near the entrance, nothing attractive but expensive.. while about to give in, the observant me spotted a hidden eatery just behind, way cheaper and has got what i wanted to eat (TIPS!!).. what's more, having it alfresco under the shades of trees and on tables and stools we so commonly find in mamak stalls but hardly in Japan (at least for me).. that was why we chose to sit under the trees rather than the roof, haha!! :D #2A-11 ■ ■ so, what was there that i wanted so much to eat?? Nagoya's signature flat noodles called kishimen (きし麺) that is!! it's something like our pan mee but more chewy, and cooked in simple soy sauce soup, topped with just bonito (鰹 katsuo) flakes and spring onions, tasted totally different of course.. as it was summer, they also had it served chilled and i personally find the chilled one tastier than the hot one, probably because the chilled one kind of "locked" the flavor in the soup.. recommendation at ¥650 a bowl, though looked so plain, i can say this was one of my favorite food of the trip!! this place is called Miya Kishimen (宮きしめん), one of the venerable old eateries.. oh, i miss that bowl of kishimen (きし麺) already :p #2A-12 ■ ■ happily contented with the bowl of kishimen (きし麺), we got back to our hotel to picked up our luggage (we have checked-out earlier as standard check-out time in Japan is usually 10am, yes, that early).. off we took a coach to the airport (¥1000 per pax), available at another more renown hotel across the road instead of subway and then train, which was more convenient and saved us the troubles to carry and drag our luggage.. after a roughly 70-minute ride, we arrived at Chubu Centrair International Airport (中部国際空港 Chūbu Kokusai Kūkō) again, but this time for a domestic flight to Sapporo (札幌).. no joke, that's what we saw and found in the airport, cosplay fans swarming the place and happily posing for photos.. it was the Opening Event for the World Cosplay Summit 2014!! ah, such a nice coincidence for this uncle to meet up with the youngsters~~ :D

so that's it half of day 2 in Nagoya (名古屋) before we arrived at Sapporo (札幌) in the evening.. you may ask why i masked my friends in the photo?? well, i think this blog is public and my friends would not want to be "famous" yet, let's respect privacy here, shall we?? okay, day 2 is not done yet, stay tuned for the final half of day 2 in the next post, Sapporo (札幌) we will be~~ :) travelogue posts in this series:

2014.08.11 | 北海道夏(1)

[Volume 9 Issue 8, #1928]

Hokkaidō Trip Summer 2014 - DAY 1 of 8 From Kuala Lumpur to Nagoya (名古屋)

中文讀者請注意: 因為篇幅問題, 這一系列日本遊記只有英語版本, 敬請見諒..

okay, here comes the travelogue of my recent trip to Japan, i'll try to blog as long-winded detailed as possible.. since majority of my readers only read English, i'll omit my usual Chinese write-up for the time being, so that i can focus to write more in a single language.. as this is the first post, do let me know what you think of this style (which is so not me, because everyone seems like to scroll, haha!!), let me know if you think this is too lengthy (or not detailed enough)~~ :p

