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| A hand spindle at work |
First time taking a train from this station. It's further away from the student village than the JR one closer to the school I usually use. It took me about twent minutes to get there but the train stops closer to the Toyota Museum of Engineering and Technology where I was heading and I was curious to see the difference between Meitetsu and JR systems.
First thing I found out was that the Meitetsu station has a nice bike garage but you have to pay 150 yen to use it. I remember reading on the Yamasa website somewhere that there was paid bicycle parking at a train station but didn't understand that it was referring to the Higashi Okazaki station. I did find another spot where I could park the bike for free, though.
Maybe because Higashi Okazaki station is closer to downtown that there are many more shops inside. There's certainly no comparison in that aspect between this and the JR Station. I remember reading that many people heading to the 2005 World Expo in Aichi would be connecting through the JR Okazaki Station to get to the site. It's a shame there's not much there for people to see or do at that station.
As for the trains, well, Meitetsu trains are a little more expensive than JR ones and a little slower too. It took me about 40 minutes to get to Shin Nagoya Station (which is side-by-side with JR Nagoya Station). The station itself also was more designed for local customers and not tourists. It took me a couple minutes to figure out the map, ticket machine, and which platform I needed to get to. The trains here do go to a few places the JR ones don't. I wish I knew I could have taken a train to and from Inuyama directly from here for my trip there a couple of weeks ago.
The Toyota Museum of Industry and Technology turned out to be another one of those places I could have spend a whole day at. It could be that it's because I am here during the winter but I think I've seen more red brick buildings in Japan during this single trip than I have in all my other visits combined. I am not very interested in cars but I am fascinated in how they build them. The main rooms of the museum had the atmosphere of a factory floor and the bonus is, though, half of the museum is dedicated to textile technology. That`s because Toyota first developed as a maker of automatic weaving loom machines. The suucess they had in that business provided the resources needed to go into the automobile business in the 1930`s.
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| Toyota Museum of Industry and Technology | Automatic Circular Loom | Rows of weaving machines |
It was more interesting to look at the evolution of textile machines since it has a longer history and developed from simpler machines. It was fascinating enough to see the number, size and complexity of the machines but the demonstrations of their operations, including those of welding robots found in Toyota's auto plants, complimented the factory tour I did last month in Toyota city with the school. There was some old-fashioned demonstrations as well, from hand spindles and hand and foot operated weaving looms to a metal forging and casting that used packed sand molds to create engine parts.
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| Automobile factory exhibit | Metal casting display | Automobile welding robots |
Ended up with the same problem as I did a couple of weeks ago in Inuyama. Want to spend too much time in one place and end up with no time for another. Noritake, the famous ceramic manufacturer, has a factory, shop, gallery and museum nearby. Unlike Inuyama Castle though, going through the museum here, with its demonstrations, kilns and artists at work would have taken at least an hour. I got to the museum too late to get in but the rest of the site was still open (more red brick buildings). The ceramics gallery itself was pretty interesting, showing that the company did far more than dinnerware. It`s too bad part of the site was still under rennovation. I read before coming here that the company was getting ready for its 100th anniversary in 2004. I was hoping the preparations would be done by now.
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| Noritake Garden |
I had planned on doing some shopping after the sightseeing spots closed but the lack of sleep and the changing weather changed my mind. The weather has been really odd today. It started as an unusually warm day, then the wind picked up bringing in rain and even hail. It wasn't consistent either. Sometimes bursts of sunshine would come in. As it was, the museum shops proved to be a great place to find a number gifts to bring back home. I was happy to finally make some progress on that front. Between those and the hand cart I picked up, to make it easier to carry my luggage, at the Tokyu Hands store at the station, an always great place to pick up handy practical stuff, I felt I already had enough to lug back home, especially on my bike.
