Silver Week Adventures Grand Finale: Nagoya and an afternoon in Osaka

Instead of heading back straight to Tottori, I made a stop in the next major city of Nagoya for a quick power tourist trip. Even though I was feeling a bit under the weather, I didn't let that stop me from enjoying my vacation. I started my day at the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, which features the Toyota company's history, which started in the textile production industry. Toyota built much of it's initial reputation and wealth on textiles prior to becoming a car company. It was while the company head, Kiichiro Toyoda, was traveling abroad to learn more about the textile industry that he saw the potential for automobile manufacturing. The museum featured a variety of looms Toyota invented and used, which were quite impressive to watch in person. Even the oldest machines were impressive, but the modern textile machines (which Toyota still makes) are unfathomably efficient. 

The latter half of the museum featured the first car manufacturing efforts done by Toyota. It was awe inspiring to see the humble beginnings of the company displayed next to a massive room featuring their cars and modern manufacturing methods. 

Why didn't you get the GPS option back in 1991 Dad?

Apparently the Lexus my dad has was the first Lexus to be made and come to America, and in Japan is was the Celstor and a high end, and very notable, Toyota model. 

Afterwards I went over to Nagoya castle to see the rather impressive fortress. Since this castle is a recreation, they built the inside to accommodate tourists and featured museum like exhibits. The castle still boasts an impressive view of the surrounding city. Other parts of the castle are currently being restored, so I got a brief tour of that section as well. On the grounds themselves I found some nice landscaping and a tranquil open park where I took a quick break to appreciate the scenery. 

Following that I went towards the science museum, which features the largest planetarium in the world. But since it was silver week tickets were sold out.  So I instead went and killed some time at a themed cafe, which is a niche attraction Japan is known for. The one I found was an Alice in Wonderland

themed cafe, with the ceiling shaped like the underside of a table and large chairs creating alcoves for tables guests actually use. The waitresses dress as Alice, while the main hostess was dressed as the queen of hearts. The food all carried themes as well. It is a novel experience, and I am glad I found the time to visit one before calling it a day.

My last day of silver week was spent in Osaka. I met up with a Japanese friend named Erika who I met during the JET welcome party in Tottori. She took me to a delicious Mexican restaurant, which is a rarity in Japan. Afterwards we went to Dotonburi a shopping district with a famous section of town featuring giant billboards which light up at night. The most famous is the Glico Running Man, where crowds of tourists (us included) pose in the same fashion for cheesy photos.  We window-shopped a bit before ending our day at the Max Brenner chocolate bar, a famous international company selling premium chocolate. I had an incredibly rich white chocolate strawberry smoothie, a sweet way to end my week of adventuring.