Inuyama Castle Town

My plan was to spend two days in Inuyama City, but because the typhoon left me with no choice but to shorten my stay, I spent the one day I had exploring the city's castle town.

Inuyama's manhole cover features Inuyama Castle and cormorant fishing

Just a 7-minute walk from where I was staying was Honmachi-dori, the street which leads to Inuyama Castle. But Honmachi-dori is not just any ordinary street, it is a street flanked with many old, interesting buildings—a street with an old-timey feel.

Stroll along Honmachi-dori in a kimono

One of the old buildings along Honmachi-dori is the Old Isobe House 旧磯部家住宅, a restored merchant house, which is open to the public from 9AM to 5PM daily for free. This house was owned by a family who ran a kimono shop. Looking at it from the front, it looks small. But don't let that fool you. Let it fool the tax man: the narrower the front, the lesser the tax, because taxes in the Edo Period depended on just the frontage width. The Old Isobe House is narrow, but long—typical of machiya townhouses (shop and residence in one). 

The property consists of the main house, a back parlor, and storehouses. The main house is what we can see from the street. This was built sometime between 1865 to 1868. The back parlor was built in 1870, and the storehouses, which are situated at the far end of the property, was built in 1875.

 Old Isobe House

Inside the Old Isobe House

Like most areas visited by tourists, some of the buildings in Honmachi-dori have been turned into souvenirs shops, restaurants, snack stalls. But, no matter, it means I won't have any problem if I get hungry. An eye-catching one was Inuyama Inouetei, a restaurant with two very long radishes hanging from its eaves. But, too early for lunch, I settle for a stick of goheimochi at Yamada Goheimochiten instead.

Very long radishes hanging from the eaves of Inuyama Inouetei

 Yamada Goheimochiten

Goheimochi

At the end of Honmachi-dori are two Torii gates. I go through the red one and pass by Sanko Inari Shrine and Haritsuna Shrine on my way to Inuyama Castle.

Sanko Inari Shrine includes many small shrines where you can pray for luck, for finding a husband/wife, and for money. The shrine has a pathway with rows of red torii and an area where, if you want to increase your wealth, you should wash your money. I want to have a ton of money so I could afford to go to Japan often and/or stay longer, but I do not want to bring wet money. Dilemma! Guess I will have to settle for short once-a-year trips.

Sanko Inari Shrine

The ema (wishing plaques) at Sanko Inari Shrine

A statue of a white horse in Haritsuna Shrine

What catches my eye at Haritsuna Shrine is the statue of a white horse. No idea what its significance is. If you know, please tell me.

I leave Haritsuna Shrine and its unmoving white horse behind and take the inclined pathway which leads to the gate of Inuyama Castle (open daily from 9AM to 5PM). But first, I buy a ticket at the ticket booth (the admission fee is 550 yen; combo ticket with Urakuen Garden is 1300 yen).

A friendly, elderly, smiley man, who is a volunteer at Inuyama Castle, greets me as I enter the castle grounds and offers to take my photo. I oblige: I will have at least one proper photo of myself during this solo trip. He tells me where to stand and snaps a photo with Inuyama Castle as my background.

Inuyama Castle, built in 1537, is one of the twelve castles in Japan that has survived natural disasters and wars. I enter the castle (with shoes off) and follow the designated path through all four floors (the castle is empty) until I reach the topmost floor and its wraparound balcony that offers a view of the town and of Kiso River. 

Inuyama Castle

Inuyama Castle grounds

Kiso River

After visiting Inuyama Castle, I make my way back down, passing the shrines, until I reach the main road and walk half a kilometer to Urakuen Garden (open daily from 9AM to 5PM; admission fee is 1000 yen or buy the combo ticket with Inuyama Castle for 1300 yen).

There are three tea houses in Urakuen Garden: Koan, Jo-an, and Genan. The most important of which is Jo-an Tea House, a designated National Treasure. Beside Jo-An Tea House stands Shoden-in Shoin, a study room. Both buildings were built in 1618 and were originally located in Kyoto. Both were transferred to Urakuen Garden in 1972 and the interiors can only be viewed from outside.

