Ko and Joe
Joe is actually spelled "Jyo" in Japanese and it means castle, while "ko" means port. During my Golden Week vacation I did a little travel around Nagoya. I also wanted to go to Osaka to see my friend Erin, but that didn't work out, so the next best thing was to look around the city. My first visit was to Nagoya-ko, "Nagoya Port".
After my room mate Sachou left to go home (it's near Hiroshima) on Tuesday afternoon, I decided that it would be best to get out of the dorm. I certainly had no intention of staying cooped up for the next 6 days!!! So I decided that I would go to the nearest attraction in Nagoya which turned out to be Nagoya Port. I would leave Wednesday morning. I would later learn after I visited Nagoya-ko that almost no one else in the Seminar House had actually gone to see Nagoya-ko. As Ian had put it "It's in the complete opposite direction of everything else that's fun!" By subway lines, Nagoya-ko was indeed in the opposite direction of everything else that was considered "fun".
As most of you know, I haven't ridden the subway system by myself yet and was slightly daunted by the fact I was completely alone, but once I knew how to actually get to Nagoya-ko (Thank god for subway maps!!), it wasn't that bad. Ah! I should probably explain just what Nagoya-ko is exactly. Nagoya-ko is famous for its aquarium and another place called the "Villaggio Italia". I didn't actually get a chance to go to the village, but that leaves it open for another weekend trip though:)
The aquarium was huge and quite beautiful actually and it was near the ocean to to boot!! Like most aquarium's there were dolphins, a killer whale, a Beluga whale and her second newborn calf named Nana. There were also turtles, that looked way too intelligent for their own good *shivers*, penguins of various sorts and colored fish in a tank full of coral.
There was also a lot of side attractions like some $$$ restaurants, one was named Turtle Soup and I bet you can guess just where this restuarant was located!!! Ew!!! There were several movie theaters to watch movies about the animals that took resident in the aquarium, like how the female beluga whale gave birth to her first calf and lost said calf in a few months I believe (the speaker was speaking too fast for me to catch it the actual time period). Also shows for where some of the animals (dolphins and the single killer whale) could perform for an audience (like Sea World only in Japanese!!!), dolphin pools to watch the lil' buggers get hyper and so much more!!!
In one part of the aquarium, they had a history and evolutionary chart about the ocean animals as well as some bones on display. They actually had a baby baleen whale's bones on display and let me tell you that baby was BIG!!!!!!! I had a lot of fun here and I'll probably go back someday. At the end of the trip, as I headed back to Hibino station (where NGU is located), I decided since I liked today so much I would go to Nagoya-jyo (Nagoya castle) tomorrow. I had nothing else better to do aside from sitting around and being bored (like some of the other international students were doing), so why not!!!!
On Thursday morning, I left the house for Hibino station and today I would go farther than I had previously done with the Meijo Line. The Meijo Line is a subway track that goes in a circle around the Nagoya area and the Meijo line has a stop at Nagoya Castle so it wasn't hard. The trick I'm finding is to keep being paranoid so I don't miss my stop. Other Japanese are use to this (even little elementary school kids!) relax and sometimes doze off while on the subway. I don't think i'll be able to do that for a long while.
Anywho, Nagoya-jyo has a lot of history behind it. I won't go into it too deeply history. Nagoya-jyo was originally built in 1525, was taken over and then abondoned in a few short years. In 1610, a man who would later be known as one of three men who wanted to bring all of Japan under a new rule; his name was Tokugawa Ieyasu. Anyway, in 1610, he ordered a new castle to be built on the same site and this would become the true Nagoya-jyo. This would later become a symbol for the Tokugawa Era aka the Edo Period, which was from 1603-1868 and is considered the beginning of Modern Japan.
The original castle was destroyed in a US Air Raid on May 14, 1945. Most of the paintings, artifacts and other treasures were destroyed in the fire. Some, oddly enough, survived the fire and have been properly preserved to this day. The reconstruction began in who knows what year and was completed in 1959. Today, its more like a museum than anything, at least on the inside and quite boring I might add. The castle grounds and gardens were also restored and are by far more interesting. What I find funny is that while the castle burned in the air raid, the gardens, grounds and the walls survived to this day.....Go figure.
The most distingushing feature of the castle are the two tiger-headed fish/dolphins/orca statues (you can decide just what they are!!!) that are said to protect the castle from fire (because their water creatures and water puts out fire). They were originally made of real gold, not one solid object, but made of thousands of gold coins called ryojin (the money of the Edo period). I learned a lot here and found that quite a lot of stuff was destroyed during WWII.
I hope I didn't bore you guys to death;) I felt like I was back in my Japanese History class with Dr. Baumler with that little speech!!!
Some of you have been wondering (picky eater that I am) if I am finding food to eat. Yes, I have found food to eat (grocery shopping is not an easy task in this country), but most of it is American-like food. While I am trying to branch out, most of Japan eats seafood and I am NOT a seafood person. Though when I go out to eat with friends, that's about the only time I eat real, genuine Japanese food. I usually make myself stir-fry and am currently trying out different types of rice, spices and sauce and what little veggie I eat. Most of this stuff is also $$$ and finding it cheap is not easy. Especially when most of the veggies and food products are imported to Japan and go bad in week at best. A couple of days at worst.
