Monday 3rd November – Culture Day<\/p>\n
Today was a national holiday in Japan: Culture Day. The only thing that I really noticed about today was that public transportation was following the holiday schedule I’m embarrassed to admit.<\/p>\n
\nAccording to Wikipedia:<\/p>\n
Culture Day (\u6587\u5316\u306e\u65e5 Bunka no Hi) is a national holiday held annually in Japan on November 3 for the purpose of promoting culture, the arts, and academic endeavour. Festivities typically include art exhibitions, parades, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This morning I packed my stuff and called Asami. She was kind enough to escort me to the basu (bus) stop, to make sure I would get to Kyoto eki (station) safely. Basu are still a bit tricky to me, I must say.. But I got to the eki alright!<\/p>\n
I quickly determined where I needed to be, to be able to take the Shinkansen to T\u014dky\u014d, which would take me to Nagoya, where my next stop was. I just got to the platform and shortly thereafter the Shinkansen would arrive. \ud83d\ude42 Best news, as mentioned earlier today: window seat from the start!<\/p>\n
Not long after I got to Nagoya and fortunately I got word from my hosts that the room was ready and that I could come over. So, I figured out what densha (train) to take and after a brisk walk, I got to the apartment. It’s a nice and relatively modern one, but it also had typical Japanese influences. Sliding doors everywhere for example.<\/p>\n
I’m staying with a nice couple, Elmira and Juan and after I got my stuff installed, I was given some instructions about the apartment and we talked about what I could do today.<\/p>\n
I decided that I should first go do some grocery shopping, before heading out. After that I took a train to the Toyota Museum of Industrial Technology. Unfortunately I only got there around 16:30h, whereas the museum closes at 17:00h. Bummer once more. This also implied that I could not visit certain parts of the museum anymore. I did get to see some silly crazy prototype thing of a one person vehicle with an advanced artificial intelligence built in. Or so the promo video led me to believe. Demonstrations will be given, only not at the exact moment I was there. D’oh!<\/p>\n
Just before leaving, I got to a different part where a robot was standing, that was playing a violin. And pretty darn well at that. To the trained ear, I suspect it may sound mechanical, but that’s what you’d expect, I’d say.<\/p>\n
Anyways, after that I decided to walk to Nagoya j\u014d (castle), but of course at the moment I got there, it had already been closed for the day. And unlike in Himeji and \u014csaka, you could not simply enter the grounds. And once more with the bumming.<\/p>\n
So, what to do next? I wanted to go find some place to eat something, but on my way leaving the j\u014d, I took some time shooting more photos (they may very well follow), which ended up quite nicely. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
It took me a while, but in the end I reached Nagoya eki and found quite some places where I could eat. Ultimately, I settled on some kind of bar where you could eat as well. I had something of which I’m not sure what it was (called), but it was tasty at any rate! (a bowl of rice with meat and greens and more in it)<\/p>\n
I took my time, I took it easy, I read some things on my smartphone and drank my kashisu (cassis).<\/p>\n
It had gotten relatively late and on my way back to my room, I stopped by a kombini for some groceries and resumed my way home. Of course I did not stop shooting photos whenever a nice venue or scenery arrived. (you know the deal about them photos).<\/p>\n
After getting home, I talked some to Elmira and Juan about my day, my trip, Japan, the place where I’m from, etc. Which was nice, because they seemed very much interested in these things.<\/p>\n
As I type this I’m almost falling asleep.. And it’s also almost time to get up again (ok, so, not really). Tomorrow I plan on going to the Toyota Museum, which is about an hour away by densha (train). Hopefully that will be nice!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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