Chasing Cherry Blossoms, Old Friends & Uncle Jack

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

The actual size of the Golden Dolphin on top of the Nagoya Castle

 

[Gem56]

The book store in the Meiji Era

 

[Gem56]

Opening Times at the Castle:

9.00am - 4.30pm

Closed December 29 - January 1

Admission Cost Adult: 500 Yen

There are varying prices for yearly passes and Senior Citz and Groups of 30 or more.

Web page: åå¤å±‹åŸŽå…¬å¼ã‚¦ã‚§ãƒ–サイト

 

[Gem56]

Before leaving Australia, my patchwork friends informed me that Japan is definitely the place to shop for fabric – beautiful and cheap. So, I’ve made various enquiries as to where the best place is to go. Our AFF friends have given me some info on shopping in Tokyo, which I duly researched and recorded. I’ve also been told that Kyoto is a great place. However when we got to Rie’s I also picked her brains and she said that fabric is mainly manufactured / spun in and around Nagoya and would therefore be the most economical place to shop. She said that Otsukaya is a great place and if time permitted we could go and have a look. Fortunately, time was on our side.

OMG – I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. At least 4 floors of fabric! I was needing to head to the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] floor. After showing my pattern to my 3 companions we were all on the hunt for suitable fabric. By the end, Rie and Yoshi were carrying around bolts of fabric and +1 was giving instructions to the sales assistant as to how much to cut while I continued to peruse the fabrics. I came away with 32 different types of fabric. Based on standard patchwork fabric in Australia, I saved approx. $500, and of course Japanese fabric is much more expensive. I can’t wait to attack it! Sorry, no photos, too busy shopping

Address: 3-1-24, Aoi, Higashi Ku, NAGOYA 461-8603
Phone: 052-935-4531052-935-4531
Timings: 10:00-18:30
Closed: Irregularly
Website: http://otsukaya.co.jp/
Access: 1 min walk from Kurumamichi Subway Station on Sakuradori Line

 

[Gem56]

After doing the visiting and shopping it was time to eat again! This time it was at the Korean BBQ. Rie had pre-ordered and again there were a number of different meats and vegetables that came out to cook at the table. Some of which neither of us fancied, ie 'chicken guts'. JV wasn't too keen on the tongue, but ate it so as to not insult our friends.

 

[drron]

Mrsdrron is very in to Japanese fabrics.Nagoya was great for her.A nice trip just outside Nagoya is the Arimatsu tie dyeing village-
Arimatsu Shibori (tie-dyed silk fabric) | What to Buy | Nagoya Info - Nagoya Travel Guide

In Tokyo one of the best places she has found is near Senso-ji temple in Akasuka.lots of second hand kimono shops with lots of fabrics at reasonable prices.

Nice view of the Westin Nagoya in one of your pics from the castle.A great place to stay if only for the great evening views of the castle.

.

 

[Gem56]

Mrsdrron is very in to Japanese fabrics.Nagoya was great for her.A nice trip just outside Nagoya is the Arimatsu tie dyeing village-
Arimatsu Shibori (tie-dyed silk fabric) | What to Buy | Nagoya Info - Nagoya Travel Guide

In Tokyo one of the best places she has found is near Senso-ji temple in Akasuka.lots of second hand kimono shops with lots of fabrics at reasonable prices.

Nice view of the Westin Nagoya in one of your pics from the castle.A great place to stay if only for the great evening views of the castle.

.

Thanks for your info on the fabric shops in Tokyo. I'll check them out. Great shot of the Castle.

 

[Jacques Vert]

This time it was at the Korean BBQ. Rie had pre-ordered and again there were a number of different meats and vegetables that came out to cook at the table. Some of which neither of us fancied, ie 'chicken guts'. JV wasn't too keen on the tongue, but ate it so as to not insult our friends.

View attachment 70055

That's the chicken guts cooking, yum.

Not only did I eat the tongue, I also gave the chicken guts a decent try! Very tough and chewy. In the end I had to give it a miss as my teeth just weren't sharp enough to bite through it.

 

[Gem56]

A couple of hours north of Nagoya is the Heritage Listed town of Takayama. Takayama means “high mountain”. Apparently in days gone by it was a stopping off point between Tokyo and Kyoto. The old town is pretty much as it would have been except the shops are more modern of course.

 

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

 

[Jacques Vert]

A couple of hours walk around town and lunch of soba noodles in a traditional style restaurant.











Some of the shops have a ball hanging from the eaves which indicates sake. In most of the stores you can sample a number of different sakes as long as you’re not driving as the alcohol limit is 0.0.

 

[Jacques Vert]

There are some lovely bonsais.









The cherry blossoms had not come out here yet but we did see some alongside the road on the way there and back.

 

[Jacques Vert]

+1 spotted a lady making traditional Japanese shoes so of course we needed to take a closer look.




Forget the stilettos - try walking in these suicide shoes.




No; that's not a stand they are on, it's part of the shoe!

The lady said these are very good for your posture. Apparently if you don’t hold yourself perfectly straight, you are likely to do a face plant.


I guess you need to start with a set of training wheels (sorry, shoes).



Perhaps the first time ever, +1 has walked out of a shoe shop empty handed.

 

[Gem56]

When Rie was staying with us in Australia and had invited us to stay with her in Japan, she asked me to cook an Aussie meal for her, Yoshi and Akiko, another English teacher from Rie’s school that had previously stayed with us. The only “real” Aussie foods I could think of were Meat Pie, Roast Lamb, Pavlova, Anzac Biscuits and Vegemite, so meat pie it was.

I bought some individual pie dishes and a rolling In Aus (to leave with them) and took along the herbs that I needed. It occurred to me while I was putting them together that I should ask if they had cutlery. Hmmm?… 5 forks but only 2 knives. I suddenly had visions of us eating the pie, mash and peas with chop sticks. JV and I decided that we could manage with just a fork.



We also left them a tin of Anzac Biscuits and a jar of Vegemite.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Rie’s father lives in Kyoto and coincidently that was our next stop. So, she was happy to drive us and spend the day with us in Kyoto.

Rie asked if we would like to do a river cruise.“Of course” I said. I must admit I was thinking of something like a Captain Cook Cruise on Sydney Harbour with a restaurant and a bar.

What we got was this.





First you take the “Romantic Train” from JR Kameoka Station up the mountain.









You must buy the train and ferry tickets at the station; they wont sell you the boat ticket until you have a train ticket.


Very pretty scenery from the train along the way:








After the train you catch a taxi or a bus to the river. The taxi seems good value as it’s only 100 Yen more. However when you get to the river you have to wait until there’s a full boat load of 20. Of course you could be lucky and catch up with a group in front of you;otherwise you wait for the bus to catch up.

 

[Jacques Vert]

At the (ferry) terminal you need to exchange your boatticket for a numbered boarding passunless you want to wait all day.So intothe boat with a crew of 3 who start rowing down the river.Our 3 crew members were great comedians, apparently.Lots of laughter, pity we couldn’t understanda word although Rie did translate a few of the better ones.














Beautiful trip down the river; apparently even better when the cherry trees are in bloom.