Okay, I need to stop typing, my eyes are beginning to twitch and I want to go see the festivities. Talk to ya guys later!!!!!
After my room mate Sachou left to go home (it's near Hiroshima) on Tuesday afternoon, I decided that it would be best to get out of the dorm. I certainly had no intention of staying cooped up for the next 6 days!!! So I decided that I would go to the nearest attraction in Nagoya which turned out to be Nagoya Port. I would leave Wednesday morning. I would later learn after I visited Nagoya-ko that almost no one else in the Seminar House had actually gone to see Nagoya-ko. As Ian had put it "It's in the complete opposite direction of everything else that's fun!" By subway lines, Nagoya-ko was indeed in the opposite direction of everything else that was considered "fun".
As most of you know, I haven't ridden the subway system by myself yet and was slightly daunted by the fact I was completely alone, but once I knew how to actually get to Nagoya-ko (Thank god for subway maps!!), it wasn't that bad. Ah! I should probably explain just what Nagoya-ko is exactly. Nagoya-ko is famous for its aquarium and another place called the "Villaggio Italia". I didn't actually get a chance to go to the village, but that leaves it open for another weekend trip though:)
The aquarium was huge and quite beautiful actually and it was near the ocean to to boot!! Like most aquarium's there were dolphins, a killer whale, a Beluga whale and her second newborn calf named Nana. There were also turtles, that looked way too intelligent for their own good *shivers*, penguins of various sorts and colored fish in a tank full of coral.
There was also a lot of side attractions like some $$$ restaurants, one was named Turtle Soup and I bet you can guess just where this restuarant was located!!! Ew!!! There were several movie theaters to watch movies about the animals that took resident in the aquarium, like how the female beluga whale gave birth to her first calf and lost said calf in a few months I believe (the speaker was speaking too fast for me to catch it the actual time period). Also shows for where some of the animals (dolphins and the single killer whale) could perform for an audience (like Sea World only in Japanese!!!), dolphin pools to watch the lil' buggers get hyper and so much more!!!
In one part of the aquarium, they had a history and evolutionary chart about the ocean animals as well as some bones on display. They actually had a baby baleen whale's bones on display and let me tell you that baby was BIG!!!!!!! I had a lot of fun here and I'll probably go back someday. At the end of the trip, as I headed back to Hibino station (where NGU is located), I decided since I liked today so much I would go to Nagoya-jyo (Nagoya castle) tomorrow. I had nothing else better to do aside from sitting around and being bored (like some of the other international students were doing), so why not!!!!
On Thursday morning, I left the house for Hibino station and today I would go farther than I had previously done with the Meijo Line. The Meijo Line is a subway track that goes in a circle around the Nagoya area and the Meijo line has a stop at Nagoya Castle so it wasn't hard. The trick I'm finding is to keep being paranoid so I don't miss my stop. Other Japanese are use to this (even little elementary school kids!) relax and sometimes doze off while on the subway. I don't think i'll be able to do that for a long while.
Anywho, Nagoya-jyo has a lot of history behind it. I won't go into it too deeply history. Nagoya-jyo was originally built in 1525, was taken over and then abondoned in a few short years. In 1610, a man who would later be known as one of three men who wanted to bring all of Japan under a new rule; his name was Tokugawa Ieyasu. Anyway, in 1610, he ordered a new castle to be built on the same site and this would become the true Nagoya-jyo. This would later become a symbol for the Tokugawa Era aka the Edo Period, which was from 1603-1868 and is considered the beginning of Modern Japan.
The original castle was destroyed in a US Air Raid on May 14, 1945. Most of the paintings, artifacts and other treasures were destroyed in the fire. Some, oddly enough, survived the fire and have been properly preserved to this day. The reconstruction began in who knows what year and was completed in 1959. Today, its more like a museum than anything, at least on the inside and quite boring I might add. The castle grounds and gardens were also restored and are by far more interesting. What I find funny is that while the castle burned in the air raid, the gardens, grounds and the walls survived to this day.....Go figure.
The most distingushing feature of the castle are the two tiger-headed fish/dolphins/orca statues (you can decide just what they are!!!) that are said to protect the castle from fire (because their water creatures and water puts out fire). They were originally made of real gold, not one solid object, but made of thousands of gold coins called ryojin (the money of the Edo period). I learned a lot here and found that quite a lot of stuff was destroyed during WWII.
I hope I didn't bore you guys to death;) I felt like I was back in my Japanese History class with Dr. Baumler with that little speech!!!
Some of you have been wondering (picky eater that I am) if I am finding food to eat. Yes, I have found food to eat (grocery shopping is not an easy task in this country), but most of it is American-like food. While I am trying to branch out, most of Japan eats seafood and I am NOT a seafood person. Though when I go out to eat with friends, that's about the only time I eat real, genuine Japanese food. I usually make myself stir-fry and am currently trying out different types of rice, spices and sauce and what little veggie I eat. Most of this stuff is also $$$ and finding it cheap is not easy. Especially when most of the veggies and food products are imported to Japan and go bad in week at best. A couple of days at worst.
Okay, I need to stop typing, my eyes are beginning to twitch and I want to go see the festivities. Talk to ya guys later!!!!!