Aichi

Day 42
So today we had to leave Osaka and travel to nagoya in Aichi prefecture but there was still one thing left on our bucket list for Osaka- universal studios! Managing to dump our backpacks in a locker in the station we travelled to universal studios and it was SO fun and worth the slightly hideous entry fee! We started at Harry Potter world with a full sized hogsmead and a large hogwarts model it felt like we were in the real thing! It was really fun walking around and going into all the shops that are in the books and films! We then queued for a ride that sat us on these carts that basically immerse you in a ride but only using a screen?! I don’t really know how else to explain it but it was very clever and we both loved it! We also found it hilarious that Harry Potter and Hagrid were talking to us in Japanese!!

After this we did a few more rides and walked through a whole section dedicated to hello kitty which felt like a rainbow had thrown up and they also had a jaws themed section and Jurassic park! They also had a Nintendo section but this wasn’t covered by our day pass sadly so we had to miss out on this! We then ate in an “American diner” before heading back to the station in the evening to grab our bags and travel up to Nagoya.

I’m so glad we went to universal studios as we were really debating if it was worth it and it was actually so much fun with the loud music and seriously crazy rides!

Day 43

Today we decided to explore Nagoya city at a slower pace, starting at Nagoya castle we wondered through the grounds and stumbled across some street performers which was really weird as it feels very unJapanese as they are always very quiet and respectful and not obnoxiously playing music! Anyway, we sat and watched him for a while and we were so unimpressed with his crystal ball “floating” although it was so obviously not but all the Japanese people there LOVED it so we decided that they need to go see the street performers in London and then they really might be blown away!

There was also some food stands in the grounds so I had an icecream sandwich and we sat under the trees for a while in the shade as the temperature had really picked up today and was about 22°c!

After this we headed to Nagoya’s famous shopping street to go on the hunt for some shorts as I wanted to have a pair just in case the weather stays like this for a few days. Only problem is is that the Japanese are on the whole quite small and petite of which I am neither! So every pair of shorts I tried on either I couldn’t get past my thighs or were definitely not long enough to be deemed acceptable! Eventually, after hunting for a while we managed to find some that I’m pretty sure were men’s shorts, but I was happy.

After some delicious ramen we stumbled across Osu Kannon temple which was absolutely infested by pigeons! And I’m not being dramatic there were hundreds and hundreds lining the whole roof and also on the ground and we soon found out why- there was a box where you could get food out for the pigeons and feed them! We watched one man do this and as he opened the box thousands of pigeons literally dived onto him engulfing him to get to the food it was so bizzare! As I walked up to the box two pigeons landed on me and refused to get off so I decided not to open the box as I would probably suffer a similar fate as the man which I was not happy about so I had one on either shoulder- call me the pigeon whisperer if you will! It was so so strange and I can’t wrap my head around why anyone would encourage pigeons! Then all of a sudden through the speakers you hear a chanting and all the pigeons in unison flew up to the roof of the temple like they were being summoned - SUCH an odd experience!

Day 44
To finish off our last day in Nagoya we thought we would tick the main boxes- one being the Nagoya science museum which is 6 floors and two buildings so absolutely massive! Full of immersive exhibitions ranging from cogs to bubbles to different elements to preserved pickled sharks and fish it was really quite the experience! I can see how a Japanese child would be fascinated by science from such a young age as it is presented to them in such an engaging way it really puts our science museum to shame! But none the less we throughly enjoyed making tornados in the tornado simulator and testing out all sort of clever tricks!

After this we headed to see the 15m high Buddha statue! Tucked away just off the busy main road it suddenly becomes absolutely silent and peaceful in this small little temple, wondering through bamboo you find this HUGE statue of Buddha it’s amazing! With almost no one else there it was lovely to have to ourselves- all apart from one man who insisted he took a picture for us which was very sweet !

To finish off the day Jacob really wants to go to the Toyota and automobile museum. 4 floors of models of cars ranging from the very first cars ever invented up until 2014 it was boy heaven as far as I’m concerned. I was very eager to find my Toyota aygo 2009 but I guess my car doesn’t quite pass as “cool enough” to be on display! Whilst I was walking around saying “ooo I like this colour” or “this one looks cool” Jacob was much more excited about makes and models than me! After dutifully looking at ALL the cars I managed to pull Jacob away and get a bite to eat!Read more