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day 1 started excruciatingly early at 5:30am because we were taking the AirAsia flight D7542 at 0845 from KLIA2 to Nagoya.. we buffered more time for a few reasons, and were glad we did so.. if you are flying from KLIA2 in the future, you may want to consider these factors as well.. the new airport is way bigger than the old LCCT, it takes more time to walk to the gate and also more shopping to do in the airport mall it was the Raya festive and peak season for holiday makers, the airport was already packed with people as early as 5:00am there are two rounds of security scanning, one after immigration and another before the boarding gate #1-1 ■ ■ since there is no direct flight to Hokkaidō (from the budget airlines we searched for), we flew to Nagoya (名古屋) and then took a domestic flight to Sapporo (札幌).. of course you can fly to Tōkyō (東京) or Ōsaka (大阪), but since flying to Nagoya is cheaper and we have not been there before, Nagoya was the choice for a stopover.. we got our return flight at RM984, no meals or other extras, and every two of us shared one basic 20kg check-in baggage allowance as we won't have much things with us until we come back.. yes, we are smart traveller :p #1-2 ■ ■ it was a 6½ hour flight and we survived just on bread and rice balls bought a day earlier from AEON and "smuggled" onboard (tips!!).. because i think i deserve cheaper and nicer food onboard, haha!! after the long flight with little food, we were starving and this was the first meal we had once touched down at Chubu Centrair International Airport, Nagoya (中部国際空港 Chūbu Kokusai Kūkō).. this ramen at ¥780 was of the pork marrow soup base (豚骨ラメン tonkotsu ramen), that kicked start our search for a "ramen grand slam", haha!! we slurped the springy ramen and flavorful broth, loud as the Japanese culture, it tasted so good and we said おいしい (oishii meaning delicious).. #1-3 ■ ■ happily posing for photos after being fed with a bowl of nice ramen, contented!! this was the train on the Meitetsu Line (名鉄線 Meitetsu Sen) that we took to the city from the airport.. instead of Nagoya Station (名古屋駅 Nagoya-eki), we stopped at Kanayama Station (金山駅 Kanayama-eki) to change for the Meijō Line (名城線, Meijō-sen) subway for our hotel located in the Sakae (栄) area.. the trip of roughly 30 minutes cost us ¥810 for JR and another ¥200 for the subway.. #1-4 ■ ■ the Meijō SubwayLine (名城線, Meijō-sen) is actually a circle line, so take note of which direction you are travelling though you will eventually reach your destination either way, haha!! out of the station, this was the first Doraemon I saw during this trip to Japan.. posters asking not to cry together with Doraemon (いっしょに ドラ泣き しません issho ni dora naki shimasen - don't know if my translation is correct??) for the upcoming movie "Stand by Me", but too bad the timing wasn't right so I'll just pose and take a photo then~~ :p #1-5 ■ ■ i have to confess, if we did not linger too long inside the airport, it would still be bright daylight coming out of the station towards our hotel.. but there were really too many attractive souvenirs and delicious food sampling (and unbelievably polite promoters) that kept us a while in the airport, haha!! anyway, nice also to get a night view of the area since we were leaving for Sapporo (札幌) the next afternoon.. #1-6 ■ ■ so we were in the Sakae (栄) area carrying our luggage towards our hotel.. on the way we passed by a few attractions, the Oasis 21 (オアシス21 Oashisu 21) and Hisaya Ōdori Park (久屋大通公園 Hisaya Ōdori Kōen), as well as in the background the landmark Nagoya TV Tower (名古屋テレビ塔 Nagoya Terebi-tō) built in 1954 and standing at 180m which is the oldest TV tower in Japan.. if you have watched the movie "Godzilla", this is THE tower.. :p #1-7 ■ ■ dinner time right after check-in and a little rest.. we didn't walk far but just settled our dinner at one of the canteen style eatery (食堂 shokudō) near hotel.. lucky us, as this random pick didn't disappoint us at all, instead the food was nice and we really enjoyed it!! this pork cutlet with miso sauce (味噌カツ miso katsu) is one of the must-eat in Nagoya (take note!!), our set came with the katsu on a pile of rice and another bowl of udon (うどん) at ¥840.. #1-8 ■ ■ after dinner, a lazy stroll around the area and then grabbing some snacks from the Lawson convenience store next to our hotel.. Fing-Fing liked this citrus jelly drink so much that he was not willing to share with Daddy, how mean!! we put up a night at Hotel MyStays Nagoya-Sakae (ホテルマイステイズ名古屋栄) at a rate of ¥5950 per double room per night, i had a good sleep..

that's day 1 of the trip, nothing much really since we were travelling, and please pardon the quality of the photos because they were all taken with my phone.. stay tuned for day 2 as we spent half a day exploring a little of Nagoya (名古屋) before flying to Sapporo (札幌) in the evening.. :) travelogue posts in this series: