 |
Cover photo: Banzai!
|
Nagoya is the fourth largest city in Japan after Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka. Its population exceeds 2.3 million. We decided to stop in Nagoya for its castle and science museum. At first glance, the city doesn’t particularly impress; the area around the station is almost as crowded as Tokyo. Fortunately, our hostel was only a 10-minute walk from the station. The rooms there were really small - perhaps even smaller than those in
Tokyo back in November 2016.
 |
Not the most enticing sceneries of Nagoya
|
Nagoya Castle was originally built at the beginning of the Edo period (17th century), during which it was one of the most important castles in Japan. A large part of the castle was destroyed by American bombing during World War II in 1945. The main keep was reconstructed in 1959 and was open to the public as a museum with exhibitions on the castle’s history until 2018.
 |
| Main Keep of Nagoya Castle |
In 2018, new restoration work began on the main keep, and it will not be accessible to the public until at least 2028, as the city plans to dismantle and rebuild it using original materials. So we didn’t get to enter the keep, but that wasn’t much of a loss for two reasons: we had already seen the interior of a similar castle in
Himeji in May 2016, and here, the experience was made up for by the newly reconstructed Honmaru Palace.
 |
Replica of shachi - a mythical creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a carp. Two of these creatures sit atop the main keep and are believed to protect the castle from fire.
|
Honmaru Palace was opened to the public in June 2018. After its destruction in World War II, its restoration to its original state was finally completed - using the same techniques and materials that were used in the past.
 |
Honmaru Palace
|
The interior of the palace is richly decorated in golden tones. Just like at Himeji Castle, we had to take off our shoes. The palace consists of 13 buildings with 30 rooms, and it’s clear that life here 400 years ago must have been quite luxurious.
Museum of science and technology
After visiting the Nagoya castle we headed to Nagoya City Science Museum.
 |
Crab Burger
|
 |
| The Earth |
Nagoya City Science Museum boasts one of the largest planetariums in the world. However, we didn't visit it.
 |
| The Planetarium |
The museum is quite large, split into three parts - nature science, technology and astronomy.
 |
Map of the interior of the science museum
|
At the museum, we experienced firsthand what it’s like at -30 degrees Celsius, observed electrical discharges (and nearly went deaf from the Tesla coils), explored the water cycle, and saw a 9-meter-tall tornado presented in a style reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz.
 |
Periodic table of the elements with samples of each of them (except the radioactive ones)
|
 |
Static electricity can work wonders with your hair
|
 |
A lovely and interesting presentation on how tornadoes work
|
Overall, though, I would have appreciated more English - not all the signs (and certainly not the presentations) were translated. Well, time to learn Japanese!
 |
| Nagoya mosaic on the sidewalk |
Summary: I find it a bit difficult to evaluate Nagoya, as it didn’t particularly impress me overall, but the Honmaru Palace and some of the science museum exhibits are worth seeing. It’s a pity that the main keep of the castle won’t be open for a long time, and also that more of the museum’s texts aren’t translated into English. Whether it’s worth stopping in Nagoya is up to you to decide.
Next blog:
Komentáre
Zverejnenie komentára