So having stayed in Yokohama whilst visiting Tokyo, then moving on to Kyoto via bullet train, time had now come to move on to the third and final leg of our journey – a stay in Ina, a small city situated in the Nagano prefecture.
However, without a direct rail route to get there, Ryan and I was to take a shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagoya, where we would then catch a bus and travel to the Komagane highway bus stop where we would be picked up by Terrance and Yuko and then ferried to our Ina accommodation via their car.
Eh, simple enough.
Nagoya in case you are wondering is Japan’s fourth largest city in terms of population, and with the headquarters of Toyota being situated nearby, well, you can expect a pretty well off and modern city.
Having successfully arrived at the huge train terminal via train, Ryan and I found ourselves a few hours to spare, and eager not to waste any of our time in Japan, we immediately started walking, setting our sights on the Nagoya TV Tower as a suitable destination.
Nagoya is a beautiful city, and the street that we happened to be marching down was littered with public art everywhere you looked. Beautiful sculptures, statues and architecture certainly was the order of the day.
A particularly interesting sight that we stumbled on was the Sky-Boat Ferris Wheel, which believe it or not, is attached to the side of a shopping center! (Sunshine Sakae in case you want to look it up.)
Eventually we stumbled into the pleasant Hisaya Odori Park, with the sight of the Nagoya TV Tower looming largely in front of us…
Related Link: Nagoya | Nagoya Travel Guide