Day 25

So, I went to sleep at 3 a.m., after getting back from karaoke, and had an interesting "waking up" pattern.  The guy down the hall knocked at 7 a.m. to go to Nagoya.  He then told me that he was thinking of going a bit later.  So, I went back to sleep.  My alarm then got me up at 9 a.m.  I turned that off and went back to sleep again.  When I was feeling completely rested, I woke up at about 12:07 p.m., took a shower, and then was ready to at least get out of the residence.

Lunch at a new place called "Hana Shokudo", or "Flower Dining Place/Dining Room".  It's sort of a buffet, sort of not: you grab plates of whatever you want, get a bowl of rice, and then pay per plate at the end.  Rather effective if you ask me.  Plus, it was tasty.  The guy I was with then wanted ice cream, so we went to Seiyu.  On the way, we had a conversation about how safe Okazaki is, and why I shouldn't lock my bike.  Great idea.  We were inside the supermarket for a whole five minutes, and I came out and the bike had been stolen!  I guess it was for the best, because the people at Noriyama Bicycles don't know how to correctly sell a bike, and mine wasn't properly registered, so was therefore legally stolen property.  I'll just get a new one tomorrow and get it properly registered.

Angry though I was, it was time to go to Nagoya, the fourth largest city in Japan.  There's plenty to do, not enough time to do it all in one day (so I'll probably be taking at least one or two more trips out there), and the train ticket is only $6 to get there, $6 back.  Quite cheap, much much more so than the trip to Tokyo.  So, after a short train ride, we arrived at Nagoya, and my camera was drawn, ready to document the trip, and document I did.

First, we went to Sakae, home of the Nagoya TV Tower.  I, of course, paid to go up to the top and take pictures, and was strongly reminded of the Tokyo Tower, just a slight bit lower.  The pictures are on facebook, and you can draw strong connections between those from Nagoya and those from Tokyo.  I didn't want to stay up there for too long, so I descended, and we began to head south, looking for the nearest subway station.

The walk south was along a nice park and garden area, punctuated by fountains and parking lots.  Impressive though it was, it ended far too quickly and also had a few tramps at the end.  They tried to either speak to us or hassle us (I'd believe the former), but I was in a hurry to get something to drink.  We simply said "sorry, we're American and English, and only speak English" and were off, off to Osu-Kannon.

Osu-Kannon is the big shopping district in Nagoya, full of these things that look like malls, but are really just long enclosed streets, sort of like hallways, full of literally whatever you would want.  It's like Akihabara, but much more diverse, and thankfully so.  It was night by the time we got there, so not much was open, but at least we got a feeling for where it was.  Afterwards, no time to go to the docks, because Dave had to get back for a trip the following morning, but that can be left until next time.

And now I give you my favorite pic and text from the day.  Cheers.

A view of the buildings and park from atop the Nagoya TV Tower.  This, I would imagine, looks like some area of New York City.  It just strikes me that there would be such tall buildings, and then right next to them, a park area running along the length of the district.