Today was a Zero day for me because i wanted to go on sightseeing one of the biggest city in Japan. My Hostel was located right in the center but i wanted to go both to the northern and southern direction.
12:00 starting the trip and heading to Atsuta Jingu and the Miya no Watashi Park which were my Tokaido landmarks for the old station Miya. Excuse my ignorance but apparently the Atsuta Jingu is a very famous and important shrine Japan’s with several millions of low and high ranking visitors. The area is quite big and reminds a bit of the Meiji Jingu area in Tokyo however probably only 90% smaller.
13:30 Next station was the Miya no Watashi park as a remaining landmark of the old Miya-juku. Since Miya-juku was located near the Nagoya castle, a major center of political power, and was at the junction of several routes such as the Tokaido route, it developed into the biggest station of the Tokaido highway due its major economical and strategical importance. The first Tokugawa Shogun also hold his ship at the nearby docks ready to transit goods and people [efn_note] aichi-now.jp, Accessed: 24.08.2019 [/efn_note]. In my opinion the park is rather small and the buildings are all reconstructed so i didn’t stay long here.
15:30 arriving at the Osu Kannon Temple. There is quite a backstory of this temple but essentially a priest retreated for 100 days and prayed to know who he should enshrine in a newly built temple so that people would be rescued and blessed. On one day he received enlightenment which said “The great Compassion of Kannon offers compassion which is of infinite benefit and is therefore venerable to all people” and so he did. The Temple itself is quite big and centrally located next to a shopping street.
16:30 arrived at Nagoya castle. The castle site consist of a (recently rebuild) palace and several towers including one very remarkable castle tower. Nagoya castle used to be the residence of one of the three branches of the ruling Tokugawa family therefore ranking high in political and economical importance [efn_note] japan-guide, accessed 24.08.2019[/efn_note]. The castle site is big and includes some tea houses and a Japanese garden area. It is possible to spend several hours here but you should calculate with at least 1h. Especially the rebuild palace was amazing and reminded me a bit of the palace of Versailles. It also had several waiting rooms, was very spacious and luxurious.
I don’t know whether this is intentional but like in Kakunodate explained the straight lines and the shogun sitting on a slightly higher elevation indicate their rankings / hierarchy.
The entrance fee was 500 Yen.
Fun fact: The main castle tower was built with the help of several other feudal lords. To indicate their support and help they marked every building stone with their respective crest.
I also walked past the Shikemichi district which is said to have historic preserved buildings but it was not as big of a place as i was expecting.
20:00 i arrived at the Oasis 21 area. This area’s theme is “Space Ship Alpha”. The ground level is the “Field of Green” and is a very well maintained park area with lights marking the path in the dark and many seating possibilities. The main attraction would be the “Galaxy Platform which is 14m above ground and freely accessible. On the glass deck is a pool like water area to create an interesting ripple pattern when seen from below. This area is definitely gets to my top ten park area in Japan list. The changing lights keep the platoon interesting, it is not too crowded, quite high (sadly not high enough to see the city) and the distance to other buildings is far enough to not get a suffocating feeling. There is however a, as it seemed, secret place just nearby to oversee this park. And that is at the nearby Aichi Arts museum. There exists a window section at the eleventh floor, however no one seemed to know how to get to the eleventh floor. As it turned out you have to get to the tenth floor and take the stairs to the eleventh floor. This floor is quite hot and not very enjoyable but you can get a nice shot from here.
Although today was my Zero day i still accumulated some kilometers.
[From memory]:I had a very big blister for at least the last 3 days at my right foot which grew bigger and bigger because my shoe was preassuring it from the side. Including today the first hour was slightly painful but i got used to it (maybe because the bubble would “work” its way up my foot.
Steps: 40686 (26.8km)
Spendings: 13.29 Euro Hostel, 2300 food and water