You’ve got to hand it to the hotel: the breakfast buffet is easily one of the best we’ve had so far. Suitably refreshed, we’re heading over to Nagoya Castle.
The castle itself is massive, but as is so often the case, it’s a reinforced concrete reconstruction. One cool feature is the palace, built as a separate side building. It was rebuilt using traditional construction methods, and you actually get the chance to snap photos of the gorgeous golden sliding doors here. The bizarre-looking tigers on these walls are pretty typical. Just like with the elephant in Nikkō, artists back in the day had to make do with nothing but travel stories and their own imagination to depict tigers.
Besides the castle, Nagoya doesn’t have a lot of attractions to offer. We wandered around for a bit and visited the Osu Kannon temple. The most spectacular thing about it was probably its somewhat rundown state, at least by Japanese standards.
By the early afternoon, we’d finally had enough of the crowds, the omnipresent concrete, and the traffic noise. We’re back at the hotel now. Sadly, our flight home is already tomorrow, so we’re taking the opportunity to pack in peace.
The trip was particularly interesting in one respect. We spent a few days travelling on our own, without having our hands held by a tour guide. 😉 In a country like Japan, with its completely different culture and pretty high language barrier, that takes some guts. But it went off without a hitch and was honestly even more fun than the group part of the trip. One thing’s for sure: next time we’re going to explore Japan entirely on our own.
