Had plans to meet up with Ayako and Hiro in Nagoya @ 11am. Checked out of the hotel and walked over to Nishinakajima-Minamigata Station but rode the escalator up to the platform of the train going in the opposite direction! OTL
Had to take a few breaks, but eventually made it down the stairs and back up them to the other side so I could get to Shin-Osaka Station to catch the Shinkansen to Nagoya. Got the coveted last seat in the car so I had somewhere to put my luggage and watch over it, even though I fell asleep for a bit after the sweat stopped exploding out of my pores.
Got to Nagoya station and met Hiro!
Luckily the hotel was only about a block away because Nagoya was HOT as well!
Was able to leave my bags at the hotel and after a quick shirt change, the plan was to go find Ayako (wherever she was). At this point I started feeling a bit bad I didn't bring a better omiyage but Hiro ate the chocolate mac nuts even though they were bit melted.
Apparently, Ayako was in some department store so we went over there. There's a giant mannequin so it seemed like a good idea to take some pictures.
There's Ayako!
From there (wherever that was) we went over to Sakae and I got to see the Jump Store, that sells all kinds of Shonen Jump stuff. Temptation was great but cheapness prevailed! Right next door was the NHK(?) store and again nothing interested me enough to spend money. Plus, I thought I was going to come back later.
There was a stage set up. I wonder who was scheduled to perform.
On the roof was some kind of fountain but it did nothing to make the heat less painful! At least it looked nice and futuristic.
Yet another Japanese tower!
I could sort of see Sunshine Sakae, but didn't go check it out. maybe next time I can ride the ferris wheel or something.
One of Nagoya's famous foods is miso katsu, tonkatsu covered in a sweet miso sauce, so the plans for lunch were to go to a well known miso katsu restaurant Yabuton(?).
Engrish time! They offer a 'Harf & Harf' option (half miso, half katsu sauce) as well.
Miso katsu! Kinda sweet, but still quite good in it's own way.
Saw a store with a Hawaiian flag outside so we had to go in, but there was nothing I couldn't get at home so nothing got bought at considerable markup.
I felt sorry for these dogs. Must be so hot under all that fur! Not sure if the owner was being genuine or facetious when he asked if I had "properly taken a picture" of his dogs.
At this point, it was so hot and because Ayako wore "Japanese girl shoes" (high heels) and her feet were hurting, we decided to watch a movie. We had to wait around for over an hour since the other show was sold out but we got to see the 4:40pm showing of Inception and it was probably the best movie I saw all year, maybe even better than the original Matrix!
One of the other foods that Nagoya is famous for is tebasaki! Basically, they're chicken wings but not as deeply battered or drowned in sauce like other kinds. It's more a peppery kind of flavor, I suppose.
Tebasaki w/ agedofu and edamame. Note the special pot to put the bones.
This usually goes quite well with Hoppy.
I didn't know the alcohol content was so low! I feel cheated now!
As if I didn't take enough pictures, now I'm taking pictures of people taking pictures!
Hiro reading a 'very important' text. Might have been a follow-up to the 'very important' phone call he had to make hours earlier.
After this, Ayako had to go home since she lives in Tahara which is super far away from Nagoya, and had to go to some job hunting related event the next day.
Fun day, but from now on I'll be on the constant lookout for tebasaki, since I have no idea where it's sold in Hawaii!
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