Nagoya: Tokyo's big little sister
I have always considered Japan, particularly Tokyo, as my second home; when I am there, I never feel like an outsider or an alien and I never get treated differently. If there is one country where I feel completely comfortable being alone, it is Japan, in any city.
While I have visited Nagoya several times before, I always traveled to this vibrant city via Tokyo on the Shinkansen (bullet train). This time around, I hopped on a Delta plane for a straight flight to Nagoya and instantly knew I was in for a treat.
CENTRAIR- NAGOYA AIRPORT
We landed at the 580-hectare Central Japan International Airport (Centrair) of Nagoya, the ideal gateway for travelers who wish to skip Tokyo and travel faster and cheaper to Kyoto, Narra, Suzuka (where one of the Formula One races is held) even Osaka and other places of interest in Japan. Located in the heart of Japan, Centrair has 73 domestic flights daily and about 275 flights weekly from Europe, North American and Asia including five from Manila via Delta Airlines.
Centrair provides convenience and comfort to passengers with its easy, same-floor connections between international and domestic flights and vice versa. It offers a wide arrange of facilities which include a “theme park,” sky deck, public bath, a traditional Japanese-style arcade with lots of restaurants and shops, duty-free shops plus a Wedding Hall where about 400 couples have tied the knot since the airport opened in 2005. Locals go to the airport’s Activity Area as well just for entertainment, or to watch the planes take off and land at the Sky Deck. Accessible by chartered or airport bus, train, taxi and even high-speed boat, Centrair is situated on reclaimed land about an hour away to and from Nagoya City Center. A train ticket from Centrair to the Nagoya Train Station area costs Y850 (the yen is about 85.9 to the US dollar; that’s about $10, or P450) for a non-reserved seat and Y1,200 (approximately P636) for a reserved seat. The Limousine Bus from Narita to any major hotel in Metropolitan Tokyo costs Y3,000 (approximately P1,590).
NAGOYA AS A WORLD-CLASS DESTINATION
If you are the kind of traveler who wishes to avoid the chaos of a big city but desire the perks of a large metropolis, then Nagoya is the place for you; it offers the best in eating, shopping and entertainment at prices lower that those of Tokyo. Public transportation is efficient and large-scale with the railway system reaching as far as the Shirakawa-go World Heritage site and Nagano to the North, Mt. Fuji to the East, Osaka and Ise Shrine with more than 2,000 years of history to the South. From Nagoya, Kyoto is 36 minutes away via the Shinkansen-Nozomi line at Y5,840 (approximately P3,095) for a reserved seat (one way) whereas it is 141 minutes (two hours 21 minutes) from Tokyo to Kyoto at Y13,720 (approximately P5,819) for a reserved seat (one way) on the same type of train.
There are many great hotels to choose from in Nagoya; if you want privacy, away from the everyday bustle of the city, stay at The Westin Nagoya Castle Hotel. It boasts a spectacular view of the illuminated Nagoya Castle at night and if you are a runner, there is a wonderful path that will take you around the Castle (about 3kms in distance). The hotel has a great daily breakfast buffet at the Cafe, Japanese fare and continental cuisine in its other restaurants. A shuttle bus leaves every hour from the hotel to ferry guests to the Nagoya Station where you will find just about everything you need. If you decide to take a taxi, the flag-down rate is Y510 (approximately P590) in Nagoya compared to Y710 (approximately P376) in Tokyo; when we took a taxi back to The Westin from Nagoya Train station, we paid Y1,200 (P636).
If convenience, luxury and endless eating and shopping are what you are looking for, stay at The Nagoya Marriot Associa Hotel; it is located in one of the towers atop the Nagoya Station Complex. Strategically located between the two towers and above the railroad tracks are the Takashimaya and Matsuzakaya Department stores and dozens of novelty shops; I spotted a Louis Vuitton shop, a Fendi store, Coach and Christian Dior around the area s well. If a hungry stomach is what you need to satisfy, there are about three floors in the station building filled with every imaginable cuisine; casual French, Italian, Chinese, Korean and a variety of Japanese food like Sushi, Teppanyaki , Yakitori, Shabu-shabu, Tonkatsu, Ramen, Soba and Udon noodles. There are places for you to enjoy sandwiches, dessert and coffee as well; across the street you will find wine bars, Karaokes and many more restaurants.
If you want a less harried shopping experience à la Fifth Avenue in NYC, stay around the Sakae District where they have first class hotels like Hilton Plaza and the Richmonde Hotel. Here you can walk the wide, tree-lined streets leisurely and enjoy shops like Prada, Gucci, Zara, Gap and the Mitsukoshi, Matsuzakaya and Parco department stores. Several outdoor cafes serve great meals while you people watch and take in Nagoya street fashion.
Close by is the Osu District, where you will find local fashion brands at bargain prices. A favorite among young Japanese, Osu Shopping Arcade is where the annual Cosplay Parade takes place, an event where participants dress up as their favorite Japanese Anime characters. This parade has apparently attracted foreign participants and has become a “must see” event for any die-hard Cosplay fan.
Scattered around Nagoya’s central districts are small commercial centers like AEON where you will find brands like Uniqlo and MujiRushi; these centers also have numerous restaurants, entertainment centers for kids and big groceries where you can buy Japanese goodies like Sembei (Japanese rice crackers) and nori (seaweed) I particularly love going to the groceries to buy and bring home healthy Japanese snacks for my children because the sodium and sugar contents are very low and the ingredients are of the highest quality; plus they are inexpensive!
