Last weekend was a three day holiday weekend in Japan, and I took advantage of it by going to Nagoya! I am going to break my trip up over three posts, the first is about the three Japanese castles I visited: Nagoya castle, Inuyama castle and Gifu castle.
The first thing I did after arriving at Nagoya was to visit Nagoya castle. I took the extremely convenient Meguru tourist bus, which had stop announcements in English as well as Japanese and stops at most of the major tourist sights in Nagoya. In all, I think Nagoya was extremely easy to navigate for English speakers!
This is Nagoya castle - it is not the original castle. It was rebuilt after being destroyed by bombings in WWII. The original was made of wood, this one is made of concrete.
On top of the castle there were two giant golden carp. Inside the castle was a replica you could sit on and have a picture taken. The line was very long, so I didn't try it!
Inside the castle was like a museum. It had a lot of traditional armor and information about the castle.
From the top floor of the castle there was a good view of downtown Nagoya. Nagoya station is where the three tall buildings are in the center.
Inside there was some information about the destruction and rebuilding of the castle.
I walked around the castle grounds for a bit and ate a hot dog on a stick for a snack. Then this gnome told me he also liked castles and would like his picture with it :)
The next day I got up early and headed to Inuyama. Inuyama is home to Japan's oldest original castle. After some confusion with the trains, I boarded one and was there in about 30 minutes. The very nice woman at the tourist information desk in the train station showed me how to walk to the castle on a map. It was about a 15 minute walk. Here is my first glimpse of the castle! I seem to have a thing lately for taking pictures of my first sighting of a place. It's fun!
Below the castle there was a shrine with quite a few tori gates.
Here is the castle. It is easy to see that it looks very old!
Inside you had to take off your shoes. The stairs were so steep, almost like a ladder. I can't imagine how people moved about quickly in this castle!
I found this sign amusing. It was next to a window in a little corner of the castle that jutted out from the rest.
Inside there was also a small wooden replica of the castle - it was pretty neat!
The view of Inuyama from the top of the castle. The day started off nice and clear.
Next I boarded a train to Gifu to see my last castle. Gifu castle is on top of Mt. Kinka-san, and there is a cool ropeway leading up to the top. You can also hike, but it looked very steep!
This castle is also not original. It was the least impressive of the three that I saw, but the location made it worthwhile!
Inside this castle was also museum like with helmets and armor. These helmets do not look very comfortable!
At the base of the ropeway was a very nice park. I can only imagine it is beautiful when everything is in bloom, but it still looked pretty good for being winter! I sat on a bench here and had an onigiri snack.
Also on the top of the mountain there was a Squirrel village. I didn't go in, but I could see lots of people playing with and petting squirrels. It looked like fun!
Here is the view of Gifu castle from the road. It is really high up on the mountain!
I had such a great time visiting these Japanese castles, but I also did a lot more in Nagoya. Next up will be some pictures from the awesome illumination at Nabana no Sato!
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