Koan Tea House

 Jo-an Tea House

Inside Jo-an Tea House

It was a beautiful, serene stroll through the lush greens of Urakuen Garden (although it was autumn when I visited, the garden was a still green). Once I had circled the garden and seen its three tea houses, I paused at the exit. One of the staff saw me and asked where I'm from. He happily told me he'd been to the Philippines many years ago and bid me follow him to the garden (thinking I had just arrived) where we wove our way to Koan Tea House. Outside Koan Tea House, he showed me its tsukubai, a wash basin, used for ritual cleansing before a tea ceremony. At a glance, the tsukubai did not seem particularly interesting, but upon his invitation to lean closer and listen, there the secret was revealed: a beautiful tinkling sound, like that of a Japanese Koto (a traditional Japanese stringed instrument). If not for the brief pause I took at the exit earlier and him spotting me at that moment, I wouldn't have discovered this little secret. I thanked him for his time and took my time strolling through this garden a second time.


This article is now available as a mobile app. Go to GPSmyCity to download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article.

Chubu Challenge 2017

Nagoya Accommodations: Hostel Wasabi Nagoya Ekimae, Glocal Nagoya Backpackers Hostel
Eating and Gawking in Nagoya
Toyota Museums: Havens for Car Enthusiasts
Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari
Inuyama Castle Town (you're here!)

Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari

Inuyama is a city just 30 minutes by train from Nagoya or an hour by train from Chubu Centrair International Airport. Although Inuyama is very close to Nagoya and can be visited on a day trip, I wanted to spend two days in Inuyama and chose to stay a night there.

Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari

4-6 Nishibabasaki, Inuyama, Aichi 484-0081

+81 90 9941 5214

Why I chose Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari:

• 3000 yen for a futon in dorm (budget right on target!)
• 15-minute walk from Inuyama Station
• 7-minute walk to the castle town at Honmachi-dori

Pleasant surprises at Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari:

• the owner offered to pick me up at Inuyama Station
• there was a basket of free snacks in the dining area
• I was the only guest at the time and I had the room all to myself!

Photo grabbed from Agoda

Photo grabbed from Agoda

The futon was ready when I arrived!

A Japanecdote:

I planned to stay at Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari on the second night of my trip. But because my flight was cancelled because of typhoon, Inuyama became my first destination upon arrival.

My flight arrived at night and I left Chubu Centrair International Airport a few minutes before 10PM. I arrived at Inuyama Station at 11:13PM and 亜沙美 Asami, the owner of the guesthouse, was waiting for me at the station's exit gate—she offered to pick me up at the station because it was late; it would take 15 minutes on foot from station to guesthouse. Because I was so hungry, I asked if we could stop by a konbini and she kindly obliged. I hurriedly bought two onigiri because, as I said, very hungry. When we reached the guesthouse, which was actually her home, she gave me a bowl of curry. Hunger must have showed on my face! She told me she had been to Cebu a year ago and went to Moalboal, but having arrived in Moalboal late at night, could not find a place to stay, but a very kind tricycle driver offered to let her stay at their house. I guess her offering me food was kind of a way to pay it forward.

A bowl of curry

The following day, before I went out to explore the town, she gave me a key to the house because she said she'd be out all day and could not see me off at check out time. It just surprised me how she entrusted the key to her house to me, a stranger.

Chubu Challenge 2017

Nagoya Accommodations: Hostel Wasabi Nagoya Ekimae, Glocal Nagoya Backpackers Hostel
Eating and Gawking in Nagoya
Toyota Museums: Havens for Car Enthusiasts
Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari (you're here!)
Inuyama Castle Town

Toyota Museums: Havens for Car Enthusiasts

Toyota is one of Japan's popular car manufacturers; probably the largest in Japan. The public can learn about this titan of a company, with over 100 years of history, through its four museums in Aichi Prefecture: Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, Toyota Automobile Museum, Toyota Kaikan Museum, and Toyota Kuragaike Commemorative Hall.  During my trip, I visited the Toyota museums which focused on cars.

Toyota Kaikan Museum

Monday to Saturday 930AM to 5PM

Free admission

The Toyota Kaikan Museum, right next to the Toyota Headquarters, has exhibits about Toyota's eco-friendly approach through their hybrid cars (pretty cool cross-section models of hybrid cars!), about technologies they have developed to create safe cars, about their production process (some displays in this area are interactive), and finally, a showroom of their latest car models (including their luxury line, Lexus).

A car engine

 Fuel cell system

 i-Road with an Active Lean System

 This car won in the 24 Hours Endurance Race

 Lexus vehicles

Toyota Plant Tour

Monday to Friday 1030AM to 1PM

Free admission

Advance reservation required (as early as three months prior to desired date)

The reason I went to Toyota Kaikan Museum was actually for the Toyota Plant Tour. The meetup point for the tour was at the Toyota Kaikan Museum. From there, a bus took us to the Toyota Plant, a 20-minute drive from the museum.