Besides, I also rented one more DVD earlier in the day. Another anime called Mermaid Forest about a couple of people turned immortal wandering through Japan. It was based on a short manga series by Rumiko Takahashi and the bittersweet and horror elements proved a precursor for her current success with the Inuyasha series. Although a couple of stories from the series were already made into anime before, it looks like they made new ones because of her current success. I just missed seeing this series on TV when I arrived and was surprised to see it on DVD this quickly. Like many anime based on manga, it followed very closely to the original source for the most part but it was still good to hear the dialogue and I always liked the storyline.
Sunday morning started with another Okazaki International Association organized event - a Karate class at the dojo in the City Gymnasium north of the Jusco Shopping Center. I've only been to a couple of martial art classes here and there but have never tried karate so I booked in back in December when I first read about it.
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| OIA Karate Class |
When I first arrived there I soon felt a bit out of place. There was a young woman there from a Vancouver suburb wearing a Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic T-shirt who then introduced me to another Vancouverite wearing a Vancouver Jazz Festival shirt. Too bad I chose to wear my taiko festival t-shirt to the class instead of the Vancouver Dragon Boat festival one I left back in my room.
Turns out there was one more Vancouverite and another from Eastern Canada attending the class as well, half of them attending a university exchange program and the others being English teachers on the JET program. This on top of the two from Toronto I encountered on the train back to Okazaki the night before, one wearing a jacket of the Toronot pro baseball team (I greeted him with 'Okay Blue Jays!'). Glad to see so many Canadians 'oot and aboot'.
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| Board breaking demonstration |
As for the karate class, I like being able to hit things with fully focussed and expressive force, part of the reason I liked taiko drumming, and the class was certainly a good place to learn how to do so. The self-defence techniques were good to know as well but I just hope I don't ever have to use it on a real person. It wasn't quite like the old Bill Cosby joke - "it's so cool because if someone comes up to you with a gun you can whip around and break a brick and break a stick then hand over your wallet, 'thanks for the money and the show'". The host karate club did break a few boards as a demonstration of the goal of using enough power to put away an opponent with one blow.
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| Karate sparring match |
It was a two-hour session in which the sensei briefly introduced karate and its history before having us go through some warm-up exercises and stretching, then some basic techniques before even having us go through a little one-on-one to experience a little friendly combat. The club members then showed us some demonstrative combat. It was a pretty big crowd for the class and everyone looked like they appreciated the exercise. No one, as far as I know, got hurt. I kind of wish I had this class earlier. I'm not sure I'd do this when I get home but it would have been good regular exercise during my stay and the karate club members were friendly and helpful, for people who could easily break your bones anyways.
After zipping back to the village for a shower, it was off to Nagoya again, maybe for the last time, to see the Tokugawa Museum of Art. Part of it was social - I met someone from Nagoya on the internet through the Japan Pen Friend website while I've been here - and invited her along to get a chance to meet face-to-face before I left for home. The museum itself was very nice, a step beyond the usual artifacts I found at city museums and local castles during my stay. Much of it was from the Tokugawa family's own collection amassed over the past 400 years. It included a replica of a rare illustrated version of the Tale of Genji, believed to be the world's first novel, that the museum has and keeps in protected storage. For the upcoming hina matsuri the museum had an extensive exhibition of the family collection of Japanese dolls as well as impressive displays of miniatures and art done on clamshells. It's too bad I wasn't allowed to take any photos. I was surprised to find the museum shop didn't have any books either.
My friend and I spent the evening at Nagoya Station, having dinner at an Italian restaurant and walking through the station's maze of shops. I'm always curious to see Japanese touches on foreign foods so having a pasta dish featuring fish eggs in it was nicely different. As for the station, I usually have a good sense of direction but it's certainly nice to go through it with someone who knows it well. It was a pleasant afternoon and evening with a lot of conversation with her getting to practice her English and me my Japanese.
At least I have more reasons to come back to Nagoya in the future. As it is, I did not get a chance to walk through the Sakae district and visit Nagoya and Inuyama Castles, not to mention wanting to see more of the Toyota and Noritake sites.