TwiTrip – Nagoya

So for those who missed it, here’s a quick round-up of what we did today on our around Nagoya. All day we darted around the city, checking out suggestions tweeted to us by our followers.

10am – Made our way over to Nagoya Castle, as suggested by . It was a brilliantly sunny day here in Nagoya, so the old girl was looking particularly elegant. Unfortunately, no amount of sunshine could make the massive amount of construction taking place on the other buildings look any better. Still, it was busy – but not overcrowded – with visitors old and young, which was encouraging.

11.30am – Plans changed after a bit of map reading, and some fruitless walking around. Finally stomped up to the Noritake Gardens (recommended by ) where they’ve been making high-grade pottery for over 100 years. Today much of the industry around Nagoya is focused on cars, but this is where some of the biggest early business started. We only had a little time, so didn’t get a chance to make our own bowls (which is an option). Instead we just enjoyed the gardens and the sunshine, which were absolutely lovely.

12:30pm – We jumped into a cab with a very confused and confusing taxi driver, who had the unintentionally hilarious name of Ichinose. To our surprise, he didn’t sneeze once. We were supposed to be heading a Manga cafe, as had been recommended by , but by then we were hungry.

1:00pm – Luckily for us, around now a tweet arrived from , advising us to find the wildly popular Yabaton for something to eat. After queuing for a while, we finally got a seat and an English menu. We didn’t really need it though – several followers had already advised us to try miso katsu, which conveniently was the speciality dish here. It’s really just breaded pork, deep-fried and coated with a rich, dark miso, but whatever the formula, it’s a total winner here. Thankfully the nutritional information was not included. Thanks !

2.00pm – We decided to try and track down the Manga cafe that had recommended, but were distracted by the huge shopping district of Osu Kannon. The selection of clothes and souvenirs was immense and – for once – the prices were very reasonable too. Almost an hour disappeared here, and by the time we did arrive at the Manga cafe, it seemed rather expensive, especially as we didn’t have time for their introductory manga-drawing course. Not our finest hour as TwiTrippers, we know.

3:15pm – The guilt had subsided so we treated ourselves to a couple of apple-filled . They were incredible.

4:00pm – We arrived at Nagoya’s Science museum and planetarium, which had been recommended by , among others. Alas, the planetarium was fully booked – the advice is to get here early to avoid disappointment. Still, the half that was open was filled with four floors of information and gadgets for kids to play with to improve their understanding of, well, everything.

5:30pm – We turned for home as we had to transfer hotels and, after eight hours, were starting to feel a little drained. Just before that, though, we followed ‘s recommendation to pick up another local speciality: tebasaki. The chicken wings smothered in a strong, sesame and pepper sauce made a perfect snack to end a hectic day.

So that’s it! Thanks to everything who took the time to send us suggestions. Apologies that we couldn’t use them all – maybe next time.

 

Our time in Aichi prefecture was made possible by:

Mikari Furuhashi, our guide, aka @mekkan, who took us around Toyota yesterday and plied us with loads of good suggestions for our TwiTrip today. It was a genuine pleasure to spend time with her, and to wave to her in the morning (by odd coincidence, her house was facing our hotel, despite being a few miles away).

The Associa Marriot Hotel in Nagoya, a towering luxurious beast that looks over the entire city. Everything was as you would expect for a five-star hotel, except the breakfast which should be at least six. The extremely boisterous egg chef made sure we were good and awake to sample the “best omelettes in Nagoya”. We were. They were. Great stuff.

The good people at Guardian Travel for letting us steal their TwiTrip idea.

 

今日私達が挑戦した”Twitrip”、その動向は生中継させていただいていたのだが、残念ながらオンタイムでは追えなかった！という皆さんのために・・・こちらが今日の私達のスケジュールです。（ちなみに・・・Twitripとは、Twitterを通して皆さんから名古屋お勧め情報をお寄せいただき、それを元に１日行動して楽しむというもの）

10：00
名古屋城へ向かって出発（@InsideJapanさんからの情報）。今日の名古屋は最高にいいお天気！名古屋城公園の一部が工事中で、さすがのお天気も工事中の部分をきれいに見せてくれるほどのパワーはなく、それはちょっと残念だったけれど、それでもたくさんの観光客の方が足を運んでいて、活気にあふれる素敵な場所だった！

11：00
予定を変更し、地図を見ながらぶらぶらと散策。
最終的にノリタケの森に到着（@JapanIntercultさんからの情報）。そこは高品質の食器を100年以上作り続けているノリタケの総合施設。現在、愛知県は車産業がメインの街になっているが、それまでは陶器が主要な産業だった。残念ながら時間が限られていたので、絵付け体験は諦め、その代わりきれいなお庭で日向ぼっこをさせてもらった。

12：30
本当はマンガカフェ（@mekkanさんからの情報）に向かうつもりでタクシーに乗ったのだけれど、お腹がすいたので予定変更。

13：00
お腹がすいたと思っていたら@Tokyofoodcastさんから情報が！ということで名古屋ではかなり有名らしい“矢場とん”を目指すことにした。結構並んだあと、やっと席に案内してもらえ、そして英語のメニューをもらった。が・・・メニューを見るまでもなく、皆さんのお勧めに従い“味噌カツ”を食べることにした。それはとんかつに味噌がかかっているだけのはずなのだが、最高においしい！カロリーは・・・気にしない事にする。

14：00
お腹もいっぱいになった事だし、マンガカフェを再度目指すことにした。（@mekkanさんからの情報）。が・・・大須観音近くで買い物ができるエリアを発見。そしてお値段もお手頃！ということで結局1時間近くこのエリアでウロウロし、マンガカフェに到着するのがすっかり遅くなってしまった。その上結構お値段も高く、特にマンガ教室に参加する時間もなかったため、最終的に行くのはやめさせてもらった。

15：15
リンゴの入ったタイ焼き発見。あーおいしい。

16：00
名古屋市科学館に到着（@suzu08182007からの情報）。が・・・プラネタリウムはなんといっぱい・・・！だがそれ以外にも子供が楽しみながら学べる展示がたくさん。

17：30
新しいホテルに移動しなければならないため、そろそろ終了。が・・・@ciaoalfamickeyさんお勧めの“てばさき”に挑戦。ゴマとコショウのソースが絶妙！一日の疲れも吹っ飛んだ！

というわけで、皆さんの情報を元に過ごした名古屋での一日は以上。
多くの情報を本当にありがとうございました。また同時にお寄せいただいた情報全てにお応えできず申し訳ありませんでした。

愛知県の滞在でお世話になった皆様
愛知語学ボランティアセミナーの古橋みかりさん、またの名を@mekkanさん。初日にトヨタの工場見学に連れて行って下さいました。そして今日のTwitripに備えてたくさんの情報を下さいました。ありがとうございました。楽しいひと時を過ごさせていただけた事嬉しく思っております。ありがとうございました。

名古屋では名古屋マリオットアソシアホテルさんにお世話になりました。市内を見渡せる最高のロケーション。もちろん施設やサービスなど、全ては5スターホテル。そして朝食は6スターは下らないという、素晴らしいものでした。温かいオムレツ、一日のエネルギーになりました。本当にありがとうございました。