Sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth days in Japan

The façade of the old Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright 

Tuesday

The view from our room at the b nagoya:

This emergency exit sign was literally outside our room. Thanks to Amber's frequent warnings, I didn't have any collisions that would have required an exit from the hotel by emergency vehicle:

Ogura Toast 小倉トースト, a Nagoya 名古屋 specialty consisting of sweet red bean paste on bread:

There is no shortage of open-air museums in Japan, but Meiji-mura 明治村 stands out from the crowd. Opened in 1965, the museum contains over 60 structures from around Japan, with most of the buildings preserving the unique blending of Japanese and Western architectural styles that emerged in the Meiji era 明治時代. Reached by bus from Inuyama 犬山, the park serves as a rare repository of buildings reflecting Japan's opening up to the Western world. We would spend most of the day at Meiji-mura, and what follows are some of the highlights of our visit there on the Fourth of July: 

The Reception Hall of Marquis Tsugumichi Saigō House (1880's)

Entrance Porch, Tōkyō School for the Blind (1910)

House of Ōgai Mori and Sōseki Natsume (c. 1887) 

The park is expansive, and a village bus helps reduce the wear and tear that comes from walking around in 30° Celsius-plus heat:

Main Entrance Hall and Lobby, Imperial Hotel (1923). The most famous structure in Meiji-mura, and the one I wanted to see the most:

The table where the Portsmouth Treaty ending the 1904-5 Russo-Japanese War was signed:

Trying in vain to get Mr. Wright to notice the Fallingwater shirt I was sporting that day:

Central Guard Station and Ward, Kanazawa Prison (1907)

My daughter seemed a little too happy to be in a cramped Japanese prison cell. Her mood wouldn't change even after I told her prisons here haven't changed much over the years:

Lunch time:

Hayashi rice ハヤシライス, a dish I haven't had in ages, probably not since the end of the Meiji period:

For dessert Amber had ice cream with a "taste of Meiji" アイス（明治の味):

St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral (1890)

St. Francis Xavier:

The park also has some more traditional-type Japanese buildings that date from the same period:

Bathhouse "Azuma-yu" (c. 1910)

Kureha-za Theater (1892)

We were given a tour of the inner workings of the theater...:

…including the mechanism used for rotating the stage:

Summering House of Lafcadio Hearn (c. 1868)

I've always been a big admirer of 小泉八雲, and have visited his old residence in Matsue 松江. But, damn, people everywhere, east and west, were short back then:

Time for a Ramune ラムネ break:

Barbershop "Kinotoko", Hongo (c. 1910)

Uji-Yamada Post Office (1909)

Japanese Evangelical Church (c. 1907)

This house was actually moved to Meiji-mura from Seattle, where it had been used as a place of worship by the Japanese immigrant community:

Barrack, Sixth Infantry Regiment (1873) 

Amber proved to be a crack shot:

Near the end of our visit, we rode an authentic old Kyōto 京都 streetcar back to the main entrance:

The streetcar goes along Lake Iruka 入鹿池, which the park borders:

"Zagyō-sō", Villa of Prince Kinmochi Saionji (1920)

Kitasato Institute (1915)

The Doctor is in:

Our last stop was at the Nakai Sake-Brewer, where I ordered an ice-cold Matcha Milk in an effort to battle the heat and humidity:

My daughter took a more traditional route with a cup of bitter Matcha 抹茶 tea and a sweet: 

Mie Prefectural Office (1879). It was getting late and we had a bus to catch, so we didn't go inside to have a look. But my wife and I used to live in Mie Prefecture 三重県, so I felt it was my duty to at least snap a photo of the exterior in the late afternoon lighting:

We returned to Inuyama. Following a quick dinner at the station Lotteria branch, we rode the train to the Inuyama-Yūen 犬山遊園 to witness ukai 鵜飼い, the ancient art of cormorant fishing. Inuyama Castle 犬山城, one of only a dozen original castles remaining in Japan, keeps watch over the Kiso River 木曽川. Shu-E and I visited the castle back when we were living in Yokkaichi 四日市:

The boat dock sits near the Inuyama Bridge 犬山橋:

