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Friday, October 6, 2017

Oct 7 - Nagoya castle, Tokugawa, Port & Aquarium, Gifu Japan, Oct 7, 2017, Chris B, Roz W

Outbound to Gufu + Tokyo Japan, Day 4 of 19, October 7, 2017

Nagoya Castle, Tokugawa, 

Nagoya University, Port, Aquarium


Group 1: Nagoya Castle, Tokugawa

By Chris B

On our third day in Gifu, our group 1 from Gifu took the train to Nagoya. At the train station, we met a samurai and his entourage on his way to a fair. He agreed to take pictures with us.
Noritake Museum
Our first stop was a visit to the Noritake museum. We were not allowed to take pictures on the demonstration floors. However, after seeing the meticulous princesses, the museum displays was more meaningful and impressive.





Nagoya Castle 

The Nagoya castle was destroyed in 1945. It was faithfully rebuilt in recent years. The surrounding buildings are scheduled to finish rebuilding in a few years.

Homestay Host

Our host, Mrs. Ogawa is not only an expert seamstress but also a great cook. Her table is always elegantly set.


Group 2: Nagoya University, Port Nagoya Public Aquarium

By:  Roz Worrall





We slept until 7:00 am.  Kiyoko had a great breakfast prepared for us at 8:00 am; green gurken smoothie, eggs, bacon , toast, boiled carrots, cabbage, potatoes, fresh persimmons, pears, and mandarins. Tomorrow we look forward to a traditional Japanese breakfast.


We met up with Andy, Suzanne and her host Toshigo on the 10:37 train to Nagoya University.  Toshigo was the tour leader today. He set a fast pace for us and kept us on schedule.   


On our first stop of the day, we visited the Nobel Laureates museum that recognizes four Japanese honorees, professors at Nagoya University at the time they were honored; Dr. Toshihide Maskawa and Dr. Makoto Kobayashi in physics 2008 for CP Violation (too complex for me to explain) which led to the theory of quarks:


Dr. Osamu Shimomura in Chemistry in 2008 for green fluorescent proteins found in jelly fish; 




and Ryoji Noy Oro in chemistry 2001 for discovering the toxicity of certain fish species, and Isamu Akasaki for physics in 2014 for the development of the blue LED.

Because of our later start in the day, lunch at a university cafeteria was our second stop.  Pretty basic, deep fried student foods with minimal veggies.  After fueling up, we headed to the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.  What a treat this was.

Sea smells enveloped us as we exited the subway station.  The Port of Nagoya has many interesting  buildings in what looks to be a science showcase.  



The aquarium we visited is a world class aquatic center of sea life. We visited penguin friends from Antarctica  (adelies, gentoo, chinstraps, and emperors), 


orca  and beluga whales, 

sharks, rays,   
Unusual pure white ray
coral gardens,
 and the sardine tornado.


 The highlight was the dolphin show.






The Dolphins walked backwards and bowed Japanese style.
Always one of my fantasies.
Our day was educational and a lot of fun.
We ended our scheduled day at Mokumoku restaurant which is an all you can eat  buffet with many dishes from which to choose.  Andy went back and forth at least three times trying to achieve a taste of everything. 

We took subways and trains back to Kachigawa station and everyone went home, but not bedtime yet.  



Tonight when we returned home with Hiro and Kiyoko, we played some traditional Japanese table games and introduced our hosts to a game we brought along  called Left Center Right.  
Hanafuda
Japanese Checkers (like Pente)




Playing games and laughter are the best common ground.

By 10:00 pm, we decided to call it a day...a fine day.

In Friendship and Peace

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