Apr 6, 2013 - Nagashima Spaland

I realize it's been a long time since I've updated my journal. Winter time is a busy time at the school and it's not a good time to travel because much of Japan is covered in snow. Anyway, the last thing I did last year before I went home for Christmas was going to Nagashima Spaland. I did this back on Halloween last year and I don't really remember it that well, but I think I can give a brief summary. Nagashima Spaland is an amusement park about a thirty minute train ride from Nagoya. It has both a water park and an amusement park, but...

Nov 20, 2011 - Nagoya and its train History

After being cast out of Kyoto early, our struggles have brought us to Nagoya. There isn't much to say apart from its a city built from a lot of perseverance and sweat. One sign of this is it's home to the Maglev Train Museum. This was very appealing to Jenny and Ric in an engineering sense. The Museum was full of complete trains, dating all the way from the 1920's. Also, as Japan is famous for its bullet trains, it had quite a bit on them too. There were several interactive segments showing how some of it worked, how they used to do things...

Apr 10, 2011 - First Entry

I planned to write this a while ago, but due to lack of internet I haven't been able to do so. I'm currently using Helen's computer (my roommate) because she has internet for the day. I guess I'll start by explaining my trip at different airports. My first flight on the Canada plane was alright. My only complaint is we waited on the ground for a long time for the door to actually close. When we took off we didn't go very far above the clouds and basically just cruised until we got to Vancouver. Once in Vancouver, I had to clear customs...

Feb 20, 2011 - Nagoya, Japan - 1st Stopover

There wasn't much to see here so we just ended up sitting in one corner waiting for our flight to be called. I wanted to try a Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) Frappuccino but i found it wierd that the drink was PINK! I also wanted to buy the Bearista to add to my collection of destination Bearista souvenirs but it didn't look unusual for a Bearista. I chose to buy a generic-looking magnet instead.

May 4, 2010 - Nagoya, Central Honshu

It was Golden Week that forced me to change plans. Takayama where I wanted to stay in the mountains for a few days was completely booked and I ended up in Nagoya. Goes to show how these things can work out very well because I spent a few nice days there before making it to Takayama after all. Nagoya is one of those cities that probably is not on many people’s screen, it certainly was not on mine, but if a smaller city next to it didn’t already have that name it could very well be called Toyota city, since the Toyota factories are in Aichi...

Nov 18, 2008 - JR passes and Nagoya

Today was our last opportunity for our JR passes to arrive as we were leaving Osaka the next day. The tracking website had the parcel as landing in Osaka at 9:40am on Tuesday, so we thought it would be only a short time until it came to our hotel. After waiting until about 1:30pm we grew impatient and Jeff thought it would be good for us to go to the DHL office. Good idea he suggested that because the package was just sitting there. A big chip off our shoulders was lifted when we finally grabbed hold of the sacred JR passes. Now that we...

May 3, 2007 - Nagoya

Vaer hilset! Du har enda ikke gaat lei? Bra! Etter ett aar paa tur er Jo endelig tilbake i Nagoya, hvor hun tilbrakte ca. 2 aar som engelsklaerer. Hennes gode venninne og kollega Tamako og ektemann Ken tilboed gratis overnatting, noe som hjelper paa oekonomien - Japan er dyrt! Gamle venner og kollegaer overgikk hverandre i aa arrangere velkomstfester, og Frode overgikk de fleste i aa drikke sake! Glade dager, med andre ord! Overnatting hjemme hos Tamako og Ken boed ogsaa paa input til mine studier av japanerne. I hjemmet er det fruen som...

Jul 28, 2006 - The Zoo, Big Men, and All Lady Like

Here is what I have been up to the last two months. Going to the zoo... I went to the zoo with my friend, Guqin. Guqin is from China and has been teaching Chinese in Japan. She is fluent in Japanese and I have been told that she has no Chinese accent. I have met up with Guqin a couple of times. I met her at a Cherry Blossom viewing party. She will be moving to Motsuyama to be with her husband who is studying medicine. Motsuyama is about 5 hours away. I hope to go with her to Beijing. She has also invited me to visit her family who lives...

Jan 24, 2006 - Predicting the future

Since I do not expect to have any internet access until I return home, I am putting this out in advance. Our plans call to travel on to Kanazawa and visit the "Ninja Temple" Then we will travel on to Nagoya and spend time with my in-laws and local sightseeing in Nagoya before returning home on Thursday.

Jan 7, 2006 - Return to the Land of the Rising Sun

Had the chance to sleep in late this morning as the hotel was about 10 minutes from the Incheon Airport. Uneventful flight returning to Kansai Airport. From there we took an express train and connected to the Bullet Train to Nagoya. After checking in at the hotel, we headed out to Ryan's grandparents. We had stashed some of our luggage there from our first landing in Japan and made some exchanges in what we are carrying. Ryan left early to meet a friend from school. Not quite sure, but there was a big smile on his face as he left and...

Oct 24, 2005 - Japan...Nagoya

Nagoya is a large modern city south of Tokyo and very clean and very restrictive. By restrictive I mean such things as...customs will not let you in unless you have the address of your hotel.(which I didn't..so I threatened to lay down and sleep in the immigaration area..mind you...they didn't like that but let me pass); no smoking anywhere not even on the streets..only in a few designated area; you must be out of the hostel every day from 10am to 3pm, no showering till 6pm, no food or drink in your room. etc etc...you get the idea. Anyway...

Sep 10, 2005 - Exploring Nagoya

After a very short ride on Nazomi Shinkansen (700 series bullet train) I found myself in the middle of the bustling Nagoya train station. To say that it's just a station would be a grave injustice. It is actually an indoor city. The station was completed in 1997 and consists of the rail terminal, 10 story department store complex, a high rise hotel tower, a high rise office tower and a sprawling underground shopping with multiple food courts and a supermarket. As I was waiting for Takashi (a friend of a friend who generously offered me a...