We went out onto the water (a refreshingly cool sensation following the day's typically Japanese summer conditions) to watch the spectacle, whereby trained cormorants, tethered by neck ropes, dive for ayu アユ (sweetfish). The ropes prevent the birds from swallowing the larger fish, which the master will retrieve after the birds regurgitate them once back on the boat. It's a fascinating, albeit controversial, display:

Wednesday

Meiji-mura and the cormorant fishing constituted "my day". Wednesday would be "Amber's day". Being a fan of the works of Hayao Miyazaki 宮崎駿 and Studio Ghibli スタジオジブリ, it came as no surprise that she wanted to visit Ghibli Park ジブリパーク. And so we did, riding the Linimo リニモ magnetic levitation train to get there:

The first phase of Ghibli Park opened last November in the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park 愛・地球博記念公園. My wife and I had visited the Expo while it was open back in 2005, riding the same train to get there:

We spent the day inside Ghibli's Grand Warehouse ジブリの大倉庫:

Ghibli Park is described as an "amusement park", but it doesn't offer any rollercoasters or other such attractions the term brings to mind. Instead, we visited several special exhibits related to the various films released by the studio, including one on the food seen in the movies, and the painstaking methods used to bring them to the screen:

 

Princess Mononoke もののけ姫

My Neighbor Totoro となりのトトロ

Grave of the Fireflies 火垂るの墓, one of the best of Studio Ghibli's offerings, and one of the most depressing films I've ever watched:

Amber really enjoyed herself at the park, and came away with several trinkets as souvenirs. I enjoyed it as well, except...Back in late 2020, I returned alone to Ethiopia following six months wasted in Arlington, Virginia doing nothing much of anything during the height of the COVID-19 epidemic. With the girls spending time in Taiwan, and while counting the days waiting for Amber and Shu-E to rejoin me in Addis Ababa, I binge-watched all 18 Studio Ghibli films included in Amber's box set. All were thoroughly enjoyable, but because I had watched so many in such a short period of time, it was difficult to remember what happened in which particular film. There was a lot of memory jogging taking place while walking around the grand warehouse, not all of it successful!

Our dinner that evening once back in Nagoya's Sakae 栄 district: 

After dinner we perused the shelves at Maruzen 丸善 before finishing the evening at the King Joy キングジョイ game arcade, where the girl distinguished herself at DDR:

The claw machine, however, was a different matter:

Thursday

We passed by this woman feeding crows while on our way to a café to have some breakfast:

With plenty of time to kill before we needed to move on to our next destination, I left it up to Amber how to fill up our final hours in Nagoya 名古屋. She decided upon the Nagoya City Science Museum 名古屋市科学館:

Amber's favorite element is silver:

A lot of kindergarten school groups were visiting the museum during the time we were there:

Amber really wanted to experience the deep freezing room, meant to simulate the conditions faced by scientists stationed in Antarctica:

-30.5°C/-23°F brought back memories of our time in Vilnius, except that back then I wouldn't wear shorts outside in the middle of winter. Fortunately, our time in the deep freeze room only lasted around 15 minutes, so I still had some circulation in my legs when it was over:

My kid plays with a tornado:

Lunch at the museum café:

After lunch, Amber said she wanted a bird's eye view of central Nagoya, so we walked to the TV tower, stopping at the Fukushōin 福生院 Buddhist temple along the way to seek some blessings:

The "three great heroes of Nagoya" - Oda Nobunaga 織田信長, Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 and Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康:

 

Looking down at the city in all directions from the 90 meter (295 feet)-height of the Chūbu Electric Power 中部電気 MIRAI TOWER. Or the Nagoya TV Tower 名古屋テレビ塔, as it was known when I had visited years before:

Being defeated by the sun:

Eventually, it came time to say goodbye to Nagoya, and move on to Kyoto. The obligatory "arrival of the Shinkansen 新幹線" shot every tourist is required to take:

This will be our home while in Japan's ancient capital:

For dinner we had Kyoto-style お好み焼き, yet another winning dining decision made by the girl:

Whiskey and me:

Kyoto, we are here...along with a lot of other foreign tourists.