Nagoya is Japan’s fourth largest city, after Tokyo (the runaway winner), Yokohama, and Osaka. But it’s mainly a city you’d go to for business, not as a tourist. So why are we here?

A central theme of our trip is castles, and while limited examples remain around Nagoya and Aichi prefecture, this is where daimyo Oda Nobunaga started on his path to unifying Japan under his rule, as the Oda clan territory was in this area. Also, northwest of the city is where Oda’s eventual successor Tokugawa ended the long road to unification with the large, decisive battle of Sekigahara.

A town/castle that featured in the run-up to Sekigahara was Ogaki, northwest of Nagoya and southeast of where the final battle would be held. The “western army” under Ishida Mitsunari made Ogaki their base, as the “eastern army” under eventual shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu went around, taking Gifu castle to the northeast, before eventually marching west toward Kyoto, leading to the final battle (which, of course, he won).

Ogaki castle today is just a reconstruction that houses a museum of information about this period, with the castle grounds now mainly a park.

Ogaki is not just known for military history. One of Japan’s revered poets, haiku master Bashō apparently ended a long journey that inspired Oku no Hosomichi in Ogaki, and there is now a walking path along a canal with his poems inscribed in stone.

That’s my translation of the poem, another translation and more info is here: https://matsuobashohaiku.home.blog/2021/06/28/yamadera-matsuo-basho/

Returning to Nagoya, we took advantage of the hotel’s laundry facilities before heading out to Nagoya’s Sekae district, which is a long, grassy park in the middle of the city with shopping, cafés, and a large tower.

Shirakawago is UNESCO World Heritage site preserving and maintaining an example of a traditional Japanese farming village. In particular, the steep thatched roof 2-3 story house style called gassho-zukuri (praying hands) because of the silhouette.

That said… Shirakawago is also a living, working village that people live in, and also a well-known tourist spot. So the feeling of traditional village is a bit diminished by the throngs of tourists, mini-cars driving by, periodic snack/souvenir shops and the mostly non-traditional housing styles that outnumber the traditional ones. We had previously visited a “living museum” Hida no Sato in Takayama, and I learned more and got a better sense of place from there, as you could go in all the buildings and it was a more consistently historic feeling.

From here, we took a bus to Takayama, then one of my all-time favorite train journeys, from Takayama to Nagoya. The train follows a turquoise-colored river through some very scenic valleys and rocky gorges, which my through-the-window snapshot skills probably didn’t capture well.

The next few days we’ll be in Nagoya (more on that tomorrow) and taking a bit of a breather before diving into Kyoto.

Another travel day today, and a bit of a complex one. From Matsumoto, we’re headed to the preserved historic village of Shirakawago (White River District). The direct way would be a bus up and over the Japanese Alps to Takayama (itself a lovely town with a historic quarter), then a bus from there to Shirakawago. Unfortunately the bus timetables didn’t line up for our needs, so we took a longer way around: train to Nagano, shinkansen to Kanazawa (home to the famous garden Kenrokuen), and a bus to Shirakawago. Then when we got there, a shuttle took us to our hotel, which was a bit removed ftom the historic district, thought we could get a peek at it.

Our hotel turned out to be a joint venture with Dormy Inn, the budget spa-hotel chain we stayed at in Tokyo. So it was slightly more upscale than a Dormy Inn though still not as posh as a true ryokan. And it has an onsen bath, which was very nice. Apparently I had reserved a two-room suite, which I didn’t recall doing, but it was nice to have our own rooms again.

Todays adventure is mainly Matsumoto-jo (jo meaning castle). It’s one of only 12 remaining castles in Japan that still exist in their original form, and it is the only remaining 6 story castle. Due to its black exterior it is called the “crow castle”. We had a rather grey day unfortunately, with on and off rain, so the photos aren’t peehaps what they could be.

After touring the castle we went into town a bit, to the “frog street” shopping area. A variety of small shops and temporary stalls were set up. In particular we patronized the senbei (rice cracker) and taiyaki (fish-shaped sweet-bean paste filled pastry) shops.

A small stone stairway led down to the river that runs through town. Across the river was a district full of “kura” or storehouses. Thick walled and covered in plaster to resist fire, merchants built these to protect their goods. They can be found in preserved merchant towns, and Matsumoto had quite a few. Even our ryokan had design elements from kura.

Our ryokan was quite far from the city center in a neighborhood that had many small onsen hotels and also a large public onsen, which seemed to be used by locals as much or more than by tourists.

Today was our last day in Tokyo, as we are headed to a ryokan (traditional inn) in Matsumoto in the Japanese Alps. It was also a grey, rainy day that was suited to sitting in a train for a few hours, though not so much for picture taking.