About 30 minutes by bus from the center are the Noritake Garden and the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology. At the Noritake Gardens you can explore the beautifully landscaped gardens and buy exquisite porcelains, ceramics, crystals and silverware at discounted prices. Over at the Toyota Museum we were treated to a mini-concert by a trumpet-playing Robot and a vast display of looms and automotives including the oldest passenger car ever made in Japan and the car of the future, made from Kenaf, a plant found in India, Bangladesh some parts of Africa and Europe. Unbeknownst to many, Toyota started out as the Toyoda Spinning and Weaving Co., Ltd founded by Sakichi Toyoda, inventor of the first automatic loom. He sold the loom business years later for several billions of Yen and together with his son Kiichiro Toyoda, used that seed money to build Toyota Jidosha (Automotives).
OIDEYASU (WELCOME) TO KYOTO
A trip to Kyoto is always such a visual and gastronomic delight because it showcases the creativity of artists and craftsmen and highlights the delicacy of Japanese food that can be traced back to olden times. From the skillfully hand painted screens (byobu) to the delicate Kimono, from the intricate woodblock prints to the carefully sculpted pottery, Kyoto is a haven for Japanese artistry.
Our group left the hotel via bus at 8 a.m. sharp (the Japanese are sticklers for punctuality) for Kyoto; the two-hour ride passed quickly since the scenery was relaxing. Our first stop was the imposing Nijo Castle, built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu. It is one of the finest examples of early Edo period and Momoyama cultures in Japan with its splendid use of building designs, lavish paintings and carvings from that era; the castle has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Next on our itinerary was the Kinkaku (Golden) Pavilion, a part of the once-elaborate dwelling place of Yoshimitsu, the third Shogun of Ashikaga called Kitayamaden. Three years after he abdicated his thrown, he built Kitayamaden to lead a serene life and when he passed away, the place was turned into a Zen temple just as he wished. Most of the buildings came to ruin except for Kinkakuji which has since been restored and preserved, standing imperiously on a pond amidst a spectacular garden that has stood the test of time.
Of course no field trip is complete without a meal so we headed for the modern part of town and had a sumptuous buffet lunch at a casual restaurant called Sara. I couldn’t believe how inexpensive the food was at Y1,900 (approximately P1,007) per person since a similar meal in Tokyo would have cost me about Y2,500 (approximately P1,325).
After an hour of eating and chatting we went back on the road to Heian Temple, a sacred place very popular for its massive gate and orange colored structures. Japanese people come here especially during Shogatsu (New Year) to make offerings and ask for blessings.
As a final stop, we headed up to the hills to visit Kiyomizudera, one of the greatest temples in Kyoto. The 130,000-square-meter grounds of the temple have many interesting sites particularly the “Kiyomizu Stage” which is built over a cliff.
On the way back to Nagoya, we passed by Kyoto’s center where people were preparing for the weekend summer matsuri (festival). Paper lanterns decorated one side of the riverbanks and outdoor cafes were setting up tables for the coming revelry. For a full Kyoto experience, spend the night and stay at a ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) with tatamis (woven floor mats), visit the onsen (outdoor bath) if your ryokan doesn’t have one, walk the cobbled streets of Gion at night where chances are you will see some geishas and maikos off to the teahouses and lastly enjoy exquisite kaiseki (artfully designed, small-portioned, authentic and traditional Japanese food) in one of Several Michelin star restaurants.
Back in Nagoya, we decided to get off at the Station Complex and, like the participants in The Amazing Race, we rushed to do some shopping with the 20 minutes we had left before the stores closed. I managed to buy beautiful washi (Japanese paper) at Tokyu Hands for our antique andon lamp at home. Afterwards we ate at a traditional Japanese restaurant and had very tasty, artfully arranged bento dinner. Nagoya is famous for local foods like kishimen (flat noodles), miso udon stew, miso-flavored tonkatsu, tempura rice balls and unagi (eel) dishes.
On our third and last day, we visited the Nagoya Castle, a structure painstakingly built sometime in the 16th century on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu to ward off attacks from Osaka. Most of the buildings were burnt down in 1945 during the air raids of World War II; fortunately three corner towers and gates survived the fires and have been restored. The paintings were saved and are now part of Japan’s Important Cultural Assets.
DELTA AIRLINES: THE BEST WAY TO FLY TO NAGOYA AND TOKYO
For travelers who want to get up and go as soon as they arrive at their destination with no time to waste, Delta Airlines provides the best choice to travel to Nagoya and Tokyo. Their flight to Nagoya leaves at 6:30 a.m. while the one for Tokyo leaves at 7:35; both flights take about three and a half hours, allowing travelers to enjoy almost a full day to do some sightseeing and shopping upon arrival. What makes taking Delta even more enticing are the airfares for both destinations: roundtrip tickets cost US$350 to either destinations until Oct. 31, 2010 and are valid for six months. If that isn’t enough, get ready to seal the deal with this fantastic bonus: check-in baggage allowance is 46 kilos combined or 50 pounds per bag per person (two bags maximum allowed) with one free carry-on bag. This is ultra-generous and handy especially for those who wish to shop, shop and shop!
* * *
Delta Airlines flies five times a week to Nagoya (except Thursdays and Fridays) and daily to Narita with connections to various hubs and gateways in the US like Seattle, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York and Portland to name a few. The tickets can be applied to earn miles and with the merging of Delta and Northwest Airlines, Skymiles, the world’s largest loyalty program, allows you to travel to 350 destinations in 60 countries in six continents.
Tickets can be purchased through Delta Reservations at 841-8800, at Delta Airlines website (www.delta.com) or through your favorite travel agent.
