Early Autumn Japan Nov 2016 - Inuyama Castle 犬山城

After spending the night at Nagoya, we were up early next morning to take the train to head to Inuyama. Destination was to Inuyama Castle which is somewhere between Gifu and Aichi Prefecture. We went via Meitetsu Line which means JR Pass not usable here and stopped at Inuyamayuen. Train journey was about 40 minutes ride and cost about ¥600.

train station

getting our bearings

Luckily, there were signs to point us to the right direction. The walk to the castle was a scenic one. I think the distance was about 2km from the station to the castle.

Inuyama Castle (on the far left ontop of the hill)

feels slightly like autumn

zoom lens in play

getting nearer

after walking for 20 mins

Inuyama Castle

Clear blue skies, cool weather and nice view made the trek to the hill interesting. Soon, we reached the shrine that eventually leads up to the castle.

at the foot of the castle

pass through the tori gates

The view of the castle was certainly rewarding. Very beautiful. Inuyama Castle is one of the 12 surviving original castles in Japan that was constructed before the Edo period. The castle was built by the Oda clan. Visiting hours are from 9am to 430pm and entrance fee is ¥550.

Tenshu (main donjon)

front view

highest level

One could climb up the castle and get a bird's eye view from the balcony. But I chickened out because the high steps looked abit terrifying. If you are interested, just go to the front steps and take off your shoes and place them in plastic bag provided. Then you may proceed to climb up those scary steps.

how's the view from the top?

autumn colours

Meanwhile, I'll just explore the ground while my friend went up.

view from Inuyama Castle ground (is that Kiso river?)

Found myself a sakura tree on the castle grounds. Not bad, eh?

Sakura blooming with Inuyama Castle in background

We took a different route on our way back to the train station. Passed by many shops and some were pretty interesting. There seemed to have many flower shops in Inuyama. Mostly felt like a sleepy town.

looking back at the entrance to Inuyama Castle

flower shop

cafe

shop selling dango

soy glazed dango

Yup, bought myself a dango and it was quite nice. I think it was ¥100 for a stick. But, had some trouble looking for a rubbish bin after that. Haha!

Early Autumn Japan Nov 2016 - Nagoya Castle 名古屋城

After our late lunch, it was time to visit to Nagoya Castle. Somewhat of a rush beause its closing hours were nearing and moreover the sun will set in just a few hours time so hurry hurry! Getting there was relatively easy. From Nagoya Station, take the Higashiyama Subway Line to Sakae Station and change to the Meijo Subway Line to Shiyakusho Station. Train travelling takes about 10 minutes and cost ¥240. It's about 5 minutes walk to the castle from there.

Nagoya Castle sign outside of  Shiyakusho Station

looks like a wall for lookouts

greeters on castle ground

Purchased the entrance ticket for ¥500 apiece and we went exploring the castle grounds. There were some noise so we went towards it and caught the greeters about to wrap up. They were all dressed up in the shogunate era. Looked quite fun!

greeters at work

Nagoya Castle was ordered by Tokugawa Ieyasu of the Owari branch (尾張徳川家) constructed and completed during the Edo era around 1610 - 1619. That's 10 years to build. Nagoya Castle (名古屋城) is also pronounced as Meijō (名城). The emblem of the Owari is Maruni-mitsubaaoi ("Circle Around Three Hollyhock Leaves"). You can find this emblem on the entrance ticket to the castle.

ticket to Nagoya Castle

Southwest Turret

There was a lot of walking going on and the first structure encountered would be the turrets.

Main keep and the turret in view

The Nagoya Castle main tower has a fan-sloping stone base which looked pretty awesome. The construction of the castle walls were divided between feudal lords, and one of them was Katō Kiyomasa (加藤清正).

Nagoya Castle main tower with fan-sloping stone base (ogi kobai)

Kiyomasa was said to have led 20,000 labourers to haul the stones to build Nagoya Castle's main tower in 6 months time.

stones as the castle wall base

monument to commenmorate Kiyomasa's Stone Pulling

One could enter the main tower and go up the five levels of the tower. Its like a museum where there were interesting exhibit in there.

heading inside

Golden Carp - Kinshachi (金鯱)

If you noticed, the golden carp is mounted on the castle roof. This was used as a talisman to prevent fire as well as the symbol of feudal lord's authority.

replica

Nagoya Castle map

samurai gear

screen paintings

weaponry

Inside there's a small hut that depicts a small inn/rest area for travellers of yesteryears.

resting hut

auspicious/celebratory food

It was kind of tiring to climb up the stairs in the main tower. Lift is available but it takes very long and is usually pretty packed, so let it be used by the elderly.

