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Monday 27th: First Day in Nagoya
The worst part about the highway buses is that you tend to arrive at your destination around like 7 in the morning. Unless you're working or going to visit family/friends, THERE IS NO REASON TO BE IN A JAPANESE CITY AT 7 IN THE MORNING!!! Nothing opens until at least 9, and finding "breakfast" food is near impossible. If you're lucky, you can find a Denny's and get some of their wonderful french toast... though don't bother with bacon. I found out last week that Japanese people bake their bacon, not fry it. It's a crime against goodness.
#02: In the center of the city stands NHK Tower. It doubles as the city's main radio/tv signal tower and an observation deck. Nearby (on the right) is Oasis21, an underground, open-air shopping center that's brightly lit up at night.
#03: Inside Oasis21 are a few "character stores", including the Pokemon store called "Pokemon Center." It was a bit smaller than I had expected, and unfortunately for me, most of the merchandise was geared more to the latest generation stuff (bah... 2nd-gen is my limit... I could dominate the world with my Espeon). Oh well, at least I got a few store "original" items, including an adorable postcard/sticker set in a commerative tin, and a few items promoting the latest series, Black/White.
The other character stores were the NHK Character Store (which is heavily Ghibli stuff, mostly Totoro) and the Shounen Jump Shop. I knew Jump did mostly fighting series like DragonBall, Bleach, Reborn!, and One Piece, but I forgot that they also did a few shows I moderately liked like Death Note. Most surprisingly was that they covered a few shows I had no idea they were associated with: ToLoveRu, Kurenai, and Mayoi Neko Overrun. Sadly they didn't have any Overrun merch (I <3 Chise-sama), but this was a great chance for me to finally get my hands on the Kurenai manga... and also a really beautiful poster (for just 500 yen, at that!!!).
#04: Ice skating is apparently very popular this time of year. This rink on the main level was always full of people, and it wasn't the only skating rink I found in the city this week, either.
#05: Los Angeles Sister-City Park had a replica of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as well as a really beautiful water sculpture.