Toyota has several plants around Japan, and the plant we visited was making Prius and Camry models.

For someone who knows how to drive but knows nothing about cars, the Toyota Plant Tour was very interesting. I learned how a car is made: from stamping (steel sheets are cut and formed into automobile body parts) to welding (400 parts welded by robots!) to painting (again, by robots) to quality checks (for dents and paint) by sight and hand, to assembling (installation of all the other parts of the cars—electrical, engine, dash, chassis, seats, steering wheel, tires, windshield, etc), then inspection of the finished automobile (speed, brakes, wheel alignment, etc).

It was during assembly we got to watch them work up close. Installing the dash, the engine, the interiors, etc. Inspections were then made after the assembly. I thought it was amazing how the assembly line is not only for one car model but for multiple models. How do they not get confused? Of course they have their processes in place to avoid mistakes.

No cameras allowed during the Plant Tour, so here are dioramas of the assembly line that I saw in the Toyota Kaikan Museum.

 Diorama of the Toyota production line

Diorama of the Toyota production line

Toyota Automobile Museum

Tuesday to Sunday 930AM to 5PM

Admission fee 800 yen

The Toyota Automobile Museum is just as its name suggests: it's an automobile museum. But not just for Toyota cars! It was initially opened to showcase Japanese-made vehicles, but now it houses over 140 cars from around the world, from the 1880s up to the present. It is quite a collection! As one moves from one exhibit to another, one is transported through time, witnessing the evolution of automobiles.

Included in the exhibit are a three-wheeled Benz from 1886, said to be the first gasoline-powered car, with a top speed of 15kph; a Benz Velo from 1894, one of the earliest commercially produced automobiles; a De Dion-Bouton from 1898, a three-wheeled bicycle with a motor, which was very popular in Europe at that time. Then came the cars that looked like Archie Andrews's red jalopy! And the expensive brands like Rolls Royce, Cadillac, Daimler, Bentley, Bugatti (to name a few)...and the Japanese brands like Toyota (of course, it's the Toyota Automobile Museum after all), Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, etc. There were so many shiny classic cars to drool over!

 1886 three-wheeled Benz (left) and 1894 Benz Velo (right)

 De Dion-Bouton from 1898

 1902 Baker Electric. Yes, an electric car!

Does this 1909 Thomas Flyer Model L look like Archie Andrews's jalopy?

The Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport (1930) won many races

 1955 Mercedes Benz 300SL Coupe

Clockwise from top left: Fujicabin Model 5A (1955), Messerschmitt KR200 (1955),

BMW Isetta (1959), Hino Renault Model PA62 (1962)

These Toyota museums are easily accessible from Nagoya City via train rides:

• Toyota Kaikan Museum — From Nagoya Station, take the JR Tokaido Line to Okazaki Station, then transfer to the Aichikanjo Line to Mikawa-Toyota Station. Toyota Kaikan Museum is a 15-minute walk from Mikawa-Toyota Station.
• Toyota Automobile Museum — From Nagoya Station, take the Subway Higashiyama Line to Fujigaoka Station, then take the Tobu Kyuryo Line (Linimo) to Geidaidori Station. Toyota Automobile Museum is a 5-minute walk from Geidaidori Station.

This article is now available as a mobile app. Go to GPSmyCity to download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article.

Chubu Challenge 2017

Nagoya Accommodations: Hostel Wasabi Nagoya Ekimae, Glocal Nagoya Backpackers Hostel

Eating and Gawking in Nagoya
Toyota Museums: Havens for Car Enthusiasts (you're here!)
Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari
Inuyama Castle Town

Eating and Gawking in Nagoya

When I asked a friend what was there to do in Nagoya, she said: eat. With a little bit of googling, I found there is a unique cuisine called Nagoya-meshi. I drooled over the 20 search results. But two days in Nagoya only allowed me to savor four (well, that leaves me with 16 reasons to go back to Nagoya).

Technically, five, since my first one, at Motomachi Coffee, was like hitting two birds...or rather eating two of the Nagoya-meshi—Morning Service and Ogura Toast—in one go. Morning Service is offered in many coffee shops: just order a drink and they'll throw in toast and egg for free. Ogura Toast is toasted bread spread with butter and sweet red bean paste. In Motomachi Coffee, I ordered tea, which comes with bread and egg (Morning Service), and had it upgraded to Ogura Toast (additional butter and sweet red bean paste).