While my friend was still exploring, I went to find something to eat. Nearby, there was a desserts shop. It was of the vending machine kind, so bought a ticket and passed it to the person manning the shop.

vending machine kind

soft serve is ready

taking a rest

It was actually a pretty cold day to be eating the matcha softserve but I think I need to. Must eat matcha in Japan! Haahaha! So with the wind blowing up sand, I was trying to protect the cup and eat it at the same time.

Very soon, the sun was setting, So we decided to head back and call it a day.

sunset

calling it a day

Click here to see what we ate for dinner.

Early Autumn Japan Nov 2016 - Tokyo to Nagoya (Day 2)

The sun rises pretty early when we were in Tokyo in November. There was a placard in our room at the 12th floor that sort of explains the sights, much like an observatory tower.

view from room

night view

morning view

Since we had about 2 hours before our check-out time, we decided to go down for a morning stroll. It was a lovely day after all. Bright and cool.

hotel sign

at the back of the hotel

joggers path

walked for 35 minutes towards the Imperial Palace gates

National Kabuki Theatre

Grand Arc Hanzomon Hotel

It was about 35 minutes walk to the Palace gates. Encountered many joggers on a Sunday morning and they do run pretty fast! Most seemed to be heading towards the palace gates.

time to use this

heading out of Hanzomon

For the first time ever, was going to take the Shinkansen to Nagoya. WoOohOoo! But it was rather busy at the station, so do arrive early to catch the bullet train. Also, you may want to pack food along. Be there at least half hour early to do all those stuffs.

decided to buy sandwich from here

Shinkansen Hikari

inside the Shinkansen

This shinkansen has trolley service but since we've packed from Tokyo station, we were happy with our meal. I liked my prawn katsu sandwich. Very tasty!

prawn katsu sandwich

or buy refreshments when in the shinkansen

Unlike Hokkaido, no one came to check the tickets. Along the way, there was a stretch where you could see Mount Fuji from the train. Hence, do inform the ticketing officer during reservation that you'd like a seat with a view.

Mount Fuji as viewed from the shinkansen

The shinkansen journey was about 2+ hours. Reached Nagoya and it was a challenge in finding the hotel. We were staying at Nagoya Ekimae Mont Blanc. Google map didn't help much and the locals do not know about this hotel.

hello Nagoya

The hotel was basically towards the left exit of Nagoya station, near to Takashimaya side. Once you've gotten the bearings, then it was easier to locate.

Takashimaya Nagoya

Stayed in a single room on the 6th floor and it was rather tiny. Good thing about the hotel was that there's a large pharmacy next to it. You can stock up on beauty products from there!

Nagoya Mont Blanc Ekimae

compact bathroom

The bathroom was like a space capsule. There was a note that states that the door must be closed when in use as the hot air from the bathroom might set off the fire alarm, if it wasn't. Wow. That'll be a real emergency situation with fire engine and all!

There's a tub in the bathroom, so remember to get the bath salt from the hotel receptionist. One pack per customer and upon request.

bath salt

It was nice to be able to relax in the room and have a quick soak in the tub. For dinner, I had listed down a few things that we must eat in Nagoya; tebasaki, oyakodon or hitsumabushi.

Being new to Nagoya, we headed to lunch at....Takashimaya! Hahaha. Most convenient and no need to think so much. It wasn't fun getting lost and it was most tiring.

what's for lunch?

Spotted Din Tai Fung, and boy, it was popular with long queues. It was actually pretty late for lunch, so we decided to have Hitsumabushi. We were at queue number #4 or something. Just leave your name and wait to be called.

shopfront

The wait was about 15 minutes or so, and we ordered fairly quickly. They have two styles of hitsumabushi. Tokyo or Nagoya style. I chose Tokyo and my friend had the Nagoya style. The difference between the two was that Nagoya style would be eel glazed with sauce and Tokyo was without sauce.

Hitsumabushi (grilled eel bowl) @ ¥3460 each (incl. tax)

Grilled eel bowl (Nagoya style at the top, Tokyo style at the bottom)

It was a super filling meal and rather pricey. But hey, we only lived once.

eaten with soup

After lunch, we wasted no time and headed towards Nagoya castle as we only had one night in Nagoya. The thing about sight-seeing at attractions, is that one must take heed on the opening and closing hours of such places.

Let's continue the story of Nagoya Castle, in another post. Till then, see ya!