Tuesday 1 April
A pre-paid taxi was arranged to pick us up from the hotel and take us to Odawara station, about 50 minutes away. In our hands were the tickets for the Shinkansen (high-speed train.) We only needed to be there on time and to find which platform to go to. On the platform we noticed there were lines for people to queue behind for each carriage. It worked super-well. The train stopped, passengers alighted in an orderly fashion and then people got on without any pushing, shoving or elbowing. Two minutes later the train was off, exactly on schedule.
We arrived in Nagoya one hour later, and found our way to the Marriott Hotel which was directly above the station. Nagoya felt very friendly somehow. I liked it.
Once again, we couldn’t check in until 2 o’clock, but the hotel staff told us our suitcases had arrived safely from Tokyo, and would be put directly into our room.
We had a very brief hour spare to look round before meeting our tour guide for an afternoon tour of Nagoya, so we picked up our maps and cameras and sallied forth to find the Noritake china factory. Our first dinner service when we got married was made by Noritake. I never imagined we’d see where it was made.
Walking very fast, we managed to navigate the streets and arrive at the factory and gardens. We went into the museum and saw the historic designs, and how the pots were made, and even watched someone painting a pot. There were little videos but we didn’t have time to watch them, unfortunately. Next time… Then we returned very fast to the hotel, just in time to meet our tour guide, Teruko. However, our four companions on the tour were not so prompt and were 30 minutes late!
Finally we set off in 2 taxis to the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology. It was a lot of history about how Mr Toyoda (he changed the spelling later) started out making weaving machines, and then his son carried on the business and moved into car manufacture. Our guide spent far too long explaining the looms, so we only watched the film about the car manufacture. We would have liked to see the actual robots and how they work. But no time left. I did manage to buy a packet of ‘hiyoko’ chicken pastries for us to try later; they were delicious.
We pressed on by taxi to Nagoya Castle. There we found lots of little market stalls outside the gates, selling food and souvenirs. There we ate freshly made taiyaki (pastries in the shape of fish, filled with red bean jam or chocolate.) The sakura was fully out by this time and many Japanese were mingling with the tourists admiring the blossom.
We were too tired to appreciate the castle – our guide was very long-winded and wanted us all to stay with her. The best part of the castle was the floor which represented an old village, and we could see what different houses would look like inside, including the police station.
That evening we had dinner with Yuko Nakaya, Kazue, Motoko, Yumi Matsuda in a restaurant near the hotel. We stayed out late talking a lot, laughing and exchanging news, and trying out ‘Nagoya meshi’ ( lots of small plates of local specialities) including eel. We exchanged gifts too, and prayed for the ladies before they accompanied us back to the hotel.
Our room was a corner room on the 21st floor, so we had great views of the city in two different directions.
Sakura Sakura - a journey through Japan 