Our ryokan is out on the edge of town, in a small “onsen district” with a few other ryokan and a public onsen (natural hot spring bath). Our room looks out on a small garden, and the constant noise of JR trains has been replaced by the sound of birds.

Our kaiseki dinner was a seemingly endless stream of small bowls and plates of delicious traditional japanese foods which we paired with a selection of sake. A visit to the onsen completed a very relaxing evening.

Started out the morning with a plan of going to the amazing Shosen Book Tower, only to discover it opens at 11am. Alas. Instead I wandered along the Kanda river until I got to a relatively famous (among train otaku anyway) viewpoint where you can see multiple train lines converge.

The view is from the Ochanomizu bridge, which literally translates to “water for tea”, apparently there was a particlarly good source of water for brewing tea here back in the Edo period.

Another thing I came across was Yushima Seido, a Confucian temple and an important center of learning during the Tokugawa Shogunate.

As I was wandering through the Kanda neighborhood there were signs of prep for the big Kanda Matsuri festival. Small portable shrines that will be paraded through town were being prepared, and lanterns had been hung in doorways.

Finally did get to the Shosen Book Tower. 9 floors, each with their own focus: novels, manga, hobbyist magazines and books, langauge learning, IT learning, and more, all sort of wrapped around a core of escalators. Its a fun place to browse.

Along the way we came across a donut shop, and had a “creme brulee” filled donut. Cream filling and a creme brulee crust on top. It did not disappoint.

Motobike Spotting

Okay, might have overdone the first day a bit. Six mikes of walking, full sun, not on a good sleep schedule yet – so today was a bit of a rest day.

Still, it was a short jaunt up to Ueno Park, which we stayed near before. Below is a then/now of the hotel we stayed in before – it’s the white building left of center (top pic) and grey in bottom pic (left of blue wrap). Looks like it changed hands.

Really didn’t go to the park to do anything, just relax (and play a little Pokemon Go tbh). Still, this is the Shinobazunoike Benten-do temple in the middle of the lake.

Also stopped by the Ameyoko shopping street. Always busy and full of vendors. The name comes from either America Neighborhood (yokocho) because black-market American goods were available post-war, or before that, Ameya (candy) Yokocho because sweets were sold there. Stumbled upon an almost hidden temple nearby and paused for a few moments of peace in the chaos.

Later we did a bit of light shopping around Akihabara and had some quitessential Japan experiences. I mean, Akihabara itself is an experience, with all the games/tech/anime shops, and all the touts for the maid cafes lining the street. But more generally, there is the “family restaurant” and then there’s Don Quijote (DonKi).

It had started to rain so we went into “Royal Host” for a meal and to wait out the rain. Yes, it’s basically a japanese Denny’s, but yushoku (“western food”) is kind of it’s own thing. Anyway, I had my first authentic omurice, and my son had the seafood doria. Is it great food? Not really, but it’s a common manga trope. The shop itself was large and had a great 2nd floor view, and was a very pleasant place to relax for a while.

Seafood doria and garlic toast

Then it was on to Don Quijote. DonKi is a discount store that talks to you. It’s noisy and chaotic and full of things from kit kats to cosmetics, cocktails to cosplay, clothing to cutlery. At various points there are ads, or sometimes warnings, playing from tinny little speakers. I really can’t stay in there too long but we actually found some things we needed (and a few we just wanted). No photos from there, but a few as we continued to wander Akihabara as it grew dark and the lights came on.

There’s a lot of things I could say about my room. It’s tiny (typical for Tokyo) and has no view, not exactly quiet, etc. But what really struck me is that you could literally walk in here with the clothes on your back (and money) and they would supply everything else. Toiletries, pajamas, whatever you need. You could wash your clothes while you relax in the sento bath, and come out clean, fresh and neatly groomed. It’s kind of interesting what that says about Tokyo.

Today mainly had one goal – visiting the Imperial Palace. A short tour is available, but tequires prior online signup or showing up day-of and hoping there is a spot. I chose the former route.

The Japanese Imperial Family is the worlds oldest hereditary monarchy, going back to 660 BC by some accounts, though only verifiable to 539 AD. Still, quite a while.

Most of that time, the fam has resided in Kyoto, from 794 AD to somewhere around 1868 when the emperor took back power from the Tokugawa Shogunate and moved into part/most/all of what had been Edo Castle, renaming Edo to Tokyo (literally “eastern capitol”) along the way.

Edo castle itself had been just a moderate sized castle until the first Tokugawa shogun made his home base and expanded it significantly, partly as a way of giving the daimyos something to do other than make war with each other.

The net result is (the remains of) a sprawling castle complex which the Imperial Family uses most of, and we got a peek of a small part of.

Getting to the palace starts with historic Tokyo Station.

From there we walked through the downtown Marunouchi district, which itself was once part of the castle complex, to arrive at Edo castle /Imperial Palace.