Where East Meets West

Sunday dawned bright and sunny so the weather was perfect for more sightseeing. My plan was to visit Osu Kannon, a Buddhist temple situated in central Nagoya and then take the shortest route home passing by the grocery store. As it turned out, the plan was perfect but the execution was poor. Lead by my insatiable curiosity I walked the streets rudderless, following any scent that arouse my slightest interest.

After taking a right turn from Osu-dori, I imagined that the temple would be right there, visible to the naked eye. Instead all I saw was office buildings one after another. For a second I thought I had already missed the turn but after checking my map I was convinced I was in the right place. A hundred meters further and there it was, hiding in the shadow of the taller buildings. This is something I really love about Japan, that at each turn, you can find something unexpected whether it's a small peaceful temple, a narrow backstreet packed with tiny shops or just something that looks totally out of place.

Osu Kannon.

A statue at Osu Kannon.

The temple area was quite crowded and people of all ages were making offerings, praying in front of the shrine and burning incense sticks. From the eastern side of the temple area starts a maze of small walking streets crammed with tiny shops from ramen booths and vegetable stalls to electronic retailers and clothing stores. Some of the shop names where quite amusing such as the m/c clothing store, with a motorbike parked in front of it, called Skooter or the coffeehouse chain Café de Crié ("café of shouting"). Somehow beauty salons had managed to got their names right such as Beauty Salon Cuore ("heart") or Beauty Salon Dandy House but still most of the attempts to sound original were horrible. It's like Hollywood stars naming their children, it's not their forte.

Lost in the labyrinth.

If you can find your way to the other end of the labyrinth you arrive at the edge of Sakae. Not as colossal or breathtaking as for example Shibuya in Tokyo, the district has more of a Western feel to it. For example Hisaya Odori, one of the main streets in Sakae, has the same kind of mellow atmosphere as Esplanadi in Helsinki with a park in the middle of trafficked streets. But the similarities end there. Especially at night, when all the neon signs are lit, Sakae is the unresting heart of the city with its numerous restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

View of Hisaya Odori from the Galaxy platform.

More Sakae.

After marveling the city for a few hours I had lost track of my position, but owing to the grid-like structure of the city, I was quite easily able to find my way into the right direction and eventually got to the grocery store. After spending a few days more or less just wandering in the city, I'm really starting to like it. Eager words of a newcomer? We'll see...

A Walk in The Park

Friday we took advantage of a day off to go visit Nagoya Castle and Sakae, the city's buzzing shopping and nightlife district.

Noora and I took the subway at the nearby Tsurumai park to the western edge of the city centre, JR Nagoya station, which is a small city in itself packed with department stores, hotels and skyscrapers. Although the morning rush hour was over, the atmosphere was quite hectic compared to the surroundings of the university.

Nothing is impossible in Japan, like this ferris wheel accessed from the department store.

We decided to go by foot all the way to Nagoya Castle and have a better look at the city. As soon as we left the immediate vicinity of the station, the mood suddenly calmed down and one or two blocks away from the station you could barely notice you had just left the main station of Japan's fourth largest city. And this applies to most of the busy, heavily trafficked roads too. As soon as you take a turn between the big company buildings bordering the main streets, calmer, sometimes even eerily quiet small streets unfold.

Wandering through the streets and gazing around us, we arrived in no time to the moated Nagoya Castle sitting pretentiously in the middle of the park. The castle was reduced to ashes in World War II bombardments but has since been reconstructed. The exterior resembles faithfully the old castle, but the interior is made of concrete and holds a museum with paintings and a few samurai armors and swords. 

Nagoya castle

On Saturday the laboratory held a BBQ party at Shounai Ryokuchi park to welcome the new members and bid farewell to those who were leaving. We arrived around noon and after a short speech and a little organizing the grills were ablaze. A Japanese BBQ party is very similar to a Finnish one: there's meat (including sausages), beer, chatting and ball games (yes, yes). The mood was very cheerful and relaxed from the beginning and there was an overall sense of fellowship. The day culminated in a drinking game and to my astonishment even the professors partook. And no one was spared. All in all I was very happy with the BBQ party. I got to know most of the laboratory staff before starting to work on Monday and I was able to slip some Japanese here and there in the conversations.