Morning Service with Ogura Toast

Tebasaki, short for tebasaki-karaage, are deep-fried chicken wings with sweet and salty sauce. Tebasaki is bar food: eaten while drinking beer. One night, at Yamachan, everyone was eating chicken wings and drinking beer. Me? I ordered wings and a bowl of rice. No beer. Not the right way to eat tebasaki, but, heck, I wanted chicken wings with rice! Yum!

 Tebasaki

At Yabaton, I tried miso-katsu, which is breaded pork cutlet with miso sauce. 

 Miso-katsu

And, last, and the most expensive of the lot: Hitsumabushi, grilled eel served on a bowl of rice, with a separate selection of condiments, and green tea. The tea is not for drinking, but for mixing with the eel and rice and condiments: one of three ways to eat Hitsumabushi. The other two ways are: 1) just the rice and eel, and 2) mix the rice, eel, condiments. This dish is very popular in Nagoya and I had to wait in line to experience it in Maruya Honten. The best way to eat hitsumabushi in my opinion? With the green tea!

Hitsumabushi

My friend was wrong: eating was not the only thing to do in Nagoya. There was also gawking. Gawking at a castle. Gawking at trains.

Nagoya Castle

名古屋城

Daily 9AM to 430PM

Admission fee 500 yen

There is much to see in Nagoya Castle: the main castle tower, the Honmaru Palace, and the garden. And, if you're lucky, you might spot one or two of the Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai (six army generals like Tokugawa Ieyasu or Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and four soldiers—all important Japanese historical figures) roaming around the castle grounds. During my visit, I spotted Touma, one of the soldiers, flanked by highschool students!

Nagoya Castle was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1610. The main castle tower and the Honmaru Palace were destroyed during WWII. The main castle tower which stands now was built in 1959. The main castle tower is eight floors, but only seven floors can be entered. The top floor is an observation room. The rest of the floors contain exhibits about the castle and its history.  An interesting display is the Kinshachi, a golden creature said to summon water and prevent fire. The two real kinshachi (with about 44kg of gold each!) are on the roof of the castle tower.

The restoration of Honmaru Palace started in 2009 and is scheduled for completion on June 2018. Honmaru Palace is built with hinoki cypress and cedar shingles. The palace has 30 rooms. Most of the rooms are bare in terms of furnishings, but the amazing screen paintings make up for it.

The main tower of Nagoya Castle

Kinshachi

A model of Nagoya Castle and the town

A model of the main tower of Nagoya Castle

View from the observation room (top floor)

Honmaru Palace

Screen paintings

SCMAGLEV and Railway Park

Wednesday to Monday 10AM to 530PM

Admission fee 1000 yen (additional fees for simulators)

In SCMAGLEV and Railway Park, there are over three dozen rolling stock or railway vehicles (powered and non-powered) on display. There are electric locomotives from as early as 1922, steam locomotives, train cars, and generations of shinkansen or bullet trains. Each one has a sign explaining its history and features. And most of it may be entered!

There are also driving simulators (for a fee) for the conventional train and the bullet train, an awesome railway diorama, and a superconducting maglev (magnetic levitation) room where one can experience what it's like to ride a maglev train running close to 600kph! (There is no maglev train yet in Japan, but the first one, which will take you between Tokyo and Nagoya in just 40 minutes, is expected to be operational by 2027.)

Coming from a country without trains, riding trains is one thing I look forward to when visiting Japan. Though not exactly a train buff, I found SCMAGLEV and Railway Park quite fascinating.

 World speed records for steam locomotive (left), bullet train (center), and maglev (right)

 Electric locomotive from 1922

 Steam locomotive from 1940

 An electric car made of wood

 Train interiors over the years

 The first shinkansen (bullet train) had a maximum speed of 220kph

Inside a shinkansen dining car

 Shinkansen train driving simulator

 Railway diorama

This article is now available as a mobile app. Go to GPSmyCity to download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article.

Chubu Challenge 2017

Nagoya Accommodations: Hostel Wasabi Nagoya Ekimae, Glocal Nagoya Backpackers Hostel

Eating and Gawking in Nagoya (you're here!)
Toyota Museums: Havens for Car Enthusiasts
Inuyama Guesthouse Kodinmari
Inuyama Castle Town