Nagoya, Japan Most of Nagoya was rebuilt after the war, but Japan’s fourth largest city still retains some flavor of its days as the samurai heartland and the feudal headquarters of a powerful family.
We started the day at Nagoya Castle. It was built in 1615 and it suffered destruction during the war. It was rebuilt in 1959, but evidently not very well. It was done with concrete and it is crumbling inside. It has been announced that the entire structure will be replaced with an historically accurate replica, starting at some point this year. I can’t imagine what that will cost.
The stone walls surrounding the castles are marvels of engineering in themselves. There must have been several layers of moats or other defensive constructions, not to mention the samurai still seen about the grounds.
But adjacent to the castle is Honmaru Palace, which was the actual royal residence. Yes, it too was destroyed, but it has already been scrupulously recreated, using the original techniques and materials. It is one gorgeous room after another, featuring beautiful painted panels reproduced from records of the original. They must have cornered the market in gold leaf.
(As an aside, if you think the paintings of lions and tigers appear to have been done by artists who had never actually seen either one, you would be correct. No such animals ever existed in Japan, so the images were copied from Chinese paintings.)
Regardless, we walked admiringly through endless corridors of formal rooms, all beautifully decorated. You would have known you were in the domain of someone important, were you lucky enough to be received here.
I must admit to a certain sense of irony in visiting this palace. We (speaking as one of the Allied nations) bombed this place to bits in 1945. The Japanese painstakingly rebuilt it, and now we pay a fee to visit the reproduction and marvel. Funny world, eh?
And now for something completely different, but equally on the subject of Japanese strength and creativity. Nagoya is the home of Toyota, and its first car was developed and built here. But the company began as a textile-weaving machine company, and made some history and international success when it automated that process. The displays of the history and development of that industry are amazingly extensive. (But I still don’t understand the basic process of weaving, myself. It all looks like a miracle.)
However, some of you would really enjoy all the machinery that led us to the present day.
In the course of building the business, the son of the founder went to America in the early 1930’s and saw how the automobile was revolutionizing travel there. Determined to bring this new technology home, he learned all he could about the automotive manufacturing process. The story of his success — though interrupted by the war and the American occupation — eventually led to Toyota’s leadership in the world of automotive engineering and production.
The museum walks visitors through the whole evolution of the company and its products, and spared no expense in demonstrating its technology. Not my thing, but Don told me to take these pictures.
The best part was watching the robots build a car. They looked like creatures from Jurassic Park. I left feeling even better than I already did about the brand.
P.S. The family name was Toyoda, but it was changed because using a “T” instead of a “D” eliminated two brush stokes in writing the name in Japanese, making “Toyota” a more efficient choice. Smart.
Don’s Food Corner
When traveling you have to accept that one day of disaster can be balanced out with another day of unexpected pleasures. After yesterday’s horrendous bento box experience, I was due a pleasant surprise — and we got one.
When we got to the Toyota location we spotted what we thought was a little café in the corner of the entrance hall. We needed some refreshment so we thought we’d drop in for a short jolt of something or other. Instead, we sat down in this simple, yet elegant restaurant and were presented with a menu that featured set meals at a very reasonable price, about $12. With a “how bad could it be” attitude, we ordered from the selections of these set meals, which included soup, main course and a beverage.
Jo ordered a combination of breaded fried pork and tempura shrimp. I ordered a salmon bowl. The menu said “soup of the day.” But we couldn’t get the waitress to understand our question about what that soup might be.
The soup arrived and it was the first pleasant surprise. A very delicate cream of corn soup. No heavy cream here, just a hint. Delightful.
The main courses arrived. Jo’s pork was as tender as anything you’ve ever had. The shrimp were the best we’ve tasted yet. It came with a little bit of salad and a rather large portion of rice.
My bowl featured raw salmon cut into small cubes tossed with Persian cucumbers cut the same size as the salmon. This rested on top of rice and on top of it all was a softly poached egg. The yolk, when broken, served as the dressing for the rest of dish. Fantastic. The egg was still slightly warm, which added a little bit of temperature contrast with the cold salmon/cucumber.
Two perfect and unexpected lunch choices. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Jo, nice photos